T’Other Side: Leeds Rhinos

T’Other Side: Leeds Rhinos

FIRST TEAM SQUAD

LAST TIME OUT

Head Coach: David Furner

After 4 years playing in Super League David Furner retired at the end of 2004 he returned to Australia and became assistant coach at Canberra Raiders in 2006, stepping up to head coach in 2009. After 4 years he left and became assistant coach at North Queensland Cowboys and was in that position when they won the Grand Final in 2015. For the last two years he has been assistant coach at South Sydney Rabbitohs. This is his first year as head coach at Leeds Rhinos.

Furner was a second row forward whose NRL career began with Canberra Raiders in 1992 and he spent nine seasons there before joining Wigan Warriors in 2001 After two years at Wigan he moved to Leeds for the final 2 years of his playing career. At representative level he played one game for Australia and 8 for New South Wales in origin matches.

Captain: Kallum Watkins

Kallum Watkins was appointed as captain of Leeds Rhinos in 2018 but he suffered a serious injury against Castleford during Magic Weekend, an injury that kept him out for the rest of the season. He has spent his entire career at Leeds, making his first appearance for them in 2008. He has played for Leeds 264 times and scored 139 tries and kicked 101 goals for a points total of 758. All his goals have been in the last three years.

He made the first of his 26 games for England against Wales in 2012, scoring the first of his 12 tries for England in that match.

During his entire career Kallum has never been shown either a red or yellow card.

New signings for 2019

Leeds have made 5 new signings for 2019 including 3 with major NRL and international experience.

Dual Registration and Loans

As we all know Leeds have a dual registration partnership with Fev. As a result there are a very large number of players who have appeared for both clubs.

The Fev Connection

Amongst the 36 that Leeds have named this year in first team squad that there are 11 who have played for Rovers. They are Luke Briscoe, Tyler Dupree, Brad Dwyer, Ashton Golding, Ash Handley, Anthony Mullally, Muizz Mustapha, Harry Newman, Mikolaj Oledzki, Jack Ormondroyd, Nathaniel Peteru and Josh Walters. Luke Briscoe and Jack Ormondroyd were signed by Leeds from Fev.

Tyler Dupree and Muizz Mustapha played for Fev under special RL dispensation in the Championship Shield Final last year.

During last season Brad Dwyer equalled Fev’s tries in a Match record and Luke Briscoe equalled the all-time record for tries in consecutive matches. Also named in the first team squad is Dan Waite-Pullan who has played for Fev in pre-season games this year.

In this year’s Fev squad there is just one player, Brett Delaney, who has previously been at Leeds. Jordan Tansey and Ryan Bailey appeared in earlier pre-season games whilst on trial, but both have now left Rovers.

The Fev squad also includes three ‘new’ players this year who have been signed from Leeds Rhinos but who never got to play in the first team. The players are Spencer Darley, Kiedan Hartley and Dakota Whylie. Dakota Whylie played on loan for Fev in 8 matches at the end of last year.

Past Matches against Leeds

Past Matches against 
Leeds

LAST TIME - 2017

Fev v Halifax: Teams and Scorers Pre-Season

Fev v Halifax: 
Teams and Scorers
Pre-Season

fevnut's musings 2019: #3: Reality check and Player Turnover

fevnut's musings

The Reality

It never ceases to amuse us when Fev fans make pronouncements without any regard to the reality of the situation. That is particularly pertinent to the reaction of some of them after the match last Sunday against Hunslet Club Parkside.

Both at the ground itself and on social media there were people spreading doom and gloom with one in particular suggesting that we were bound to be relegated at the end of the 2019 season.

When we arrived at the ground we got hold of the team-sheets for the match and after a quick glance said to a friend that we were very unlikely to win. So let’s look at the teams that played.

For Fev there were only two players (John Davies and Josh Hardcastle) who are likely to figure regularly in the first team and they only played in the first half. Most of the team were made up of the players who had been signed or were on trial for the new reserve team. This was the first time they had played in a match together and it was the beginning of them getting to know one another.

In contrast, the Hunslet Club Parkside team were a cohesive outfit who last year had taken the top division of the National Conference League by storm winning every single league match and then sailing through to earn victory in the Grand Final. An outcome that had never been achieved before. Peter Smith, the well-respected rugby league journalist of the Yorkshire Post, said that they “got what they deserved at the end of possibly the greatest season in amateur rugby league history.”

There are some journalists who say things to be deliberately controversial and others who think carefully about what they write. Peter Smith is definitely one of the latter.

The fact that Hunslet Club Parkside won cannot be seen as being in any way surprising and is absolutely not a result which should make Rovers supporters in the slightest bit despondent.

Indeed, we thought that there was something really heartening and that was the display of young fullback Kiedan Hartley. He is still very young with a huge amount to learn but he showed huge talent and his try was a joy to behold.

Championship Comings and Goings

As we have stated before, good teams need to be built into a group of players whose ability to play together makes them much greater than the individuals who make up the team. We believe that Fev’s greatest team ever was the one that finished top of the Rugby League table in the 1976/77 season. On the three occasions we won the Challenge Cup we took the trophy by winning 5 matches. When we finished at the top of the league it was in a 30 match league season and we finished 5 points clear and also had the best points difference.

In the whole of that season there were only 3 players who made their débuts for the first team. They were Steve Evans, John Gilbert and David Vickers. All three of them had come through the ‘A’ team and knew their first team colleagues really well before they got their first team opportunity.

Nowadays it would seem that the mind-set of club owners, administrators and coaches is to make wholesale changes in the squad every year, never allowing a team to build. In the last 4 years an unbelievable 73 players have made their Rovers débuts.

Year	Making Débuts	Dual Reg	Loan Signings
2015	25	5	1
2016	18	7	4
2017	13	7	2
2018	17	8	6

But it’s not just Fev! Over the close season we have kept a careful eye out for each club’s announcements of signings. This is what we have found.

Club	Signings for 2019
Barrow Raiders	8
Batley Bulldogs	9
Bradford Bulls	7
Dewsbury Rams	18
Featherstone Rovers	15
Halifax	6
Leigh Centurions	17
Rochdale Hornets	15
Sheffield Eagles	14
Swinton Lions	14
Toronto Wolfpack	6
Toulouse Olympique	8
Widnes Vikings	6
York City Knights	11
TOTAL	154

That’s an average of 11 per club and that’s before we get to dual reg and loan signings during the season.

In October we will, as usual, be making a Christmas cake. Each year we make a wish whilst stirring in the ingredients. This year our wish will be that most of the players who make their débuts in 2020 will be youngsters coming up from the reserves. Players who will already know how to play with the more established members of the team.

T’Other Side: Halifax

T’Other Side: Halifax

Halifax tend to make fewer signings in the off-season than most Championship teams. No doubt their reserve team is one of the major reasons for this. Because of this being a pre-season game it is likely that some of Halifax reserve squad will get a run-out so we have listed both their first team squad and their reserve squad.

FIRST TEAM SQUAD

RESERVE TEAM SQUAD

LAST TIME OUT

Head Coach: Richard Marshall

This is his fifth year as head coach at Halifax. He had a very successful first year taking Halifax into the Qualifiers. Results dipped somewhat in his second season, but for the last two years they made the Qualifiers again.

Richard Marshall’s playing career started at Halifax where he spent six seasons. When he left Fax he had spells at Huddersfield-Sheffield Giants, London Broncos, Leigh Centurions and Swinton, retiring in 2007.  He played two games for Ireland in the 2003 European Nations Cup. Richard’s playing position was prop or second row.

Captain: Scott Murrell

Some teams have halfbacks with great pace others have players who are brilliant organisers (like Liam Finn!). Scott Murrell definitely comes into the brilliant organisers category. He is without doubt the real controlling force on the pitch for Halifax, commanding huge respect from the rest of his team. He began his career at Leeds Rhinos but made his first team debut for London Broncos in 2004 whilst on loan from Leeds. In 2006 he moved to Hull Kingston Rovers who were then in National League One. After securing promotion to the Super League at the end of that season he remained with Hull KR for a further 6 seasons before signing for Halifax in 2013. In 2010 he made an appearance off the bench for England.

New Signings for 2019

Dual Registration and Loans

Halifax had dual registration agreements with Castleford Tigers and Newcastle Thunder last year. We are unaware of any plans for 2019. 

The Fev Connection

There are three players in this year’s Halifax squad this year who have previously played for Rovers. Ben Kaye  was a very popular hooker at Post Office Road for three years. Will Sharp was a great favourite during his time with Fev from 2013 to 2015. He scored many crucial tries including the last minute ones against Sheffield which took Fev into the play-offs in 2013 and the one which beat Batley in 2015 when Fev snatched victory by scoring 22 points in the last six minutes! Shaun Robinson moved from Fev to Fax during the off-season.

Last year there were 3 players in the Fev squad who had played for Halifax. They have all now left Fev. Richard Moore to Hunslet, Anthony Thackeray to Sheffield and Sam Brooks to Leigh. Morgan Punchard is the only one of our current squad who has been at Halifax but he never got to play in the first team there.

Fev v Hunslet Club Parkside: Teams and Scorers Pre-Season

Fev v Hunslet Club Parkside: 
Teams and Scorers
Pre-Season