Forget Toronto - the key game to a top 4 finish for me is the one the following week at Batley. Never an easy place to get a win it's going to be even harder this time around if we still have a limited squad to choose from compounded by the inevitable jet lag from the flight back to the UK. Yes I know that KP/KC will have them up for it but if we are not able to be 100% focussed and fully fit for this game it could well be the banana skin that we slip up on. Hopefully not and if we do make the Qualifiers then, regardless of our eventual position, I think that KP should be given the Freedom of Leyth for what he will have achieved this season after that nightmare start.

FevGrinder is absolutely spot on on both counts.

The replacements that Fev have from Leeds are rarely much of an upgrade, if at all, on our current squad. If you asked most Fev fans whether they would rather have, say, Cooper, Davies and Thackeray or Ormondroyd, Walters and Lilley, I'm pretty sure the 3 contracted Fev players would each win the respective vote. It does amuse me a bit that when we first started using DR one of the most frequent comments was that the DR players wouldn't have their heart in it and wouldn't play very well, but nowadays people tell us they're the difference-makers!

That said...like just about every other fan I'd be glad to see DR gone. We (Fev) have probably used it more shrewdly than most, to be fair, but that's not a justification for it to continue.

This is probably true in so much as Fax will never have a better chance of overcoming their Shay hoodoo against us (Fev), Fax are going well and seem very upbeat whereas Fev have lost both starting half backs who were the keys to the early-season success, and although we have two experienced pros filling in the game plan has been stripped right back as they aren't capable of orchestrating the same flowing passing movements we saw when Ridyard and Holmes were playing.

Still, the last time we lost at Fax in the league was 2008 when Graham Holroyd was still playing for them and I've been there plenty of times since then expecting to get turned over and we've won. Think the pressure is on Fax this time as expectations are high and it's very hard to see them making top 4 if they lose, though similar comments apply to Fev. Leigh look in the box seat to qualify from the teams outside the top 2 as even if they lose in Toronto the 4 other teams they have to play are all playing moderately and 32 points will probably be enough.

Big thing about our game is that whoever wins it buys themselves the opportunity to lose another game and still make the top 4. 1 Loss is probably all either team can afford with how the fixtures pan out.

True. Do you know if Fev are getting the North Stand GFB? Always think the atmosphere is better with fans at either end. (apologies to Leigh fans for the off topic post).

Im not sure to be honest although I would doubt it. Id say they would be expecting at the most about 2.5k in which case it would be highly doubtful.