Well perhaps you're right that it's probably not worth getting too heated about. But surely if somebody puts something on a forum that doesn't make much sense other people should be allowed to challenge it?

McDermott was asked this question asked by the RoversTV commentator in an interview for the club's subscription website "Rovers fans will want to know how close some of the guys are to getting fit and back in the team?" This was about four players who had been missing for at least 2 games, and in Kopczak's case since the pre-season game against Wakefield. Claiming the answer he gave to this question was "mind games" doesn't make any sense.

You are correct my memory playing tricks on me. For some reason I were thinking that the Leilua flick pass the other week he were coming down the slope but it was top side. Hope he doesn't play then.

Yeah after the Leigh game its likely we will be 1/5 in the league and probably about 3rd from bottom of the league and will likely put a bit of pressure on Grix. For me its the same problems mentioned before, with better discipline and maybe 1 or 2 bigger players up front we would probably be 3/3 at this point but Grix likes a mobile pack and we have come up against 2 big packs that have got on a roll against us because of discipline/fitness. The Widnes game for me we looked the better team with the ball but as soon as we conceded a soft try from a kick Matty Smith just kicked us to death and that was the difference. To finish 3rd last season we lost 8 games and its probably going to need to be about the same this year to be 3rd/4th. 6 Weeks in and losing 5 games and still having to play Fev at home and Leigh away puts us under imense pressure to finish in the top 4.

It’ll be interesting to see how Grix approaches this game in terms of tactics and team selection, in some respects it’s a free hit as we aren’t expected to win and certainly not the challenge cup ( don’t know how the 1885 works ) I think the pitch will be heavy but the weather for the next few days is better and certainly on the day, maybe throw the ball around a bit more throw caution to the wind and have a go, haven’t seen any offloads or line breaks to note yet so be nice to watch a better brand of rugby, be nice to see walmsey or jouffret given a chance I think we’re playing sound defensively but definitely missing the off the cuff play , can’t wait for Woodburn hall to return he’s been a big miss .

I just hope that the players are as fired up as some of the fans it will be a cracking game if they are. I may have written off our chances at the start of the week but i am just starting to fancy us grabbing a close win by a couple of points. However if we do get to the end of march without winning any more games then of course simon should be under pressure that is what he is paid for. We can not rely on going on a 10 match wining run every season to get in the playoffs.

Looks like jouffret or walmsey, probably jouffret will get there chance as Martin is cup tied https://twitter.com/halifaxpanthers/sta ... 44097?s=21

Looks like jouffret or walmsey, probably jouffret will get there chance as Martin is cup tied https://twitter.com/halifaxpanthers/sta ... 44097?s=21

Ah, no Roberts, surprise, surprise. It just goes to show the idiocy of DR. He was in last weeks squad and therefore presumably trained with us. Giants don't allow him to be in this weeks squad so training without him. What a waste of time. I wonder what our own players think of the situation?

Cmon Pete keep up , Hudds won’t let you play Roberts because it would cuptie to you , and Hudds couldn’t play him later , it’s the same with us we DR with Saints ,Dan Norman and Jake Wingfield can’t can’t for us , after they played against York , it’s just the rules .

It will be interesting who gets the nod at fullback because i thought aston had a poor game against widnes and if you are going to drop jouffret for his performance at batley then he needs to drop cory this week.The team i would go with is.

salty
mcomb
barber
arundel
walmsley
keyes
jouffret
gwaze
moore
kavanagh
oakley
tangata
fairbank

murray
calcott
larroyer
wood

I realise that Ian. The points i am making refer to the disruption around training for a player who in the end up didn't come and the effect on team morale. It's utter codswallop! Up The Fax!

Pete , I know yer views on DR , and respect yer opinion , the thing is the player on DR trains with his parent Club during the week till around Thursday when he goes to train with his adopted Club , I grant you not ideal but it’s how things are .
Again morale of the team can be boosted or be negative , we at Leigh keep signing all these overseas players , some fans think it’s wrong and affects the players knowing at whatever time a player can come in and take their place , it’s like familiarity breeding contempt , I see it as the original team members thinking , it will make them put in extra effort to keep their place .
Good luck for Sunday .

Roberts is a good player and probably just the sort of forward we need, especially as it sounds Matty Gee is not likely to play in the near future. Doesn't appear to feature in Huddersfield plans and therefore could well be available long term. I would personally like to see him play next week - if this weeks pack know that's a possibility you'd like to think each one is motivated to make sure its not them that makes way. This isn't about flooding the team with random different players each week but hopefully providing someone who can play regularly for us, improving the team which we couldn't otherwise afford.

In that case the loan system, with a minimum timescale, is available to be used.

Not sure in reality what the difference is - last year we had Hewitt and Borough on season long loans and they were pulled back by their clubs seemingly when they wanted. I may well be wrong but I also thought that with a loan we would be responsible for players wages but not with DR.

Simply write the minimum length of the loan into the deal. If the clubs can't agree to that, no deal and look elsewhere.

Yep the reality is that very few SL clubs are willing to allow long-term loans, simply because that injuries and suspensions can quickly decimate a squad.It makes little sense for them to send out players without a recall clause unless they absolutely can't envisage a situation where they might need that player.

I remember watching a video around January where Mick Gledhill was saying that he thought Bradford having players on long-term loans from Leeds was preferable to DR because they were less likely to be recalled and were more fringe players, and also an interview with John Kear where he sounded pretty confident there wouldn't be any recalls from the trio they had announced as coming to them.

Of the 3 players supposedly on long-term loan, one is injured, another (Jarred O'Connor) was recalled to Leeds before he even played for Bradford, and a third (Cory Johnson) was recalled to Leeds about an hour before kick off after Bradford has named him in their starting 13 at Leigh.

The loan system isn't really a lot different to DR in the modern game.

One thing that is a positive regarding duel reg is the merging of reserves , so today Ben tibbs got a run out and Oliver roberts too so if they are called upon they’re not going into the games cold, its a shame the likes of Liam whitton ( good luck at Cornwall btw ) wasn’t given a go in the Huddersfield reserves and I’d like to see Cole Oakley given a chance in this system. I’m not a fan of duel reg but if the door swings both ways that at least is a benefit .

Merged reserves? Whatever next? Utter madness!

Utter madness, why ? What’s your suggestion?

Run our own reserve team like we did up to a couple of years ago before the rfl stepped in.

In an ideal world yes but the next best thing is to have what we have now, at least players are getting game time, players aren’t going to sit there and wait forever, I’d rather have our fringe players playing so A they don’t bugger off to Cornwall and B they’re closer to match fitness when they’re called upon .

Well that's not my idea of what sport should be about at all. But each to their own. Up The Fax!

Well these 2 years your talking about have been 2 years of covid related reduced revenues.

Maybe you could come up with the 50 grand plus per season that it costs to run the reserves and provide the players of sufficient number and quality to make it worth the effort and expense because that is exactly what your proposing and asking others to do, talk is cheap, reality is not.

And back on thread and back to the real world, tough game tomorrow against quality opposition but these are the games both supporters and players look forward to and are focussed on.

But that’s just my opinion. Up the Fax and a nice cup of tea.

Sorry but With everything else going on in the world a game of rugby league doesnt seem very interesting or relevant . Fev to win but nobody is all that bothered

Fev by a couple of scores.