Strength in Depth
How many times, over the years, have Fev suffered from injuries to a
small squad.
So, there have to be huge plaudits handed out to those responsible for
our recruitment this season. We have suffered so many injuries this year and
yet we keep on turning out winning performances.
Last week, a few minutes before kick-off we glanced down at the area in
which our injured players were sitting and there we saw, chatting together in a
group, Jack Bussey, Brad Day, James Harrison, Craig Kopczak and Junior Moors.
What a wonderful pack that other Championship clubs would love to have.
And yet, without them, we managed to put 64 points past Dewsbury whilst
only conceding 6.
Earlier on in the season we were struggling with injuries and
suspensions to the backs and now it’s primarily the forwards but players come
into the side and the winning performances just keep coming.
When necessary, of course, we have brought in loan players and by and
large they have fitted in really well. Again, a sign of excellent recruitment
procedures.
James Harrison
Of course, it is sad to see James Harrison leaving us at the end of the
season. What we find even sadder is that injury will prevent us being able to
watch him playing for the rest of 2021 and thus the lack of opportunity for him
to take his farewell on the pitch.
He will also be very much missed by the Featherstone Rovers Foundation,
for whom he has worked on a casual basis. His contribution to the Foundation has been
excellent, conscientious and of high quality.
We were very surprised to see an article on ‘facebook’ referring to his
departure to Hull Kingston Rovers. It stated that he was a Maltese international
player. It also states the same on his Wikipedia page.
Keeping, as we do, a record of the careers of all Fev players both for
other clubs and for representative teams (all detailed in our ‘Fev Squad 2021:
Complete Stats’ page) we were dismayed to discover this which was missing from
our Representative database.
A little time researching the issue and we discovered that James
Harrison had played for Malta against Lebanon in a match which took place on
May 6th, 2017.
Had we made a mistake by omission in our records? We checked further and
there was James playing for Batley at Mount Pleasant (ironically against Hull
KR) on May 7th, 2017.
What we want to know is how on earth he travelled from Sydney to Batley
in order to play in both places on two successive days!
Do you believe it? We don’t and, unless proved otherwise, we will assume
that there is a second ‘James Harrison’ who played for Malta. Oh, the trials
and tribulation of dealing with rugby league statistics.
Alex Walker
The games that Alex has so far played for Fev have seen him playing
really well and you can’t argue with 4 tries in three games including some beauties.
It was, therefore, with dismay that we read that Wakefield would
probably recall him because of the injury to Max Jowitt.
And then we remembered what we thought it had said when Rovers announced
his loan signing and went back to check and this is what was on the Rovers
website:
“Featherstone Rovers have signed Scotland international and
Wakefield Trinity fullback Alex Walker on loan until the end of the
season. The terms of the agreement mean that Walker will be unavailable
for recall from his parent club and will remain with the Rovers for the
remainder of the 2021 season.”
Another great bit of business. And wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could
secure his signature for 2022.
Milestones
There were yet more milestones and congratulations for Fev players last
Sunday.
John Davies’ try took him past 150 points for Fev.
Frankie Halton made his 50th career appearance.
And Craig Hall achieved yet another when his 32 points took him past
1,750 in his career and past 250 points for Fev this year.
Craig now sits at the top of the Championship charts for Try Scorers,
Goal Kickers and Points Scorers. Maybe he should try and kick 3 drop goals on
Sunday to give him a full house!
