Quote ="quinny"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.'"
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.
