fevnut's musings 2024/#11: Trinity, Table Position, Connor Jones and Tom Holmes
Lightning
didn’t strike twice!
Last week’s
match against Wakefield ended up, for the second week running, in what we have
to describe as a very honourable defeat. It was always going to be very
difficult when you compare the resources that Wakefield have to spend on their
team and the fact that they are full-time. And then you have to add in to that
the huge motivational factor for Trinity brought on by losing to us in the
Challenge Cup.
Yes, we
were beaten, but our Fev team fought well right through the 80 minutes. In the
end, the difference was in the chances that Wakefield created for Lachlan
Walmsley combined with our defensive frailty down that side of the field.
It was no
surprise when Manoa Wacokecoke was taken off but, despite his current defensive
shortcomings, he has bags of potential and we hope that he is given plenty of help
in developing both the physical and mental strength in his ability to defend.
After all, only a week earlier we saw what he can achieve with the ball when
attacking.
Maybe it
was too much to ask pitting him in the defensive line against such a potent
attacking force as Walmsley. We should remember that last season, playing for a
Halifax team that only managed to finish in eighth place, he scored 38 tries in
31 matches which included three matches in which he managed four tries. You
could argue that Manoa had coped well enough against him in the cup match but
that was on a pitch which negated both Walmsley’s speed and skill.
It’s always
interesting looking at the votes Fev fans give for Man of the Match. The
runaway leader for last week’s game was Caleb Aekins and we thought that was
absolutely the right decision. However, we did notice that one fan didn’t have
Caleb amongst the three he or she voted for. Was this supporter at the match?!
Our final
thought about the Wakefield game is to report that we have a very dear friend
who is a Trinity supporter. After the match she texted me with this: ”I have to say this
game was the first for over a year when I was excited and at the same time
nervous. After last year's rubbish, it was a welcome return to enjoying a match!”.
Of course, we
would have preferred Fev to win, but we are glad that the match gave an old friend
so much pleasure. Getting excited at RL matches is such an important part of life!
So, now it’s
on to face Bradford and hoping (and expecting) that we will further enhance our
remarkable current run of 8 consecutive wins against them.
The Championship Table
As all our readers will
be aware, fevnut loves statistics but also knows that they should never be relied
upon. From week one of a league campaign we keep the league table because it is interesting to
look back and see how much or little it changes during the year.
When we saw that we are
currently lying in 8th position we took a look to see when was the last time we
sat outside of the play-off positions.
The 2019 season started
rather poorly for Rovers, losing three of our first five games. The thirteenth
round took place on the week ending May 5th, and despite going away to Rochdale
and thrashing them 56-10 it still left us down in 7th place. That year the top
5 teams qualified for the play-offs, so we were two places adrift. However, in
our next match which was against York at Blackpool Summer Bash we came out
42-10 winners which saw us jump to 5th in the table and we were never to be
outside the play-off positions again (until now!).
On July 7th we got up to
4th, back down to 5th the following week and there we stayed for the rest of
the year, narrowly claiming our play-off spot by a single point over Bradford
Bulls.
Interesting to note that
by the end of the season four of the five clubs that had occupied the play-off
spots were the same as they had been 14 weekly rounds earlier. The only change
was Featherstone qualifying and Sheffield dropping down to 7th. In fact eight
of the fourteen clubs were still in exactly the same position.
Connor Jones
Assuming that Connor plays on Sunday it will be his
100th appearance for Rovers and we hope that the Rovers crowd will give him a
massive cheer when his name is announced during the reading-out of the team
sheet. His efforts for Fev deserve nothing less. It has been a real pleasure
watching him and on so many occasions we have marvelled at his fantastic
acceleration from a standing start and his great knack of finding a gap, and
scoring, when receiving the ball at dummy half just a few yards from the
opposition line.
His 99 games hitherto have encompassed 48 as
starting hooker, 2 starts at centre and 49 appearances off the bench. In those
games he has scored 66 tries which is particularly remarkable bearing in mind so many games
as a sub. He has scored 4 hat tricks; against London Broncos in 2021, against
Whitehaven and Workington (5 tries) in 2022 and against London Broncos again in
2023.
In those 99 games he has never been sent off and has just once received a yellow card.
While thinking about Connor’s feats as a Fev hooker our mind turned to thoughts of the many excellent hookers who have played for Rovers. With our Fev database it was a simple matter to pull together a list of all who have made at least 50 appearances for Fev in what we used to call the Number 9 shirt. Here they are. Connor needs just two more starting games as hooker to join this illustrious list.
It looks extremely unlikely that anyone will ever knock Willis Fawley off the top spot!
Tom Holmes
We were very sad to learn of the serious illness
that has befallen Tom. We got to know him a little bit when he worked for the
Rovers Foundation and he was a highly reliable and effective member of the
Foundation team and he also made a great contribution to the Rugby League Cares ‘Offload’
programme helping men address issues of mental health.
So, although he obviously won’t be playing for
Bradford on Sunday, a few days ago we were delighted to read that he has been
given the go ahead to start what will be a long process towards getting his life
and, hopefully, his rugby career back on track. I am sure that all Featherstone
Fans would wish to join us in wishing him as speedy a recovery as is possible.
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