Honestly mate..... in knock out footy fax put the sh its up me. Sooner play toulouse.

Weird int it. Even though we got totally dominated today Ive still come away thinking you what you never know in the play offs.

No surprises at all for me, I posted it would be our biggest defeat against Rovers, I keep saying it, Fev are that strong.
Not straight forward to compare but having watched both sides would you say this team / squad is stronger than the DP side Robin?

Yes.... notwithstanding 2010 final, fev were way and
above the best team in the league back then.
The championship has improved at lot in ten years.
I'd say this team is better than the 2010 cohort but have in Toronto two years ago and toulouse this year, some formidable opponents who so far were/are even better.
Some twists to come yet

Agree as always about JWH. I think some of the players have taken their foot off the gas knowing that they were already in the play offs. Thankfully McComb, Saltonstall, Worthington and Woodburn Hall are continuing their good form. As for the forwards the question still stands as to whether they are able to switch it on for a play off game. Still beggars belief regarding Gadwin

As expected Fev were bigger stronger and faster all over the pitch.Annoying and frustrating that we have a squad that is so restricted at the business end of the season.Forget any revenge in a later playoff we were embarrassing at times and the try we conceded straight after our first try was the worst I can ever remember conceding.

It was a complete duck up that try.... then popping the ball up straight from the kick off in the second half..... that just put the game out of fax's reach.
They were the only daft tries this aft either. The whole game was flashes of brilliance breaking the tedium of long periods of ineptitude.
In the end we had way too much up front.

I hope grix has reflected on his mistake with allowing Springerto go , in that sometimes in life to achieve you have to work with people who are not your best mate.

Tough game to watch at times and certainly highlighted the gap between the top two and the rest . As regards springer it wouldn’t be so hard to swallow if he had been replaced with someone equally as good . If you actually break down the new look panthers it’s not that much different, springer, borough Hewitt gone , Robinson and rawsthorne injured for half the season , worthingtons all round game is good but 1 try all season isn’t enough . On the plus side McComb as played well and looks a threat , Liam Harris as played well at times and Murray is steady but we really need some oomph in our forwards .

I think Grix was unwise to have both Borough and Hewitt in the starting 17 at the start of the year with the threat of them being recalled always being there. I do wonder what 'really' is has been the turning point for Fev to be so much better than us on the field. There is a considerable gap. They had the season a couple of years back when they lost to Toronto with the rent-a-squad farce but the gulf is certainly wider. With Leigh coming down, - might be more of the same running big, quality squads that no one can realistically compete with. If we then revert to the 2 x 10 for superleague then it's anyone's guess.

Not sure if Eliott would have made a difference today but certainly we need another 2 props and another big second-rower as neither Garside of Kavanagh are of that ilk. Not much to be made of it this season but would actually love to hear about where both Rawsthorne and Jones are. Absolute zero comms about either of them. Perhaps the lads doing the media stream can ask Grxy at some point!

What you see on the pitch is often an extension from off the pitch.
The facts are Fev are a stronger club than us in this area as well.
Bigger home support.
Owning their ground.
Revenues from their own clubhouse and bar.
MC and co with their financial input and support.
All these areas add up to bigger and better input and output streams.
Wether we like to think so or not they are the bigger club.

Even with Springer still onboard it wouldn’t have altered Fev’s dominance in the middle.
Seems to me Fax are going with what they have for this year and concentrating on signing players for next season.

Sadly completely agree with this - end result being we're competing against a better quality squad at Featherstone and even more important at this time of the season 9ne 50% bigger than ours allowing them to rotate players and drop those not performing - Fax on the other hand are now having to go with what's left each week - knackered or not. I still believe a fully fit Fax first 17 would be competitive - even against Fev - admittedly I'm including Borough and Hewitt in this - we just don't have the depth of squad the top 2 have to remain a genuine contender for promotion.

Yes you’re right however when fax played Toulouse/ fev earlier in the season we had springer Hewitt bourouh all of borderline of super league ilk and we were more competitive . Both the springer and the bourouh one irritate me the most , I have no problem with Grix letting springer go but I think there should of been a replacement already waiting or they would agree he could go at the end of the season, our pack is light and a few more injuries or covid related problems and we’ ll really struggle . Bourouh as played about 40 mins for Wigan since he’s gone and not been in the last two squads , the loan agreement is supposed to benefit both clubs and the player , if lamm is picking shorrocks ahead of him he clearly doesn’t trust or rate him would have made more sense to see his time out with us before a move to Salford .

As regards yesterday’s game regardless who we are playing silly penalties and dropping the ball as got to stop its not Grix it’s the players who’ve got to up their game , perfect day for rugby and constant handling errors is not acceptable.

For next season to be competitive at the highest level we need a couple of props a quality loose forward and a winger to replace McGrath/ rawsthorne who aren’t good enough, and that’s at least .

There were a lot of fans who wanted to attribute Fev's success in 2019 and indeed in previous years almost solely to DR but a few of us said repeatedly that was a red herring, it did mean that we didn't have to bother running with such a big squad but we weren't really bringing in players who were much better than the ones we had.

I do think the overall standards in the division have slipped a little since Covid though.