fevnut's musings 2025/#05: Huddersfield, Championship Contenders and a Miscellany

 

It’s very difficult to judge the potential of a team from their pre-season games. It is not at all unusual for Championship sides to gain victories over Super League opposition in these games.

As well as our win against Huddersfield, this year York have beaten Hull KR (26-12), Widnes beat Warrington (36-22), Barrow beat Salford (58-12) and Bradford beat Huddersfield (28-14).

Two years ago, of course we started the year by defeating both Castleford and Hull KR.

However, our game last week was a bit different. Most often in games of this sort, the Super League team will play a large number of reserve and academy players and frequently have none of their expected usual starting thirteen on the pitch for much of the second half. The side that Huddersfield put out included 19 players from their first team squad with just four from their reserves.

Before we get carried away, we do have to remember that they were missing their first-choice half backs and hooker but then Fev were very much weakened by a bug that had been running through the camp during the week. We know that one of the coaching staff who succumbed to it spent several days in bed prior to the game.

So maybe, just maybe, we can read more into the result than we would usually do. Every single Fev player contributed to the win, and we definitely have a team that are far more committed than last year.

For us, the most outstanding achievement was our goal line defence. In the second half we were pinned back for almost twenty minutes without getting a single play-the-ball in Huddersfield’s half, but we still managed to only concede the one try. There were several occasions last season when our goal-line defence was woeful!

There were so many outstanding performances but we would like to mention one. It came as a nice surprise when we got our copy of League Express and saw that had named Josh Hardcastle as Fev’s man of the match. Yes, we were surprised but we were also in total agreement. Josh was magnificent in both attack and defence but in a way that often goes without notice. Indeed he often goes without notice because he simply gets on with it without being spectacular. A player of huge value to the team.

There’s one date firmly etched in our mind. That’s March 30th, when we play the Bradford Bulls. It will be a really big test when you realise the way they have strengthened their squad, and we will know a lot more about our potential after that game.

 

Championship Contenders in 2025

During the off-season we pay careful attention to each club’s new signings (especially Championship clubs) and the way that their squad is developing.

We are not generally in the game of making predictions for the forthcoming season but we have, nevertheless, been watching with interest, and we think that there are six clubs who we would expect to be in contention to possibly win the Championship Grand Final and are, at the least, strong contenders for making it into the play-offs. They are, in no particular order -

Featherstone Rovers: All we have seen so far gives us confidence that we can be there or thereabouts at the end of the year. Fev have the largest number of new signings which can be a problem early in the season, but they seem to be gelling very well so hopefully that won’t be a handicap. The signings include a good blend of promising youngsters together with some valuable experience, particularly in the forwards.

Bradford Bulls: Their new recruits look, on paper, to make for a very strong squad. They have a new halfback pairing in James Meadows (who was a stand-out for London Broncos in 2024) and Joe Keyes. Jordan Lilley has been given the number 9 shirt so we can probably expect to see him at hooker but be available to slot into the halves if, and when, it is necessary.

Toulouse Olympique: They have only, so far, brought in three new players but they are bound to be a strong contender having finished second in the table and got to the Grand Final in 2024. It was a disappointing end losing to Wakefield 36-0 but they are nevertheless likely to be among the contenders again.

York Knights: A mixed bag for York in 2024, but they got stronger and stronger as the season progressed and they have now considerably strengthened, not least with bringing in Paul McShane. No changes at half-back but why would they with the way the partnership between Ata Hingano and Liam Harris developed and they also have good cover there. Amongst their recruits is Jack Brown (prop) who was good for Fev on dual reg last season.

Widnes Vikings: Last season they made it into the play-offs for the first time since they were relegated from Super League in 2018. A lot will depend on whether they can get the best out of Dec Patton whose contribution was very variable for Fev in 2024. Three out of their six new signings are in there thirties as will be Patton come May. They have recruited a young hooker (Aidan Doolan) from Warrington as support for Matty Fozzard and we wait to see how effective he will be. We suspect quite a lot will depend on who they are able to use from their dual-reg agreement with Warrington who have a lot of quality players who will need game time.

Sheffield Eagles: Their season fell apart last year when Mark Aston was suspended but we have included them primarily following the appointment of Craig Lingard as their new head coach. Craig brought the very best out of the Batley squad when he was there and he now has a considerably stronger team with whom to work. New signings are small in number compared to Fev, Bradford and York but there is quality there with Jack Bussey, Morgan Smith, Jack Walker and the return to rugby league of Masi Matongo.

 

Miscellany 

Why is it that international matches command such a low profile in rugby league compared to most other major team sports? We keep a close eye on developments and we were delighted to see that Morocco, who have not played an international match since 2019, will be playing against France on February 22nd. The African continent could become very important in rugby league with big developments in Ghana and Nigeria and there is always the potential to grow the sport in South Africa.

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A new rugby league website is now available and we think that the standard of the articles on it are quite a lot better than on most of the others. It is called All Out RL and the website can be reached via  https://www.alloutrugbyleague.co.uk/

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Last week we wrote about our experience in theatre lighting and its relevance to the state of our floodlights at Post Office Road. Well, that’s our excuse for penning a few words which have nothing to do with rugby league. It was with much sadness we learned about the death of Brian Murphy who many will recall from ‘George and Mildred’ and ‘Man about the House’. He was also a very fine theatre actor who was happy to give his time helping youngsters. Back in the early 1970s we were teaching Drama at a comprehensive school in East Ham, London. We decided to direct a school production of ‘Oh! What a Lovely War’ which had started its life at the Theatre Royal, just up the road from the school. Somehow, Brian, who had been in the original production, got to hear that we were planning to do it, and he got in touch asking whether we would like him to come along and do some work with our cast. That was a wonderful gesture which we were delighted to accept. He came down and explained to them how the show had been put together under the auspices of the great director, Joan Littlewood, who got the cast to imagine what was in the minds of the participants in the First World War that led to the writing of some great songs and then improvised the scenes accordingly. Brian led our students in doing similar improvisations. I can say without any doubt whatsoever that our school production was much, much better than it would have been without Brian’s input. And it solved a big problem I was struggling with. Being a play about the futility of war, there was a lack of good acting parts for the girls. So we took ‘Keep the Home Fires Burning’ and used the improvisational skills they had learned from Brian to create new scenes about the lives of the women who partners were away in the trenches. Thank you, Brian, a lovely man who we will always remember.

The flags above represent all the nations that, under current rugby league rules, members of the 2025 Fev squad have played for, or are eligible to play for.