We nearly & with a stronger squad available probably would have beat them. They have lost away to Bradford & today to Sheffield heavily 26 to 4. The other sides they have played have been in the lower half of the table.
I doubt they are good enough to finish second unless they have the money to strengthen. If this form continues I can see them possibly slipping to third or fourth.
It's still early in the campaign, but it's looking like Fev and one other for the top two, rather the (confidently predicted by me) Fev and Toulouse.
As Geoff says, you ran 'em close, they ducked at Odsal, and Sheff have stuffed 'em today.
Is the Championship becoming (Long's Lads apart) an "anyone can beat anyone on the day" league? We won at Batley, 'Haven came away smiling from the Minster City.
I can't see past the Post Office Roaders for number one, but second spot appears to be up for grabs!
Would Olympique be able to retain their full-time status if they didn't bounce back to SL at the first attempt? I'm not sure they could, and a return to playing in the French League is a distinct possibility.
There's still a long way to go, but it's gonna be interesting in the middle tier as the season unfolds!
Spelly.
Agree we could have beaten them, sheff was a bit of a shock, but at the moment it looks like fev s to lose but they were beaten in the cup - perhaps they have a weak team out
Lets not forget they ase dual reg with the Dragons which is a huge plus.
Depends where dragons are playing !
Fev still look a cut above the rest of the teams to me. Toulouse will likely finish top three as I can’t see them losing many in home especially in the heat of summer.
If you watch the Sheffield v Toulouse game highlights on YouTube their tackling and defence looked incredibly weak. MT is probably right that they will win most of their home games but I think clubs are starting to realise that they are very beatable and will have a proper dig both home and away.
Toulpouse have about 16 or 17 good players but the remainder of their squad have been plucked from their reserve team in Elite 1 and they have already had much less luck with injuries than their last stint in the Championship (when they only played 13 games).
For me the Championship looks a fair bit weaker than last year, obviously that's mainly because Leigh are gone but as a Fev fan I don't think we any better than last year so far from an attacking point of view, though we do seem a bit better defensively. We made at least nine handling errors in one half in 3 consecutive games so for the York game we stripped everything back and concentrated on set completion and winning the arm wrestle, and it worked. On form we're probably the best team in the division at the moment but we're not unbeatable as Halifax showed in the Cup (though we were missing Ford, Dean, Aekins, Kopczak, Lockwood and Hankinson that day who would all normally be in the starting 13).
Some unexpected results again yesterday with Barrow getting the better of 'Fax, and Keighley beating Bradford for the fist time since 1945, so...............
As I suggested earlier, it appears that other than Fev, anyone can beat anyone in the Championship this term.
Can we do the biz on you come Good Friday?
Spelly.
@spelly If we play like we did yesterday then yes it is definitely possible.
Hopefully we will have a stronger squad available though. Yesterday we had 7 of our first 17 missing & in addition lost Amor & Owens in the first half.
Before we meet you we have the Dewsbury cup game to deal with but JJ & Hatton should be back for that one
Injury update will be interesting for us
but Toulouse are there to be shot down, Sheffield are the surprise package, but they do it year on year plucking players from south seas and more - fair play to them!
@spelly - if I was a bookmaker pricing up the Good Friday trip to your place I would make it a scratch game. Very very hard to call.