That's another income stream gone unfortunately

Season over unfortunately...

Well on the face of it, it would be great to have a good cup run and it's a shame we didn't get a home draw against easier opposition to start us off but that's just the luck of the draw and if we can't stack up against the stiffer challenges then we would be falling at the first real test hurdle come what may whoever it was.

Now here's the dilemma food for thought bit.

If we were performing to a better standard and maybe in with a chance of going a bit further but not much chance of actually winning it, when so many clubs (especially this year) have put more emphasis on the league over the Challenge Cup what would / should we do?

Focus on the league, the Cup or take each game, league and Cup as they come?

In any event would the amount of progress in the Challenge Cup determine that the season was over after just week 4?

It is the toughest draw we could of got and based on what we have produced so far this season we will be looking at another early exit from the cup and no opportunity in the 1895 cup either.

that is a bad move for the 1895 cup. financial rewards for going further in the competition yet clubs penalised by a lottery of a draw.

Just to clarify,I was meaning the events of yesterday not just the draw..
The draw immediately takes two cups out of the equation.The first 3 league rounds comfirmed our continued absence from the top two.Round 4 confirmed an unlikely shot from third place isnt going to happen..there's no money for the players we need,but Grix is clueless in the forwards anyway,let's good ones go and deems two of his new signings as not been up to it bbefore round 1-which is scandalous..
The DR option(unwanted at best anyway) again was proved yesterday that the attracted players either are unfit,uninterested,no better or recalled......

It seems clear from what you are saying the clarification from a random cup draw turns out to be a rant against the implications of losing a league game , current league position, future league standing prospects, the club being skint, Grix being a clueless scandalous decision making coach, is that correct?

Let me further clarify something on DR and the miss information / miss interpretation surrounding it.

The DR option absolutely is unwanted but your understanding that it should be used to attract the best players is in direct contradiction to what it was actually intended to do.

In this weeks RL Express Martyn Sadler accused Halifax of quote"clearly exploiting the DR rules by including the two established SL players from Cas stating that it was further quote The rule was surely never brought in with the idea of allowing such experienced players as Fonua and Matagi to be effectively loaned out to a Championship Club to allow it to strengthen its squad against an opponent who would be a potential play-off rivals." End quotes.

Martyn Sadlers explanation of the intended purpose of DR mirror the intended goals of several selfish SL clubs led by Ian Lenaghan to turn the Championship and Champ 1 clubs into feeder leagues who would bring on and develope the SL clubs young prospects and then just take back the better ones for themselves as Leeds did with several at Fev.

As MS unwittingly reveals above it's Ian Lenaghan & Co's intentions just to use the rest of rugby league as a supply line that disqualifies it in the first place for me.

Things have moved on and away somewhat from those early days and I can't be bothered to go into all the in's and outs but it basically comes down to what each of the clubs involved doing what they want, with it or without it and points to a lack of leadership from the RFL.

Fev win by some margin

Based on our form can't see past a Fev win, having watched the game last night though, didn't think they were overly impressive. Once they realised they couldn't just bully the Bradford pack into submission, they seemed to struggle for a plan B, and while their goal line defence looked solid enough, Briscoe and Pickersgill at the back looked clueless under the high ball. So overall if our attack functions anywhere near how it did last year think we are well capable of scoring against them, not as confident in our forwards standing up to their bigger pack. Final point while Fev had some notable absentees last night, if they were to get promoted I'm struggling to see any of that team having any success in Superleague.

To be fair I thought they did bully the Bradford pack in to submission and pretty much dominated them from start to finish. The only reason Bradford were anywhere near, ignoring the 2 offside tries, was because Fev were way below the standards they have set this season, their errors and turnovers were very high which maybe gave Bradford a sniff but realistically they wern't close to them. PH put the metres each team made up on TRL and Fev totally smashed the Bulls in that department despite their low completion rate.

All that said if Fev can serve up similar against us that would make for a decent game but its rare that Fev have an off day against us.

Springer should not of been let go

Not sure what Grix thinks a forward is but highest paid player is maher and well look how he has played this year

You can say the same thing for any Championship team that doesn't have a super-rich sugar daddy. It's impossible otherwise to assemble a squad good enough to compete with SL teams when Championship teams are getting £200k-ish central funding and SL teams £1.8 million (or whatever it is), and you won't know until October whether you are getting promoted or not.

Yep. As you know. In this context it’s the old adage, you assemble a team good enough to get you into SL and then you try and assemble one to keep you there which is a big ask for any Championship club.

Where has this come from that Maher is our highest paid player.

He won't even be in the top 5.

I agree, just comparing them with Leigh last season who did have quite a few players who looked capable of Superleague, but we're still expected to struggle after promotion. I know most see Superleague as the promised land, but if Featherstone do go up I'm afraid they'd be in for a season of absolute tonkings.