Congratulations
to Craig Hall
There
wasn’t much to feel cheerful about last Sunday. Yes, we won but it was another
lacklustre performance (trying to be polite there!).
Despite
that, there was a moment of note when Craig Hall’s final kick at goal took his
points tally for the year to 300 for the second year running.
Throughout
our history only six players in all have achieved the 300 points in a season
although it has actually now been done 12 times but several of those six have
done it more than once: Liam Finn and Jamie Rooney 3 times, Steve Quinn and
Craig Hall twice and Martin Pearson and Kyle Briggs once.
Some
might be surprised that Steve Quinn doesn’t figure higher in the table but then
you have to remember that when he was playing a try only scored 3 points. Under
the modern 4 point try he would have scored 392 points in 1979-80 and 336
points in 1976-77. Steve Quinn is the only Fev player to have surpassed the 300
points whilst playing in the top tier which was the case in the 1976-77
Championship winning season.
It
is clear that, if he isn’t dropped again, Craig will move further up the table
by the end of the year.
Where
has the spirit gone?
In
the early days of this season watching Fev play was sheer joy. Our attack was
really incisive and our defence was rock solid.
But
most of all the joy came from the tremendous team spirit. It looked as if every
one of our players was really proud to be wearing the Fev shirt and it felt as
if they were all so happy playing together as a team.
Sad
to say, that spirit seems to have drifted away somewhat. We do wonder how much
fear of getting dropped and the multiple changes in the squad have contributed
to the current state of affairs.
Of
course, we have been really unfortunate with injuries and that inevitably leads
to a weakening of performance levels.
Building
a Team
We have long believed that having a successful team that fans identify with involves building a team from youngsters up.
If we think back there is little to match the excitement of watching the development of young players such as Paul Newlove who made his début in 1988 at the age of 17 and Jamie Rooney who played in the first team in 1998 at 18 years old. Alan Banks, Karl Pratt and Jamie Stokes were only 16 and there were a number of notable players who began their first team career at Fev when 17. Amongst those are Martin Pearson, Harold Box, Chris Bibb, Malcolm Dixon and Jimmy Thompson.
Of course, the biggest barrier to building a team with youngsters is the lack of a reserve competition for the likes of Rovers.
As a result of illness we have watched more matches on television this year and can’t help comparing the younger players making such an impact and generating excitement at St. Helens and Leeds to the age of our squad.
Last Sunday, our starting pack was made up of three twenty-nine year olds and three in their thirties with an average age for the pack of thirty-two. They are good players but none of them will be playing together for long. Some say that forwards take a long time to reach their best but Jimmy Thompson and Malcolm Dixon were good enough in their teens and developed into truly great players.
That team last Sunday contained just 3 players
under the age of 25. The two youngest (Jack Broadbent and Sam Eseh) are on loan
and we won’t be seeing them develop as Fev players. The only one of our own is
Morgan Smith who is 24.
Head
Coach: Adrian Lam
Adrian Lam was head
coach of Wigan Warriors from 2019 to 2021. Originally appointed on an interim
basis while they were awaiting Sean Edwards, when Edwards decided not to go to
Wigan he was appointed on a permanent basis. From 2007 to 2009 he was the head
coach of the Papua New Guinea international team and he is currently the
Australian assistant coach.
As a player he was a
high-quality scrumhalf for Sydney Roosters and Wigan Warriors. He played
fourteen times for Queensland in State of Origin matches and fifteen times for
Papua New Guinea.
Co-Captains: Joe Mellor and Adam Sidlow
Adrian
Lam has appointed Joe Mellor and Adam Sidlow as co-captains of Leigh Centurions
for 2022.
Joe
Mellor is a half back who started his career with two years at Wigan in 2011
and 2012. During that time, he also played for Harlequins and Widnes on loan.
In 2013 he joined Widnes and then moved to Toronto Wolfpack in 2019 before
signing for Leigh in 2021.
Prop
Forward, Adam Sidlow, made his début for Widnes in 2006. In 2007 he had a loan
spell with Workington. He joined Salford in 2008 and then Bradford in 2013. He
was with Toronto Wolfpack throughout their time in the UK competition from 2017
to 2020 and moved, together with Joe Mellor, to Leigh in 2021.
Dual
Registration and Loan signings
Leigh have signed a dual registration agreement with
St. Helens for 2022 which has involved Dan Norman and Jake Wingfield playing for them. They have also taken Tom Nisbet (winger) and Aaron Smith
(hooker) on season long loans from Saints.
Josh Charnley (wing) is on loan from Warrington and James McDonnell (second row) from Wigan.
New Signings during the season
Since
the season began Leigh have signed Krisnan Inu from Lézignan, Blake
Ferguson from Parramatta Eels, Lachlan Lam (son of Adrian Lam) from
Sydney Roosters, Benjamin Nakubuwai from North Devils, New South Wales
and Kai O’Donnell from Cronulla Sharks.
The
Fev connection
Although
there have been 29 players in the Summer Era who have played for both Fev and
Leigh, there are hardly any between 1921 and 1996. We have found only two.
Geoff Clarkson
(second row) was a real wanderer playing for ten different clubs and being transferred
twelve times and all that after starting as a rugby union player with Sandal
and appearing for Yorkshire RU before joining Wakefield Trinity. He finished his
career with 13 games at Fev in the 1983-84 season and played for Leigh in 1970-71
and 1981-83.
Frank Moore (prop) played 61 games
for Fev from 1958 to 1960. He started his career with Wakefield Trinity. He
moved from Wakefield to Leigh and then played for three more clubs before
coming to Rovers. He finished his playing days where he had begun back at
Wakefield.
