fevnut's blog: July 2019

Wednesday 31 July 2019

T’Other Side: Dewsbury Rams

T’Other Side: Dewsbury Rams

2019 Matches

FIRST TEAM SQUAD

LAST TIME OUT

Head Coach: Lee Greenwood

Lee Greenwood took over as Dewsbury Rams head coach this season following the resignation of Neil Kelly at the end of last season. In the community game he has coached Siddal ARL and he was coach of Gloucestershire All Golds during the 2015 and 2016 seasons.

During his playing career he played mainly on the wing but occasionally at centre. His career started at Sheffield Eagles in 1999 and he moved to Halifax where he played from 2000 to 2003. After that he played for London Broncos, Huddersfield Giants and Leigh Centurions before returning to Halifax for two more seasons in 2007. He ended his career with one season at Oldham and his last year at Batley in 2010.

In 2004 he was picked for England in matches against Russia and Ireland.

Captain: Paul Sykes

Having begun his career with the Bradford Bulls in 1999, after two seasons Paul Sykes moved to London Broncos and stayed with them for 7 seasons. In 2008 he returned to the Bulls and then moved onto Wakefield in 2012.

After 16 seasons in the Super League he came to Featherstone Rovers in 2015 and then signed for Dewsbury Rams in 2016.

Now 37 years old his long career has so far given him a total of 456 appearances, 144 tries, 883 goals and 18 drop goals. That’s a total of 2,340 points. At representative level Paul has played for England, England A, Northern Union and Great Britain.

At the back

Andy Gabriel, wing or fullback, was signed for this season from Keighley Cougars where he had been since his career started in 2015.

Joe Martin, fullback, was signed in May from amateur club Siddal but he has previously played for professional clubs. He made his début with Halifax in 2014 and ended that season on loan at Gateshead Thunder. He continued with Halifax in 2015 and had a loan spell with Gloucestershire All Golds. In 2016 he didn’t get to play in the Halifax first team but did play for South Wales on dual reg. He didn’t play for a professional club at all in 2017 but last year he played a couple of games with Oldham.

Owen Trout, centre or second row, who is the younger brother of Kyle Trout, is in a second loan spell with Dewsbury from Leeds this year. He made his Leeds début this year in a Challenge Cup match against Workington. He also played for Fev, on dual reg, in the 1895 cup against Widnes. Last year he played for the England Academy.

Rob Worrincy, wing, is currently Dewsbury’s leading try scorer with 13 this season. His career began with Castleford in 2004 and in 2006 he moved on to Sheffield Eagles. After 4 seasons at Sheffield he joined Halifax in 2009. He returned to Sheffield in 2015 and then moved back to Halifax in 2017. He joined Dewsbury in 2018. He has scored 195 tries in his career.

In the halves

Liam Finn, scrum-half, is usually alongside Paul Sykes in the halves. He started 17 years ago with Halifax (in 2002). After two years there he was signed by Wakefield in 2004 and in 2005 he played, on loan, for Fev. In 2006 he began his first spell with Dewsbury. In 2010 he was signed by Fev and was crucial to Fev winning the Championship league four years in a row. In 2014 he was signed by Castleford and then he moved to Wakefield in 2016. He ended the 2018 season on loan at Widnes and then signed for Newcastle Thunder for 2019 but moved back to Yorkshire to join Dewsbury in March. He is an Ireland international and the joint holder (with Jamie Ellis) of the world record for the number of successive successful goal kicks. His record of 41 was achieved in 2012 when he was playing for Fev. In his career to date he has made 466 appearances and kicked 1,141 goals (including 15 drop goals).

At hooker

Sam Day began his career with Fev in 2015. In 2017 he went out on loan to Dewsbury and then signed for them in 2018. He has scored 9 tries so far this season making him the team’s second highest try scorer.

Robbie Ward made his début with Leeds Rhinos in 2014. The following year he made 3 appearances for Leeds and also played for Hunslet on dual reg. In 2016 he went to Australia to play for the Sunshine Coast Falcons in Queensland returning late in the year to join Fev. He joined Dewsbury in 2017. In 2014 he played for the England Academy.

In the pack

Daniel Igbinedion, prop or second row, started with Castleford Tigers but never got to play in the first team. He made his professional début with Oxford in 2016 on dual reg and then in 2017 he had a loan spell with Dewsbury before being signed by Fev in June. In 2018 he joined Sheffield but was transferred to Dewsbury in May.

Michel Knowles, second row or half-back, also started out as a Castleford player, making his début in 2005. In 2007 he had a loan spell with Gateshead Thunder and then joined them in 2008. He moved on to Barrow in 2010 and then to Sheffield in 2012. In 2017 he joined Fev but moved on to Dewsbury in July of that year. Despite being primarily a forward he has a useful kicking game and can be used as a goal kicker although with Liam Finn and Paul Sykes in the team he has not done any goal kicking this year.

Kyle Trout, loose forward, prop or second row, started as a Wakefield player in 2010. In 2013 he played 16 games for Doncaster on dual reg. In 2014 he had a loan spell at Batley and played for Fev on dual reg. In 2015 he played for 4 clubs, Wakefield, Whitehaven (loan), Featherstone (dual reg) and Hunslet (loan). In 2016 he signed for Dewsbury. In 2017 he joined Sheffield and then returned to Dewsbury in 2018.

Lucas Walshaw, second row or centre, started with Wakefield in 2011. In 2012 he played for Doncaster on dual reg. In both 2013 and 014 he had loan spells with Dewsbury. In 2015 he joined Bradford but also had more loan spells with Dewsbury in 2015 and 2016. In 2017 he finally became a Dewsbury player!

Dual Registration and loan signings

Dewsbury have a dual registration with Coventry Bears. So far this year Nyle Flynn, Harvey Hallas, Jack Ray, Toby Richardson, Jacob Thomas and Harvey Whiteley have played for Coventry.

They have had nine players on loan, many of whom have returned to their parent clubs. The loan signings are:

Chris Annakin (prop) and Luke Hooley (fullback) from Wakefield.

Callum Field (prop or loose forward), Samy Kibula (second row) and Ben Kilner (prop) from Wigan.

Owen Harrison (prop or second row) from Hull KR.

Muizz Mustapha (second row), Owen Trout (second row) and Dan Waite-Pullan (second row) from Leeds

The Fev connection

There is a long tradition of players who have played for both Dewsbury and Featherstone.

The ten former Fev players in the Dewsbury squad this year or have been there on loan this year (with the dates they were at Fev) are:

Chris Annakin (2014 - on dual reg from Wakefield), Sam Day (2016 and 2017), Liam Finn (2005 and 2010-2013), Daniel Igbinedion (2017), Michael Knowles (2017), Liam Mackay (2012), Muizz Mustapha (2018 - on loan from Leeds), Jode Sheriffe (2010), Paul Sykes (2015), Kyle Trout (2014 and 2015 - on dual reg from Wakefield) and Robbie Ward (2016). In addition, Charlie Martin (who is currently at loan with Hunslet) had a short loan spell with Fev (from Castleford), but never got to play for the first team.

There are 4 players who have played for Fev this season who have previously played for Dewsbury. They are John Davies (2012 - on dual reg from Castleford), James Lockwood (2009-2011), Ben Reynolds (2016 - on loan from Leigh) and Brad Singleton (2012 - on dual reg from Leeds).

Championship Talk: Wembley awaits

CHAMPIONSHIP TALK

fevnut's blog is absolutely delighted to have received permission to bring you a regular column from Gareth Walker.

Gareth is a top rugby league journalist who has one very exceptional distinction. He chooses to write about matters pertaining to the Championship and League One.

Although this blog is devoted to Featherstone Rovers it is always good to read opinions about matters relevant to us, but not specifically about us. We hope you enjoy reading Gareth's column each week.

Wembley awaits

YOU only needed to take a look at the final hooter scenes at Sheffield and Leigh last weekend to see that the 1895 Cup has value as a concept.



The Eagles’ gritty win over Batley and Widnes’ thrilling triumph at the Centurions were greeted with unmitigated glee by players and supporters alike.



That is what it means for people to get to Wembley, something both clubs and their fans have not experienced for over two decades.



Now Sheffield and Widnes will take their place on the country’s biggest stage in the inaugural 1895 Cup final, to be held after the main event of the Challenge Cup final.



That scheduling has been one of the main criticisms of this season’s competition, with most feeling that a slot before the cup final would be more attractive to the clubs involved.



The other has been the inclusion of midweek fixtures in the early rounds, leading some clubs to take it far less seriously than others to focus on matters in the league.



Perhaps the moving forward of the early rounds to pre-season could be a way around that.



Both issues need looking at for next year, with well-placed observer’s concerns taken into account.



But the competition looks to have real value for clubs at this level, and it would be great to see the final galvanise both the Eagles and Vikings after difficult times in recent years.



Off the field, it was great to see Doncaster chief executive Carl Hall recognised for his services to the sport as he started his new role vice president of the RFL last week.



It went under the radar somewhat due to the profile of Tony Adams, but the appointment of Hall should not be overlooked.



The New Zealand-born 49 year old has dedicated the vast majority of his adult life to rugby league in this country after joining the Dons as a promising teenager over 30 years ago.



Spells at Bradford Northern, Leeds and Featherstone followed, with brief stints at Hull KR and York also thrown in, before he later turned his attentions to a career in administration in South Yorkshire.



In 2009 he helped put together a group to save the Dons and has been involved ever since, running the club on a day-to-day basis.



Hall has always been a passionate yet considered voice on the game’s key issues - particularly during the political upheavals of last year - which should serve him well in his new central role.

Tuesday 30 July 2019

Sunday's referee: Dewsbury v Fev

Sunday's Referee

We had never had this referee before this season, but after two years of predominantly taking charge of League One matches he has been promoted to the Championship. This will be his 3rd Fev game and all three of them have been good wins for Fev!