From the below article, Mac seems more concerned than Lam: https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/fe ... -14-teams/

From the below article, Mac seems more concerned than Lam: https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/fe ... -14-teams/

Agreed 100% on Ford.
He will improve them a little in the organizational areas on the field, but I would not take him over Ben or Joe, (or our various options for cover in the squad for that matter as they are all very capable and flexible). I was and still am, very happy we did not sign him. He will improve them in my opinion but we have so much improvement to come, that his factor is limited.
I also agree with what you say on the Ben thread about the Fev side looking older and less energetic. I noted that Ferres and Lockwood were really struggling with the pace and power of our pack after a few minutes in.
Anything could still happen between now and then but I am quietly confident right now.

I think we have the future potential to beat Huddersfield but on Saturday, I don’t think we would. We didn’t play our best rugby at times, and Hudds would have made a couple of our mistakes/pens count. They would also have not have run out of steam like Fev did.

Bent&Bongser wrote:From the below article, Mac seems more concerned than Lam: https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/fe ... -14-teams/ It's hard to disagree with both coaches here. What good will making the Elite competition smaller do? We have to realise that the player pool is dying because of the top clubs and it needs to be fixed. Why shouldn't Leigh and Featherstone go up when they have money to spend to improve the competition? Blocking Leigh from having an academy is an example- which sport blocks the 11th best English club from having an academy? The sport over here is shooting itself in the foot and I think going to two 10s will be shooting itself in the foot again. Derek and Mark are both ploughing money into their clubs and entertaining players are joining their clubs. How is this bad for the game over here and for Super League? I'll tell you why, because the top clubs look after themselves, it's been this way for years.

Bent&Bongser wrote:From the below article, Mac seems more concerned than Lam: https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/fe ... -14-teams/ It's hard to disagree with both coaches here. What good will making the Elite competition smaller do? We have to realise that the player pool is dying because of the top clubs and it needs to be fixed. Why shouldn't Leigh and Featherstone go up when they have money to spend to improve the competition? Blocking Leigh from having an academy is an example- which sport blocks the 11th best English club from having an academy? The sport over here is shooting itself in the foot and I think going to two 10s will be shooting itself in the foot again. Derek and Mark are both ploughing money into their clubs and entertaining players are joining their clubs. How is this bad for the game over here and for Super League? I'll tell you why, because the top clubs look after themselves, it's been this way for years.

May be so.I think the pace of the game in the first half was good we moved up real quick and bashed em which is one reason they ran out of steam late on. we did make a couple of mistakes when hall scored and wildie knocked on.I think we would have pressurised hudds and who knows
We still need some competition at half back which would improve us. lets hope everyone stays fit and we can rotate the team to maintain a peak

What a stadium, what a great cup competition for the second tier of British Rugby League.

Having now watched the match on iPlayer, I am able to make a more informed opinion on the game. 5 tries to 2 suggest a dominant Leigh performance, but I saw enough from Featherstone to suggest that they will cause problems in the games to come.

In the first half Leigh got pinged for dissent (our Captain), Off-side by the player stood next to the ref, and a horrible bit of play acting from Featherstone trying to play the ball on a prone player. 3 acts of stupidity and 6 points converted. In the 2nd half Inu got in the act with a strange entanglement and act of petulance, further compounded by dissent. In cold light of day, Lammy will not be impressed.

Featherstone lost their discipline in the 2nd half getting pinged 6 times in first 10 minutes, this resulted in a period of dominance for Leigh.

Both team got lucky with tries awarded off forward passes and the ref in my opinion got most other things right. The exception is always going to be controversial ball steals. At around 67 minutes Chamberlain running the ball out on the Leigh line, was picked up and dropped in a baby crusher tackle, whilst the other defender had his hand on the bottom of the ball. It is no surprise that the ball came out, it is the laws of physics in play. This was deemed a loose carry. 2 minutes later on the Featherstone line Leigh get called for a ball steal in a similar situation. It is a horrible rule and is based entirely on interpretation.
The other thing about the ref was the amount of head shots that Featherstone committed, and only in the 75th minute did he decide to place on report a head shot/crusher tackle (not sure which the ref called).

Regarding the game, Leigh was big in defence and made plenty yards up the middle, Asiata however was sucked in as an extra prop instead of his usual play maker role. Reynolds kicked well and Mellor buzzed without being effective. Aekins was solid in defence but less effective in attack than usual.

Ipape as pointed out by everyone was monumental, with big tackles and darting runs. His try was pure class and he deserved the MoM award by a country mile.

The celebrations after the game will live long in the memory. Delighted for Deggsy, Lammy and Chessy. Delighted for all the players including those that did not make the match day squad. Delighted for the travelling contingent, we might have been out numbered but we made a huge noise. Delighted for all Leigh fans watching at home.

If you have not been to LSV all season, then get yourself down and swell those numbers. This team deserves our support.

They're a good side.



Discipline not great, but finals can cause this. Hope the lads learn from the experience and handle it more calmly next time.



I felt this was a result of tiredness - we worked Fev very hard in the first half and they were tiring. They never handled our physicality going forward.



Would enjoy nothing more than to be at LSV watching these lads, but finances do not agree...