If the week away was just a week on the beer for team bonding then we have to remember that if the Whitehaven game had gone ahead the chances are (without being disrespectful to Whitehaven) we would have already qualified, the fact the game was called off and some of the other results today (Swinton) we have created a bit of pressure for ourselves midweek - but I am sure we will come good. One good thing today was the Beswick attempted drop and the Black drop goal as at least it demonstrates the players are taking the competition seriously. (this does not however make up for a shocking first 40) !!

I wondered when the weakened team excuse would raise its head.......we have had the referee and cheat tactics already.
To be honest Im sure there may be a few more players still to come in......Nash, Patterson, any more worth mentioning Big Frank..... ?? Batley also without Campbell, Walton, Toothill, Robinson, And Flanagan so they were not exactly at full strength either.
FWIW i think Penkywicz is the best hooker in the league and looks dangerous whenever he has the ball and something Batley have been missing for a while now as Lythes is nowhere near as effective, chalk and cheese springs to mind, and once Flanagan is able to resume his career, he will offer a new dimension and threat to Batley and I believe that this will make batley a top four side this year.
I think it is safe to say that this league this season is going to be very competitive and any team can beat any other on any given day and that is what will make this a very exciting, and possibly up and down season for most teams.

Halifax shoule be putting 40 past batley we got far too mush for therm but the players yesterday looked fatigued ill disciplined and showed no pridde

Lets solve this with winning in cumbria wednesday night

I am surprised anyone expected any different from yesterday. A week in the sun isnt great preperation for a cold and wet Sunday afternoon and it was always going to happen. That said the first half performance was pathetic. Thats all that can really be said about it. Wrong options and bad mistakes meant Batley didnt have to work to breach our line, however they did put some good moves on our line. The second half we were like a different team and we would blow any team in the league away playing like we did. Again though if we put even a quarter of that same intensity in to the first half we would have walked the game at a canter. The players have to realise that every team is going to up their games against us because we are the champions and we can tcome out half assed like we did yesterday. For me the officials made a lot of questionable decisions but we really shouldnt have been in a position to have to worry about the ref. As for dropping a goal im not sure why all of a sudden we were panicking going for drop goals. Batley were shot and we had at least another try in us.

As has been mentioned we cant go in to games with only one go forward prop. Also showed yesterday we are lacking if we pick injuries up in the centre. Bannister is the best back rower at the club and shouldnt be played in the centre. We have seen Black start the season on fire and i say stick him back with holroyd as soon as possible and we will see a bit of an upturn in our attack. Sadly some of the other guys, if we have ambitions to retain the league, are just not good enough and we will have to hope we dont pick up a lot of injuries because we look to be lacking strength in depth. Either that or they step up their game sooner rather than later.

The players themselves substantiated this 'claim' in the first 40! I expressed my concerns over this game prior to it after hearing about the 'warm weather training camp'. A forum is a place to express opinions etc, mine being that the club has acted unprofessionally in the week leading up to this game, a fairly important game. Being a paying supporter of the club I'd quite like 100% on and off the field, when I see this I'd be the first to express my happiness and pride but Im not gunna sit in silence when I don't like something! I don't need to name names, or point the finger of blame to any individual, I was right to be worried about this game (although I did still expect us to pull through with a victory!). Im not being unloyal to the club or any individuals either, just disappointed cus I want to see them succeed.

There is a difference between opinions and rumours. TS was referring to the constant rumour spreading.

Personally i thought the team selection was Dire !!, Batley are a decent size pack and the only man really moving full pace forward was Mikala Aizue, I thought S.Balrow was getting a bit hot headed at times, this was probably though frustration and refereeing decisions but regadless you play to the whistle, For some reason he dilly dallied with the ball rather than running at them with pace, Big Frank would have been affective yesterday. Black hardly touched the ball in the first 20 minutes and when he did created the assist and a try was scored. IMO Black and Jones aint working YET, ( and i do use the word yet ). I would also look to get Holroyd back on with black, Our pace of passing was atrocious and Black seems to be the only one able to ship it out with some urgency. Worrincy was just dire and seemed very unintersted also yesterday despite the tries.

All in all, batley wanted it more for 8o Minutesw, the refereeing was a discrace and we just seemed unintersted to start with.

Come on Fax we are better than what i witnessed yesterday.

Why would I want to spread rumours about my own club?! I have personal ties to this team through a family member as well and want to see the team succeed to its upmost, which we aren't seeing yet! I haven't spread any rumours and don't wish to. Understandably the club wants to keep certain details of the trip secret and will maintain that it was of course a hard working intense training camp for 5 days solid with the whole squad. Look, im sure they took a ball with them and had a few training sessions with their tops off but if I was abroad in the sun with a squad full of rugby lads I know what my priorities would have been. I'd just prefer them to be training hard in the conditions they'll be playing in for the next few months. Wet, cold, mud. I'm all for playing to our strengths which is of course expansive, fast, creative rugby - suited indeed for warm weather and harder ground. But we're not playing in Spain week in week out!

Batley are a good, improving side but make no mistake they are one we should be beating with the players we have. The pack was a big problem yesterday, the young lads struggled in the first 40 but improved when we had the momentum in the 2nd 40. Ill discipline and poor decision making cost us, I actually thought the ref did ok, aside from sending Penkywicz (who was poor yesterday for what its worth) for being headbutted.

Strange i thought we actually perked up when Penky came on. Same about Worricny, i think he made a couple of mistakes and one of them the ref got wrong as it was a one on one ball steal and should have been given as a Batley knock on, other than that i dont think he had a bad game. Another mention about big Sam, he isnt employed as a prop and dosnt take the ball in `hard`. His game is to get the defender off balance with his good foot work so he can get his arm free in the tackle to offload.

Its one loss and counts for nothing if we go up to Haven well prepared and win. When the real stuff starts i hope we are hitting the ground with the same intensity as the second half rather than the first half.

Disappointing as it is to lose to Batley yet again, we showed what we can do and I am sure it will come good.

Someone earlier mentioned passing and that is clearly a bit of a problem just now. Batley spread the ball really well at times and was it Handforth? who constantly created gaps with bullet passing and often missing a man out. It unnerves me that this does not come fully naturally to our backs for whom it is a living. Even at amateur level, and in the park with my sons, fast long passing is not an uncommon occurance.

Another worry is how flat our line is most of the time. True, SL teams use this at times but our lads get the ball and then stop and look for a gap - sorry, but that is not going to create anything. We need Aizue and co hitting the line at speed from deep.

There are positives and I am sure it will come. I would like to see Holly involved soon as well though.

How did the players substantiate this claim? They were poor in the first half, but that does not mean they were hungover, does it? They turned the game around in the second half, didn't they? Could they have done that while still hungover? Could they have come back with Delhi-belly, for instance? Yes, this forum is to express opinions and debate facts, but you still haven't substantiated these 'fact' of yours. You claim to be connected to the club by a family member, but that is all that is; a claim until you prove otherwise. How can you expect not be criticised for making claims you can or will not back up? We all love our club and want to see it do well, but making accusations on a message board without backing these up is as bad as Matt Calland speaking on Radio Leeds. I hear a lot of things about players and the club, but I don't post most of it because I don't believe it until I see something official.

yes its arrogance...on the back of last years grand final win