fevnut's musings 2023/#22: Halfbacks, Barrow and Hookers

 

Halfbacks

There has been so much to feel positive about for Fev supporters this season. Ten points clear at the top of the table with just eight rounds remaining means that we only need three further wins to claim the 2023 Championship League Leaders Shield. Well, that’s not strictly true, but bearing in mind how far we are ahead of the others in points difference, six points should do it.

However, the bigger picture is, of course, not that but rather going on to win the Million Pound Game and then to establish ourselves as a competitive club in Super League.

Thinking about that, Leigh have set us a wonderful example but we do have a major issue of concern. We are in little doubt that our somewhat patchy performances in several games has been as a result of difficulties in the halfback positions.

In the twenty games we have played in 2023 we have used no less than 10 different halfback pairings. When the season started it was clear that our principal halfback combination would be Johnathon Ford and Riley Dean with promising youngster, Thomas Lacans, there to provide back-up and to allow us to rest Ford and Dean when required.

But then our ill fortune struck with injury to Ford and Dean recalled from his supposed season-long loan. It does beg the question as to whether it was a wise move to rely on using a loan signing in such an important position.

The consequences have been that we have ended up having to bring in another youngster on loan and we have used four players at halfback who are not specialists in the position.

Now we have brought back the much-loved Dane Chisholm but it remains to be seen whether he will be able to fulfil not only the creativity but also the leadership that the team needs.

A lot of words have been spoken about Leigh’s strength last season and their wonderful performance in Super League. We find it interesting that last season they used just four players at halfback. Their predominant pairing was Joe Mellor and Ben Reynolds who played 18 games together and then later in the year they brought in Lachlan Lam for the last eight games who played with Joe Mellor and Brierley moved to fullback. So, they had a lot of stability to take them through the year and very importantly those three have continued, serving them well, into Super League.

 

 

Barrow

Was it worth going to watch this match? There was a lot of frustration seeing us only winning by 10 points against a team which, on paper, we should have beaten by a much larger score.

But nevertheless, it was worth it for a number of reasons. Not for anything would we have missed seeing Dane Chisholm back in a Fev shirt and he put in two great try creating kicks. That’s something we have definitely been lacking recently. Worrying that he came off injured. Let’s hope our half-back problems haven’t struck again.

James Lockwood gives everything to the cause but nevertheless he had his best game this year and we note that League Express named him as man of the match.

But, even so, had we been choosing the Man of the Match we would have given it to Arama Hau. He was terrific, his try was brilliant and what a player this teenager is going to become. Wherever he goes we will be closely watching his performances.

 

 

Hookers

Even during our time of watching Rugby League, let alone stretching back to 1921, hooker is the position that has undergone the most changes over the years. Nowadays it is ‘hooker’ only in name and the real importance of the ‘Number 9’ has become dummy-half requiring excellent passing ability, then seeing when a run from dummy-half is on and the ability to be there ready to back up any break.

The result in this change has been hookers scoring a lot more tries, which used to be quite a rare occurrence. In 1921/22, Fev’s first season, not a single try was scored by a hooker. It wasn’t until the following season that Charlie Hepworth scored a try in what was Fev’s 53rd game in the professional ranks. Unimaginable now!

The first Fev hooker to score tries more often was Willis Fawley who scored 17 in the 1959/60 including a hat trick against York on Christmas Day 1959. However, although he played for Fev for 17 seasons, in no other year did he reach double figures.

The only other hookers to get into double figures before the ‘summer era’ were Keith Bridges in 1973/74 and Trevor Clark in 1989/90.

As we move into the ‘summer era’ we have had two hookers whose try scoring achievements have been notable. As you can see from our chart Richard Chapman was a prolific try scorer for a number of years.

All this was prompted by Connor Jones scoring tries so regularly and it is amazing that he does so when he is rarely on the pitch for more than half a game. Last year he set a new record for try scoring hookers at Fev with 21. In 2023 he has now scored 17 so, if he stays injury free, he could well break his own record by the end of the year. We are blessed to have a hooker who is so fast both physically and mentally. A joy to watch!