@sandgroper I agree with most of what you say. However as regards SL clubs losing their access to talent from Championship clubs if some disappear I disagree somewhat. 1. They are gambling that the Championship clubs that provide most such players e.g. us will survive. 2. They believe they will still attract most players from current Championship catchment areas direct e.g. Richardson & Smith direct from School & amateur club status as they will always be more attractive than a lesser funded Championship side. Yes they will miss out on a few players if clubs disappear but not enough to discouarage them from their present greed unless IMG adresses the problem of underfunded Championship clubs which at present it is not doing as far as I can see.
Long to Wakey is a big surprise!
No game this week, so we may as well chat in the Widnes forum. Long's departure could have implications for the play offs that hopefully we are involved in so slightly Widnes related.
So that's Burgess to Warrington, Long to Wakefield and Ward to Cas. Wakefield vs Cas next week should be some game!
The rumours before Long left Fev were that he and Big Sam would be taking over at Wire next year.
I would imagine that he will only be at Wakey until the end of the season.
I still can't get my head around Burgess taking over at wire but let's hope it doesn't work out.
Burgess coach in SL ?
pedigree - coached a second grade feeder team, with access to better players
off to the dire with a big dosh backer and maybe shorty as his number 2
they are welcome to that, prefer our option
onwards and upwards
Interesting reading this thread as a Fev fan. I think the departure of Long makes a lot more sense to those of us who have watched them all season whereas it seems to have puzzled people who are just looking at the league table.
We (Fev) have been the most consistent team in the division as the table illustrates, but there are areas of vulnerability particularly in terms of structure, both in attack and defence, which have been screamingly obvious to most fans all year. In most games Fev have been able to dominate and wear down their opponents, but when teams have managed to compete with us they have been able to exploit those structural weaknesses.
The most obvious of those games was the Toulouse one, where we rolled them up the middle and dominated in terms of field position, but couldn't break them and conceded a string of tries out wide.
Long doesn't seem to have had an answer for this and frankly as a fan I think we would be very vulnerable to anyone who played well against us in the play-offs. Whether Ford is the answer I'm not sure, but with some of the scoring system stacked against us - notably the catchment area - I know that those in charge at Fev feel it's now or never in terms of reaching SL.
Lord Lucan I understand your point as I can't see you keep spending if don't go up this year. Hope you rest players in our game at the end of the season because 2 points might just get us in the playoffs. 😂👍🥖🥖🇫🇷
@pascal Well, you will be playing us a week after we have visted Toulouse, which will definitely be a game we will take very seriously as at the moment they have the psychological advantage over us having run up a big score at the Millennium Stadium.
As for whether we would keep spending next year if we are still in the Championship, only Mark Campbell will know that. But he's clearly done the sums for the IMG scoring system and if he thinks there is no prospect of SL after this year I wouldn't blame him if he walked away. This is one of the dangers of the new IMG system - if this had been brought in 2 or 3 years ago I think Leigh would have found themselves in a pretty similar position to Fev in terms of the IMG points system not being in their favour, and there's little doubt Beaumont would have walked away if that had happened, and one of the game's biggest success stories in recent times wouldn't have happened.
Lord Lucan spot on mate it is a nice story at Leigh and not the usual teams at Wembley for a change. Personally I was think it should be on the pitch who gets promoted and relegated. Unfortunately our team is not good enough on the pitch to be promoted, but it be nice for us to get into the playoffs. We have been dreadful for years and lately improved though.
Hope you are top and a few points ahead come the last game mate. 🥖🥖🥖👍🤞