We were beaten by a better team on the night . Only our 2nd game and in a mud bath. We will improve a lot yet. A few more players will be signed. Tactics in 1st half totally wrong. In those conditions and playing downhill you kick to the left hand corner and follow up with a good chase then try to keep them there. It isn't rocket science. For me, we need a better stand-off. Reynolds just isn't good enough. Also doubts about Smith. Not fast enough round the ruck or distributing the ball but we have the PNG hooker yet to join. Dixon also had a bad day at the office. I think the conditions were a shock to the system for our players from sunnier climes. I still believe we will do Fev at the end of the season when it matters most . Come on, Leigh!!!

Graham I agree 100% , Reynolds is not the answer at 6 , he can’t work with Mellor , Dixon just had a bad game I bet he wished he hadn’t got off the Coach , but things will improve .

No chance of making it tonight (first away game target for Bongser's gracing is 'Fax). Thanks for your thoughts WYS...

They crossed and correlated with Bongser's expectations as posted on the Fev Preview thread.

Leigh go bragh!

Beaumont has been banging on about how we got it wrong in the past by giving more than 1 year contracts, and yet he's given Reynolds a 2 year contract from the off. WTF. I'm sure we'll improve but, we certainly haven't got it right atm. I sincerely hope we don't have a repeat of the 2018 season where we didn't make the playoffs when we spent the full cap. I'll say it again, it's alright spending plenty of money but, If you don't get the right players you're fooked.

Fev are part time and yet the evidence is that they have assembled a squad good enough to beat us 28 - 6 with two of their biggest forwards missing. We have warned on this board for months that the squad lacks numbers. We have undoubted quality in our better players. Now we find that the depth of quality in the squad beyond those better players is insufficient, even though they are full time. If we are to take dual reg or loan players then they need to be of sufficient quality. I can’t understand how a part time team can win so comfortably against a carefully assembled (at great expense) full time squad.

Another issue we have is at hooker, and this was clear even from the Whitehaven match.
Aaron Smith in terms of all round ability is nowhere near the quality we have previously had with Bob Beswick, Sean Penkywicz, Micky Higham, or Liam Hood. Bringing in kids will not get us promotion.

Reynolds an easy target once again, my priorities would be a defensive coach and a tackling coach.
A player breaking six flimsy tackles to score is bloody awful.

Well in the light of a new day we all have our views on what went wrong. , I’m sure Derek ,Lammy , and Chester are not saying this morning , let’s read the RLFANS Forum , to see where we went wrong , they will know , and will address it .
I’m sure when players become available we will have a go at signing them , but if they are not out there we can’t sign them , Derek has stated he is talking with Gelling , so let’s give them time .
Back to last night , which will no doubt be the most difficult game of the season , remember we lost Sidlow before the game , then lost our prop Green very early , we had 11 men for a time , and Dixon had a nightmare game , though I’m not blaming him , these things happen , Aekins looked a bit nervous under the high ball , obviously the conditions , and Brand was invisible , again he’s young ,mi like the lad ,but Reynolds has to be more creative and work in tandem with Mellor , which he didn’t do .
All in all a poor result but one game , bring on Bradford next week it’s amazing what a decent pitch and dry weather can do .Hopefully get a few bodies back , things will improve .Charlie knows .

You have to remember that Fev have been putting this side together for a number of seasons where as Leigh have been putting one together for a number of weeks. Agents must be rubbing their hands now knowing that after last night Leigh will be desparate to pick up any half decent player that becomes available. Awful planning from DB through last season may cost Leigh but Im sure they will be better as the season wears on but its going to take a lot for them to get to Fev's level.

I think you've hit the nail on the head there. It's going to take time to gel but still adding players now going into week 3 isn't going to help matters. We have a hooker that doesn't run from dummy half and has a slow looping pass. We have a stand off with the worst short kicking game I've ever seen at leigh. The passing along the line is slow and predictable and the half backs just don't work together. Mellor tried but on numerous occasions stepped back inside as the players outside him just weren't ready for the play. Poor poor attacking display and some of our defence out wide wasn't great.

So much to improve on but we must get players in and get this squad settled. There has been so much talk about us talking to players/agents since the home shirt revealing night but we have only signed Ibape and Dixon (was already on trial).

We are in the same position we are always in,whole sale changes in the close season no continuity not much time to gel.Thought we got beat by a better team who wanted it more and played the conditions,as for Ben we have had him on and off for quite a few years full time,I don't see any improvement in him,he doesn't seem to be able to focus for 80mins and cannot lead us round the park.Dont get me wrong he does try and puts the effort in and a fearless tackler but in my opinion he's not the play maker to take us forward. Opposition fans warned us about Dixon and he didn't disappoint Hopefully Lammy and Chester can get a few more player in

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Appears to me that Fev are a mix of part & full time but mainly Full Time players. Leilua, Chisholme, Hall, Cuthbertson, Moors, Briscoe & the new Aussie Half on his way plus others all Full Time.

Fevs Ex Leigh players all seemed to play well against us & as a team wanted it more than us.

I've said it before & I will say it again, I backed Ben to come good the first few years but the last few has shown he isn't Super League standard & SL standard is what we need to get there, he just doesn't have the vision or off the cuff play & his kicking game is garbage. I also can't get my head around that brain fart late shoulder on a tackled & grounded Fev player.

I felt sorry for Dixon because you could tell he was really working hard but the errors ruined him, maybe trying to hard.

Hopefully talks are ongoing & lead to some good player's coming in.
In the pre match interview Lam sounded like he wasn't really happy with Mellor & Reynolds but chose his words carefully. Maybe Lam & Chester can apply some influence to go out & get a classy 6. Gelling would also be a bonus at centre.

Green out with suspected broken arm in the 2nd game already which highlights the vulnerability of a thin squad.

Having said all of that I am reasonably confident it will all come good & Leigh can do the business.

We all know are squad is too small, apart from DB.

Brand is a squad player at best, its no coincidence Warrington have released him after his performance against them in SL. Having him and Nisbett on one edge is asking for trouble.

We have spent all this money on players again and then have a loanee at hooker and wing.

We were exposed at the weekend by a club that has chosen the right players to get the job done. Id rather play the big lad Roberts who spent all last year in the Championship getting great reviews.

Agreed. For me, I thought last years squad just needed tweaking a bit, but no, we seem to want to cull the squad again, and then we end up starting with a small squad. Our next 5 matches could turn out to be tough, and anymore injuries, and we could well end up in the brown stuff. Let's hope and pray

we can get through it.

Derek , we can’t say how many of last seasons squad wanted to go and how many wanted to stay , in reality the ones who left on their own accord I would have let go anyway , and kept maybe Hood , Brierley , Bell, and Thorniley , but they didn’t want to stay , I m sure Derek B and Chester as well as Lammy know they need to sign players , but at the moment nobody is available , we have lost our hardest game of the season , let’s get worried if Bradford , York , and Widnes beat us , get Hitchcox fit , Ipape arriving , Sidlow back , we will be ok .

Quite simply put.

Though being beaten away at each of these said teams would make for a more interesting season.

Fev were and are favourites for the top spot, it might have been different if we hadn't done SL a favour and gone and got the promotion but we are where we are.

Let's not throw the baby out with the bath water; Monday's game highlighted things that need sorting, good, get it out of the way early. Two games in and we are still finding out how this season will shuffle out given some other results already. This next game week promises to be quite revealing.

Ian, I get what you're saying but, we are a little fragile,and just feel when players do finally come in they have to gel. I'm also not comfortable with our spine, and if we do pick up any injuries, the pressure will be on. After everything Iv'e said in all my posts on this, I sincerely hope i'm wrong.

Put those players on the LSV pitch.. That pitch was a disgrace to the sport.Played nowt on it with Covid and still a bog.

Yes the pitch was awful, and so was the weather. It was like that for both teams. Most pitches in the championship are crap, so let's play all our games at the LSV shall we?

The pitch was terrible, as was our performance for 60+ minutes, early days yet though (for our small squad).

Wow. Just wow.

To be fair most Leigh fans seem to have acknowledged that conditions are going to be like that when it's February and it's been battering down with rain for hours beforehand (and on previous days). And they were, as has been stated, the same for both teams.

But there's always going to be one or two sore losers like this, I don't doubt we'd have a few too in the same circumstances.

Leigh will be fine this season, there are some quality players in that line-up. McDonald is clearly going to be a standout player in this division. I thought Ioane was absolutely outstanding, he had a HUGE game. Asiata and Amone will clearly be very good with a few more games under their belt, Mellor is a fine half back at this level, McDonell looks very promising.

Conversely Nisbet and Dixon struggled all night, Aekins looked like he wasn't up for such a tough challenge, Smith had a poor night and Reynolds, I just don't get why you're going round with him again.

We'll play you again at least twice and probably more, and those games will be very different, but we'll have to see in what way. Leigh will look different next time and will fancy themselves more on a quicker track, and so will we.

I don't think Leigh fans should be too worried yet, other than perhaps Atomic who ought to be wondering how Fev can score five tries (four of them from fluid attacking movements) on a pitch that was a "disgrace to the sport".

:312puv1l
All in all a well put post,Fev were the better team on the night no doubt , we had a couple of men hiding and a few showed promise , I’m not to downhearted,we lost a battle yeah, but a few moreahead and not just with Fev.
We are light of troops but things will improve , I said before everything went wrong for Dixon , but these things happen and young Nisbet will improve , Brand was invisible , but I like the lad ,give him a chance ,we lost Green early on ,and a Sidlow before the game so let’s regroup and get ready for Monday.
I agree what was said about Reynolds and Mellor playing on opposite sides of the pitch ,IT DOESNT WORK they are a partnership ,Reynolds has to start being involved , start running at the opposition defence,not keep moaning ,our pack is very good and will improve as the season goes on ,and for Cokey , my spine ,is sore at the moment .quote="The Phantom Horseman"

Jeez I remember the days at Hilton Park when we prayed for Rain and a muddy pitch when the visitors were equal if not better. Some Leigh fans, (maybe they have only recently, in LSV times started to watch Leigh) seem to have turned into Pitch/Stadium Snobs, there are as many more poor pitches in RL than there are good, fair play to Fev and if I was them id have had the hoses on it to if I thought it would give me an advantage.