fevnut's musings #11: Discipline, Reserves and Conspiracy Theory

fevnut's musings

Discipline

Recently we wrote about how we needed to improve our discipline and stop giving away needless, costly penalties. We were very pleased to later hear Ryan Carr saying something very similar.

Not only was he saying it but he seems to have started getting through to the players. Against Halifax we only conceded 4 (and we don’t think that was because the referee couldn’t see in the fog!), against Widnes it was 7 and last week against Sheffield it was 5. At the moment we are the best!

When you consider that last season we were averaging 9.4 per match that represents a huge improvement. Well done Ryan, well done the lads! You can see how we compare to other teams (it's very good) by going to our 'Rovers Discipline' page.

In the first six matches of last year we had two players sent off, this year none. Let’s hope we can keep that up as well. Of course, Jack Bussey got put on report and got sin-binned last week for two ‘crusher tackles’. Jack must be a bit rusty after a long period out so let’s hope he is putting in extra work on his tackling technique.

Clearly it is right that players should be protected against dangerous tackles but we have concerns about the way in which some players seem to think that they can get an opponent put on report or sin-binned simply by putting their hand on the back of their neck after a tackle. We are not suggesting that was the case on Sunday but watching televised matches it is becoming common. Funny, in time past I can’t recall players getting up from a tackle making out as if their neck had been hurt! Well, very rarely.

Reserves

It is really great that we have a reserves team up and running again. Their first match of the season was great to watch even though they lost. There was some great spirit to fight back from an early 18-0 deficit and there was plenty of skill on display too.

If you are a Rovers supporter, watching the reserves is great. We urge you all to get along to our next home game on April 3rd and maybe some of you will join us in making the trip to Bradford next Wednesday.

With the Ladies team getting started on April 3rd there will soon be loads of opportunities to watch three Fev Rovers teams in action.

For the Conspiracy Theorists

It is amazing the way RL supporters see conspiracy in everything that goes against them. One reason is that ‘unusual’ occurrences are much more common than people generally expect.

For those who insist that everything is caused by conspiracy, this year’s Challenge Cup draws have provided a couple of prime opportunities to shout conspiracy.

In the 3rd round draw there were five ties drawn that pitted an amateur team against a League 1 side. In all of them the League 1 side was drawn at home!

Even weirder is the way the Challenge Cup draw has treated Newcastle Thunder. In the 3rd round they were drawn at home against West Wales with the tie played a week before they play West Wales at home in the league. Then the following week they play a League 1 match away at Workington. The week after that is the 4th round of the cup and guess what - they have been drawn away at Workington. And that is their entire fixture list for March.