fevnut's musings #8: Lost connection

fevnut's musings

Lost connection

One of the sadder consequences of the huge turn around in player squads that has become commonplace in recent years is it makes it much more difficult to achieve the sort of bond between Fev fans and players that used to exist. It’s definitely still there but not to the same degree.

Like many others, we used to be on first name terms with virtually all the players. Friendly chats were the norm when we met them whether that was at the ground or out and about. They were friendships that grew season upon season and we really knew them as people as well as players. That sort of relationship between the fans and players at Featherstone and was a real part of the Fev identity.

Another consequence is how much harder it is to recognise individuals on the field. There was a time when as soon as a player ran we knew who it was because of their running style, and makes it much more enjoyable for the fans when you recognise who is who. If Deryck Fox passed to Trevor Clark and then it went to Jeff Grayshon who slipped an offload to Paul Newlove, you would immediately know exactly what was happening and who was involved.

We started to think about how the turnover, loans and dual reg combined have led to there being so many players who have played for Fev and are now at other clubs and we compiled a listing you can find on another page under the title ‘Where are they now?’. You can find that a link to that listed on the right hand side of this page.

Luke Briscoe

Many congratulations to Luke on scoring his 50th try (and 200th point) for Fev at Leigh last Sunday.

Leadership

It is far too early to come to any firm conclusions about our ‘new’ squad but one area that is giving us some concern is the issue of leadership on the field. The Boas brothers are making a great contribution in the half-back positions but they do not seem to be taking the sort of firm grip on the team that we expect from half-backs in leading the team around the field. Maybe it’s because they are settling in, maybe it is just not in their nature. But at Leigh last week it was clear that we did need someone who could fulfil this crucial role.

Goal Kicking

Watson Boas is providing the tem with some tremendous ‘ball-in-hand’ kicking. The best for quite a time, but we are a bit worried about him as our first choice place kicker. He does not seem reliable enough. It is early days but a record of only 9 out of 14 (64%) is not good enough for a first choice kicker. It could prove to be critical in close games. His kicking style is rather odd and the way he kicks with his instep does not suggest that he could become capable of kicking goals from wide out. We need to have a more reliable kicker with Watson being a very good back-up.

Penalties

We have been pleased to hear Ryan Carr emphasising the importance of team discipline and really hope that our woeful area in this respect last year will be dealt with. But having said that, our performance last week was marred by the giving away frankly stupid penalties. The final penalty count was actually 11-8 in our favour. Penalties given away by opponents are always welcome but out of our control. It is really important to keep the penalties we give away as low as possible.

Positivity

Only last week we wrote about the huge potential of this Fev team and anything written above is in the manner of a critique and should not be taken as any lessening of our excitement about the coming season. Indeed we did say that there were bound to be blips when there are so many players who need time to learn how to play together as a team. We take the performance, particular early in the second half, against Leigh as being just such a blip! It’s going to be a tough one (again!) against Halifax but we can do it! Yes, we can.