fevnut's musings #01: New Season, 6 again and Reserves

   

A new season begins

 

Thank goodness for Christmas! At least, for a few days, it takes our mind off the lack of Fev games to watch. We loathe the off-season.

So, on Monday we get back to a much more complete life. Yes, we know we have had three pre-season games to watch but there is really no enjoyment to attending a game where the result doesn’t matter.

Don’t get us wrong, we go to pre-season games but the only reason is to get to start recognising the new players we have signed and to get some feeling for the shape of our team.

We are usually excited when a new campaign begins but probably even more so than usual this year because we look to have a really strong squad and a coach who will provide us with a style of play that we can enjoy both in attack and defence. And it’s a real bonus to have Sean Long who has already shown how much he cares about the fans.

One of the perennial start of the season questions is how we will fare if and when injuries come along. We always look to see how well each position is covered and this year we seem to have plenty of back-ups in all areas of the pitch. We did a bit of trawling through our players and looking not just at their regular positions but the other positions in which they have played over the last few years. The chart below shows each position and who has played in them.

 

We think you will agree that it is a really well-balanced squad.

 

6 again

For us, it’s a big disappointment that they are persisting with the ‘6 again’ rule. We believe that it has three negative effects. 

The first is monotony. There is a real lack of variety in what happens on the pitch and scrums and penalties used to provide much more variation in the game.

Secondly, last season we saw countless examples of teams using it to slow play-the-balls down in the knowledge that even if they are caught it is very unlikely to give away a penalty. In addition, There is such a huge disparity between the consequences of giving away a ‘6 again’ on the first tackle compared to the result of doing so on the last.

Thirdly, near the end of last season, we did a quick survey amongst our friends to see if they knew the precise reasons for a penalty, a scrum or a ‘6 again’. No one seemed to be clear about it. I do hope that, if we are to persist, the RFL will issue a statement to make the reasons behind decisions much clearer. It's really not good when spectators can't follow why decisions are made.

 

Reserves

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again. The lack of a properly structured reserve competition is damaging to our sport and we very much hope that IMG will look at this.

Far, far too many players go for weeks on end without getting the chance to have game time. And when they do go out on loan or dual reg, it only provides short term opportunities and they lack the essential craft of learning to fit in with players at their own club. The current situation has seen some players appearing for up to 4 or 5 different clubs in a season. So, that’s 4 or 5 completely different sets of players they have to adapt to. That’s no way to develop a young players skills.

We have heard so often that it is ‘too expensive’ for Championship clubs to un a reserve team. Maybe some people have forgotten how many fans used to attend ‘A’ team matches which provided a small amount of increased revenue to the clubs.

It seems to us that the extra cost is very much worth it for the sport as a whole. It provides much better opportunities for players. It provides the opportunity for fans to see young players developing and it would encourage clubs to recruit more young players instead of so many signings nowadays being of older players. You never know, it could lead once again to players staying with a club for upwards of ten years and being all the better for it!