fevnut's musings
Dane
Chisholm
One of the
things we love about rugby league is the variety of roles filled by players
according to their position. In recent years people have been referring to the ‘spine’
of the team (fullback, stand-off, scrum-half and hooker) and that is a valid
concept but we still believe that you will never get a team playing really well
unless there is a good scrum-half leading the team.
Good
scrum-halves need to be insightful, imaginative and they need to be respected
by the rest of the team.
Earlier
this season we wrote about the lack of leadership on the field which was
holding us back. It is simply amazing the degree to which the signing of Dane
Chisholm has turned that around.
In the six
matches prior to him arriving we won three and lost three, which included both
the dismal loss to Dewsbury and the team collapsing from a winning position in
the cup at Odsal. We scored 144 points and conceded 107.
In the six
matches with Dane at scrum-half we have won five and lost one, and the loss was
a narrow one against Toronto who are clearly the strongest team in the
Championship. In those matches we have scored 222 points and conceded just 71.
That tells
you everything doesn’t it? No, it doesn’t.
Because we
can’t single out Chisholm as the only factor. Tom Holmes is playing brilliantly
too (and so was Jack Bussey at stand-off) and the Dane and Tom partnership is
amazing when you consider that it usually takes a fair amount of time for a
halfback partnership to develop. Then add in the way they are working with
Cameron King and we have a tremendous ‘spine’ whether it’s Ashton Golding or
the very promising youngster Jack Render at fullback.
Not only
are we now winning matches convincingly but we are also playing really
attractive rugby, the sort of rugby that spectators love and should bring back
the crowds.
Spread the
word and bring your friends along to watch this team of ours!
1895
Cup
Wouldn’t it
be fantastic if 2019 saw Featherstone return to Wembley? With Toronto and
Toulouse not taking part it is a golden opportunity. There is no team in the
competition that we should fear.
We just
hope the coach and team realise how much it would mean to the Fev fans if we
could go to Wembley on August 24th. Maybe they should get the likes of Malcolm
Dixon, Peter Smith and Keith Bell to talk to the team about what a Wembley trip
means to this town.
The way we
are playing and the way Widnes are playing we should be eminently capable of
winning on Wednesday, but there is a potential motivational problem to
overcome.
Although
Widnes currently lie in a relegation position in the Championship table because
of their twelve point deduction we can’t see them having any problem in
finishing the season above the likes of Barrow, Dewsbury and Swinton. The top 5
play-offs though now seem to be very unlikely for them. So that leaves them
with only the 1895 Cup as potential for success in 2019 which in turn means that
they will probably be very keen indeed to win against Fev.
So, let’s
not see the 1895 Cup as a relaxation between Championship matches but rather as
a means to make the town of Featherstone a really proud and happy place again.
Heritage
Numbers
Last week,
on-loan local lad, Dale Ferguson earned Featherstone Rovers Heritage Number
1,100.
It’s been
quite difficult keeping up with the Heritage Numbers because he is, amazingly,
the nineteenth player to make their Fev début this year!
We are
hoping that we now settle down and see a regular team out on the park. A team
that grows into being Champions over the next few years.
The
potential is there but it won’t be achieved by constant chopping and changing.
No comments:
Post a Comment