The Huge One
We are certain that most Fev fans have had Yorkshire Day circled in
their diary (or whatever else they use to plan) for a long time.
Since quite early this year it has been apparent that, at full strength,
Toulouse and Fev are by some way the two strongest teams in the Championship.
It is such a pity that we approach this game with a host of injuries in
our team and we wait to see how many have now been cleared from the covid
restrictions that have kept others out of recent matches.
To win would be massive, but we need to remind ourselves that it will
not determine who will be playing in Super League next year. What it could well
mean is that the winner gets home advantage in what is likely to be the ‘Million
Pound Game’ at the end of the play-offs.
We took advantage to watch quite a few of the Toulouse matches on the ‘OurLeague’
app and let’s be under no illusions. They are a very strong team and their
defence is particularly strong.
With the current system of determining league placings, it is their
defence that has got them into the top position. Although they have only been
able to play nine Championship matches, they have only conceded 88 points. An
average of less than 10 per game. That is phenomenal.
At full strength we think that Fev are stronger in attack so it’s going
to be a fascinating game. So, we need to defend at our very best and to produce
the wonderful level of attacking rugby that we have seen in many games this
year. It could well come down to Craig Hall and Dane Chisholm’s flair for
interceptions!
Thoughts about Gareth Gale and Nu Brown
We were disgusted by the behaviour of some of the Bulls supporters last week who were constantly suggesting that Gareth Gale was feigning injuries.
To anyone who knows Gareth it is obvious that he simply isn’t that sort
of player. Indeed, we thought his continuing to play when he had been injured
was a pretty heroic effort. Let’s all hope that he has recovered by Sunday.
Sadly, and not surprisingly in the circumstances, his run of scoring in
12 successive Championship matches came to an end. It was a wonderful feat and
we hope he is back to scoring tries this weekend.
One question did occur to us. Are we relying too heavily on using him as
a ball carrier out of defence?
Nu Brown is a good hooker and he did us proud at Bradford. Indeed, you can’t complain when his passing was excellent, his defence solid and he contributed two tries. But we thought that we lose some of his very best when he is at hooker rather than in the halves.
There seemed to be much less
opportunity for him to use his ability to mesmerise the opposition with his
dancing feet and body swerves. We really do hope that Jones and Parata are in a
position to take back the dummy-half duties and that ‘Twinkletoes’ Brown is
able to employ his full skillset in a receiver role.
Odsal
There is no doubt that Odsal has the potential to once again become a
wonderful rugby league stadium, but it needs massive investment. At the moment
it is a disgrace!
The playing pitch is far narrower than the regulations stipulate and the
Bulls are setting it out far narrower than it needs to be. Last Sunday we saw
it with the distance between the touchline and the speedway track considerably
wider than the distance between the touchline and the perimeter of the stands
at many grounds.
We can only conclude that the Bulls have determined that it is to their
advantage to play on a narrow pitch and the Rugby League have colluded with
them on it. Why on earth can’t they cover an area of the speedway track with
material such as artificial turf and then the touch line could be much nearer
to the speedway track and much closer to the regulations.
And then there is also the issue of the size of the in-goal area. It’s
ludicrous and means that the skill of a grubber kick into the in-goal area is
completely negated. If Danny Brough wasn’t injured we are pretty sure that they
would have done something to enable the in-goal areas to be bigger.
It is really difficult to imagine that any other club would have been
allowed to play on the ground as it is now. As our regular readers will know,
fevnut does not usually indulge in calling out ‘conspiracies’, but the fact
that the Rugby League are the owners of Odsal and there are strong links
between the Bulls board and Red Hall has to make anyone really suspicious about
how decisions are being made.
New recruit?
Last Sunday we found ourselves sat near a whole group of relatives of
one of the Bradford players and, as you do, we got into conversation with them.
What they had to say was both astonishing and intriguing.
We were told that the only reason they watch the Bulls was because of
their relative being in the team and then they told me that they are expecting
to be watching Fev next season!
They said that he had been offered two contracts by Fev, one for if Fev
are in the Super League and another for if Fev are still in the Championship.
There is far too much rumour spreading amongst rugby league supporters
so we will not reveal the name of the player in question but simply note that
it is one for whom we have a lot of admiration and who would be an excellent
addition to the Fev squad.
We are really excited to hear if anything comes of this!
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