Match thread: Championship Round 1. Batley Bulldogs v Featherstone Rovers. Sunday 17th March 2024. 3.00pm.

So, here we are then. After two pre-season friendlies, two 1895 Cup matches and three Challenge Cup ties, the league season is finally upon us. Only for a week as we'll go back to the Cup the week after.

The rest of March now looks pretty tough with the always difficult trip to Batley followed by SL opposition away and then Wakey again.

We seem to have a squad of about 27 players at the moment. Let's see who turns out at Batley.

17 Squad: Josh Hardcastle, Connor Jones, Gareth Gale, Brad Day, Gadwin Springer, Caleb Aekins, Thomas Lacans, Wellington Albert, Brad England, Greg Minikin, Danny Addy, Harry Bowes, Moris Kamano, Manoa Wacokecoke, Connor Wynne, Keenan Tomlinson and Paul Turner

1 DR: Zach Fishwick

3 Fringe: Connor Moore, Oliver Farrar, Charlie Harris

5 Injured: Jayden Tanner, Jack Bussey, McKenzie Yei, Nathan Massey, Jack Arnold

1 Suspended: Dean Roberts

Hopefully Turner will be available after his arrival from Australia.

Minikin's suspension is finished.

Perhaps we can keep Fishwick on DR.

Bussey is out for 2/3 weeks according to Ford.

Maybe Tanner or Yei will be ready to play?

We haven't seen Moore in action yet.

Think Turner might need a week or two once he arrives as he was recovering from an injury until fairly recently.

Interesting that in his post-game interview on Sunday Fordy said "there's some new players coming in next week", we know about Turner but I wonder if he meant players returning from injury, DR additions or maybe someone else?

We'll need to keep an eye on Batley's new prolific tryscoring sensation, with 4 tries already this season this L Cooper fella has been terrorising defences.

It is now definitely confirmed as 3pm even though several websites (including the RL Match Centre) are still showing it as 2pm.

It states on our Official web site and Twitter that it is a 3pm kick off.

     On the Batley  Club page the kick off is still showing 2-0 pm.But on the buy Tickets page it is showing a 3-0 pm kick off.One would assume that the time on the tickets is the correct one.Also no discount for concessions entry £20 like we do at Fev.It will be interesting to see if they keep it at £20 for games against other teams.

32 minutes ago, sentoffagain2 said:

     On the Batley  Club page the kick off is still showing 2-0 pm.But on the buy Tickets page it is showing a 3-0 pm kick off.One would assume that the time on the tickets is the correct one.Also no discount for concessions entry £20 like we do at Fev.It will be interesting to see if they keep it at £20 for games against other teams.

Us, Batley and Dewsbury are 3 Championship clubs (there could well be others) not offering (OAP) concessions this season

17 hours ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

Think Turner might need a week or two once he arrives as he was recovering from an injury until fairly recently.

Interesting that in his post-game interview on Sunday Fordy said "there's some new players coming in next week", we know about Turner but I wonder if he meant players returning from injury, DR additions or maybe someone else?

We'll need to keep an eye on Batley's new prolific tryscoring sensation, with 4 tries already this season this L Cooper fella has been terrorising defences.

Hall, Aydin and Tennison available this weekend, rumour has it.

17 hours ago, sentoffagain2 said:

     On the Batley  Club page the kick off is still showing 2-0 pm.But on the buy Tickets page it is showing a 3-0 pm kick off.One would assume that the time on the tickets is the correct one.Also no discount for concessions entry £20 like we do at Fev.It will be interesting to see if they keep it at £20 for games against other teams.

It's £20for all games. What makes you think you're so special  Defo a 15:00 KO

3 hours ago, Michael Bates said:

Hall, Aydin and Tennison available this weekend, rumour has it.

Willie Peters via Matthew Shaw: "Zach Fishwick played for Featherstone at the weekend and we've got a few more going to Featherstone again this week."

https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/hull-krs-loan-market-conundrum-9162484

Not surprising as Fordy has said all along that DR players would feature and the start of the league season was always where we were likely to see the first significant batch.

Not keen on DR , so Peters wants his fringe players to have game time with us. What about our fringe players having a game. There is no promotion so give our lads a chance to prove themselves. One DR Ok but a few is a no go.

18 hours ago, Les Tonks Sidestep said:

Us, Batley and Dewsbury are 3 Championship clubs (there could well be others) not offering (OAP) concessions this season

Mainly because the majority of the crowds qualify for concessions. It isn't called "the old man's league" for nothing (with apologies to the women).

19 minutes ago, Blind side johnny said:

Mainly because the majority of the crowds qualify for concessions. It isn't called "the old man's league" for nothing (with apologies to the women).

   Ah and we  are daft enough to pay it.Mind you only £10 if you fancy watching  Wakey.

9 hours ago, Michael Bates said:

Hall, Aydin and Tennison available this weekend, rumour has it.

Ryan Hall - not bad 

26 minutes ago, RobLambert said:

Ryan Hall - not bad 

Corey not Ryan

5 hours ago, sentoffagain2 said:

   Ah and we  are daft enough to pay it.Mind you only £10 if you fancy watching  Wakey.

I've spoken to plenty of Rovers fans who have said they won't be going again because it's £20 for concessions, but how long can the club keep charging £15 ? EVERYTHING is going up so it had to go up, could they have made it £17 ?  What do other fans think ?

2 minutes ago, Fevrover said:

I've spoken to plenty of Rovers fans who have said they won't be going again because it's £20 for concessions, but how long can the club keep charging £15 ? EVERYTHING is going up so it had to go up, could they have made it £17 ?  What do other fans think ?

    It is obvious that Fev Batley and Dewsbury have come to an agreement about knocking off the concession for pensioners.We all know they need more money but without SL promotion clubs have keep a restraint on their biggest outgoings players wages.I hate saying it because they deserve much more than the Championship clubs can afford.As i said in my post this will be the last season  for me with nothing tangible to play for.I will probably pick out an amateur game to watch on a Saturday.

The club should have put it out for consultation, and then they should have a better idea of the strength of feeling by the pensioners.

Every bill seems to be going up , and has to be paid,  but going to watch the Rovers does not have to happen. It is choice but bills have to be paid ( or there are consequences)  A £5 is not a fortune but to some pensioners it could be the difference of eating/heating  or not. 

So only the club has to make these decisions , and either rise or fall by their actions.

                Sundays game i have seen Batley twice this season and if we play anywhere near like we did against Wakey we will win.This season Batley are not so strong down the middle as the past couple of years.And still look to be lacking structure in the half backs and threequarters.So still with my tipping hat on i think Rovers by 8 points.

2 minutes ago, haskey said:

The club should have put it out for consultation, and then they should have a better idea of the strength of feeling by the pensioners.

Every bill seems to be going up , and has to be paid,  but going to watch the Rovers does not have to happen. It is choice but bills have to be paid ( or there are consequences)  A £5 is not a fortune but to some pensioners it could be the difference of eating/heating  or not. 

So only the club has to make these decisions , and either rise or fall by their actions.

   Nail on head i can well afford it and probably about 70% can.But what about the ones existing on just the state pension of about 14k a year for a couple.Some will have rent and council tax to pay.With the cartel of Fev Batley and Dewsbury  all charging £20 i can see a big fall in away support.

At the risk of being shot down in flames how many of the remaining 30% could have one less pint or a 5 less fags per week to make up that shortfall ?  All about priorities I suppose.

Also, just playing Devil's Advocate here,  but how many of our fans would kick off if we didn't sign the best Championship players available because we didn't match other teams entrance fees. I can see the FB entries now saying, "the club has no ambition" or, "Why can they afford xyz player and not us?". It's a really tough decision for the club, but I guess if the team is successful the fans will still turn up, because we all like to be associated with success and to watch our team playing the best rugby it can.

10 hours ago, RobLambert said:

At the risk of being shot down in flames how many of the remaining 30% could have one less pint or a 5 less fags per week to make up that shortfall ?  All about priorities I suppose.

Exactly. I am a pensioner some of whom are better off than those that are still working and some who are not. It's swings and roundabouts. Rugby League has many older people watching than youngsters. So the moral of the story is why doesnt this lurking monster known as IMG try and attract a younger audience. We have yet to see any positive vibes coming from them regarding improving the games stature.

1 hour ago, roversspud said:

Also, just playing Devil's Advocate here,  but how many of our fans would kick off if we didn't sign the best Championship players available because we didn't match other teams entrance fees. I can see the FB entries now saying, "the club has no ambition" or, "Why can they afford xyz player and not us?". It's a really tough decision for the club, but I guess if the team is successful the fans will still turn up, because we all like to be associated with success and to watch our team playing the best rugby it can.

This

1 hour ago, roversspud said:

Also, just playing Devil's Advocate here,  but how many of our fans would kick off if we didn't sign the best Championship players available because we didn't match other teams entrance fees. I can see the FB entries now saying, "the club has no ambition" or, "Why can they afford xyz player and not us?". It's a really tough decision for the club, but I guess if the team is successful the fans will still turn up, because we all like to be associated with success and to watch our team playing the best rugby it can.

   Some fans were bored to tears watching us turn over teams on a third of our budget week after week.Last weeks effort was a breath of fresh air.If last seasons team had put in the same effort against Batley the year before and London last season the club would be at least £150k better off even if we had lost in the final.How many concessions will we lose with the increase?.Over 25% and we will be worse off.

16 hours ago, sentoffagain2 said:

                Sundays game i have seen Batley twice this season and if we play anywhere near like we did against Wakey we will win.This season Batley are not so strong down the middle as the past couple of years.And still look to be lacking structure in the half backs and threequarters.So still with my tipping hat on i think Rovers by 8 points.

So we're s**t all over the park then??