Match 20: Barrow Raiders
(Home) Championship
fevnut's musings
Half Backs and Hookers
We, like all Fev fans, were plunged
into deep dismay with the news that not only had Martyn Ridyard suffered a
long-term injury but that Tom Holmes was out for the rest of the season. We had
been comparatively lucky with injuries up until then but to lose both half
backs who had been at the centre of all that had been best in our performances
this year was a hammer blow of massive proportions.
The gloom was partially lightened by
an excellent display from Anthony Thackeray against Dewsbury. By far and away
his best display of the season. No doubt contributory factors included that he
had a point to prove and that he was back playing a controlling game in the
team, which he clearly relishes. We also thought that Matty Wildie had his best
game yet in the halves but still believe that he is better at hooker.
The fact is that we are woefully
short, now, of cover in the half back and hooker positions. And these are the
most difficult positions to fill with dual reg players because of their need to
understand how the whole teams and how to direct them. Don’t get us wrong, Brad
Dwyer did a good job, but we can’t rely on his availability. We have seen in
the past how difficult it is to put other players into the hooking role. John
Davies deservedly won the Player of the Year but was woeful when picked at
hooker.
We sincerely hope that Mark Campbell
and John Duffy see bringing in a quality hooker or half back in for the rest of
the season as a high priority.
Super League Europe
This week we saw yet another attempt
by the chairmen of SL to bully the whole of rugby league by announcing a new
structure for 2019 as if it was a fait accompli. How dare they make such
announcements over and above the Rugby League. But it’s typical and a long term
problem, particularly from Wigan Chairmen who regularly show complete contempt
for the sport. Maybe they would be happy if the only fare on offer was Wigan v
Wigan U19! Some of us haven’t forgotten how rugby league was nearly ruined by the
decision of Wigan to unilaterally go full-time resulting in the only real
competition for several years was to be runners-up. Then the same Wigan
Chairman managed to get into a position of leading the Rugby Football League
and tried to destroy nearly all our clubs by way of mergers. There were to be
only two clubs to survive unscathed and, yes, one of them was Wigan!
We once had a phone call from that
same person and it was the most unpleasant call of our lives. For reasons too
long to go into here fevnut ended up responsible for both Belle Vue and Post
Office Road for a time back in the 1980s. We received a request from BARLA for
their Yorkshire Cup final to be played at Belle Vue. A request we were very
happy to grant. Then came the phone call and we were told that if we allowed
the BARLA match to go ahead then Wakefield Trinity would be expelled from the
Rugby League. It’s true! It was just bullying because there was a dispute going
on between BARLA and the RL at the time. After we pointed out that if they took
any such action against Trinity we would see them in court because it wasn’t,
at that time, in the jurisdiction of Trinity to decide what matches could be
played at Belle Vue. Needless to say, after realising that the bullying tactics
weren’t going to succeed, we heard no more about it and the Yorkshire Cup final
went ahead as planned.
Now you can see why we know that
Wigan chairmen have absolutely no concern for rugby league. Then it was
full-time and bullying clubs, recently it was unilateral declarations of what
is going to happen such as reducing money to Championship sides and casting
adrift the whole of League One.
That is why there are just a few occasions
when we actually want Castleford to win. But it only happens when they are
playing Wigan!
Penalties
Matches get ruined when there are too
many penalties. That is usually the fault of the players rather than the
referees. We have a bit of a worry about this coming Sunday because Featherstone
and Barrow are this season’s two most heavily penalised teams in the
Championship. Oh well, let’s see what happens.
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