Not to take the attention off the recruitment and retention thread but we have a game on sunday. And add how tight it is around us in the table we could do with the 2 points we lose a player to suspension for this game but gain one back in Fairbank who would be captain for me. Barrow have won their last 2 games but have not performed as well as i would of thought this season but they beat us at their place in a game to forget for fax. I will back us to win this one 30-16.

Moore should be dropped for OB and Inman as our 2 hookers. As has been said before Moore has been a great servant to the club but OB and Inman are faster and more accurate and quicker at ball distribution. The fact he
Is captain shouldn’t give him automatic selection. Fax 42 Barrow 14

Agreed Moore has been a pivotal player forFax, but farmer time is no respect of past glories, captain or nots G grow a pair and play the best two for the position, sentimental or friendship does not cut it at this level, captain or not.

I detest predictive txt

I'd be very disappointed if we don't beat Barrow by 20. Earlier this season we had a great trip up there spoiled only by a dreadful display against The Raiders. All a poor Barrow side had to do that day was the bare basics to beat us and that they did and fully deserved the win. We are much better than that and I will go Fax 36v12 Barrow. Up The Fax! icon_thumb.gif

I don't think we can afford to lose, if we did then we are at best looking at 5th or 6th for the season. The frustrating thing is we have thrown away so many points this year in games that we should have won, Barrow away, Bradford home and away, Toulouse. There is 7 points there in games that we had chances to win especially without playing great. Bradford having their best season in years and we having our worst one in a while and we will still go above them if we were to win today is a little bit funny though.

I think we were 2nd best in 3 of those games, and on the flip side we could easily have lost all 3 home games against Sheffield, Batley and London so I think we are where we should be the way we've played.

The frustrating thing for me is our pack in particular is the best it's been since relegation so yes, we "should" be doing better.

Looking at Barrow's squad for today, the only obvious threat I see is Sammut, but the rest, though useful, I wouldn't really swap for any of our guys so on paper we should be 3 or 4 scores too strong. Let's also hope Barrows rickety coach doesn't have air-con which will help our cause!

Moore dropped from the starting team.

Awful start 16-0 down after 20 minutes. Some decent rugby played after that with some great trys. Barrow looked threatening until Sammutt sent of - he'd been continually challenging what looked to be a very young ref from the start, but his loss definitely had a massive effect on the outcome. Some decent performances today - Kyle Wood worked really hard and cleverly set up Flemings try. Jouffret always looks dangerous and once we got on top JWH was excellent helping set up a number if trys as well as scoring one. Walmsley yet more trys - not sure we'll be able to hang onto him next year. Don't know if Salty is injured but looked to be running in treacle early on. O'brien looks the part, defended very strongly and took his try well. I've always been one of Saltys biggest fans but on basis of today's performance would like to see Maizen given achance on the wing next week..

How is Ben Crooks going for you.
Suspect in defence for Keighley but did know where the try line was.

Not sure how many listened to the BBC Cumbria coverage but was one for the brave of heart. Some of the highlights;

1. Conveniently forgetting that we played 30 mins with 11 men @ Barrow last year and still won by 20+
2. Barrow playing 14 men obviously
3. Objectively stating that young Kyle Wood had some experience at Huddersfield and only a little experience at the first-team level
4. And two new players that I hadn't heard of; Adam O'Breen and James Salsonsall

York away @ Haven on Wednesday so we need to be taking advantage of that.

That was a typical performance from us of late. A terrible start you could of thought we was the away side and still on the bus and Barrow started with plenty of energy making easy meters up the middle and causing us problems with there offloads leading to there 3 scores. Our defence was poor and our kickoffs are so easy to deal with when you compare them to what we come up against. Thankfully after that we got 2 scores pretty quickly and then Sammut gave the ref a verbal blast and got himself sent off and from that point we ran away with the game scoring some lovely tries along the way with Lachlen adding another 4 to his tally how many he will get this year who knows. For me Lannon would of got man of the match he makes a big difference coming off the bench with is direct running and awkward style. Does this performance put to bed the criticisms of the side this season no those areas still look a problem to me but we move now onto York who have a midweek trip to Whitehaven before they play us so that should give us a big advantage going into Sundays game.

What a strange game. Even at 0v16 i wasn't unduly worried. Sammut's red card certainly helped but by then we were already back on't horse. Lachlan again showed his class, that 4th try was superb but for me the man of the match was Lannon, I thought he was outstanding. Onto York and the same again please, bar the first quarter of a hour. Lindley Liberal Club, Guinness. Up The Fax! icon_biggrin.gifRUNK:

Agree lannon mom for me , also must give credit to barrows tactics of exposing saltys lack pace , which begs the question of perhaps trying maizen on that wing . I got the feeling Grix was questioning the commitment of our starting props so it’ll be interesting to see if that changes. Controversially I think Fleming is doing what is asked of him and considering the criticism he has received I think he’s doing well . Don’t know what’s happened to doro but if he’s fit I’d drop Murray who despite being steady his standards aren’t where they were last year , bearing all this in mind my seventeen for York would be ….

Backline ( for me this has a better blend of pace and physicality, both walmsey and crooks provide a go to kicking game with their height n jump abilities, maizen and walmsey on the wings would provide frightening pace )
Woody
Walmsey
Tibbs/McComb
Crooks
Maizen

Jouffret ( top 3 performer this year consistently)
Wood ( not perfect but doing a good job of stepping in for Keyes )

Calcott
Obrien this combination of power , strength and quick ptb works for me.
Lannon

Kav
Gee … both consistently aggressive

Fairbank ( perfect balance of aggression and ball playing forward )

Bench

Doro( explosive aggressive fast prop )
Fleming ( 20 mins of 19 stone when the opposition is fatigued)
Tangata ( agile experience and aggression)
Inman ( exemplary distribution, quick ruck speed and solid defence)

I know this won’t be our starting 17 but with the squad we have and recent form this would be my side for th e york game .

Totally agree that Lannon was man of the match. Huge impact on the game when he came on.
Barrow started like a house on fire and caught us cold. Our defence was very soft at the start. They came with a game plan part of which was to turn Salty, Worked a treat then as soon as he binned stopped that idea. Perhaps we put them under more pressure as the game went on?
I thought Tibbs had a decent game and two catches from poor passes exceptional and from both he created tries. Both halves did some good stuff and Crooks looked the part. Much as I like Moore`s attitude I think O`Brien and Inman are our best pair at the moment. Give Moore a few weeks off and he will come back roaring I think. After the first quarter every forward stepped up and played a part in the win.
Walmsley can certainly sniff a try, possibly the fastest winger we have had since Lee Greenwood.
We have lost a few games we might have won but no so called easy wins in the championship this year. I hope to make it to York just don`t want us to have half the team sent off this time!