The 2022 RL Championship season is shaping up to be a two horse race, similar to the Scottish Premiership. Featherstone were tipped by every pundit to be promotion favourites, but Leigh have recruited heavily since the start of the season when the team arrived in one taxi to the training ground.
There are likely to be 5 fixtures between these arch rivals, and Featherstone have already collected the bragging rights when the Hippos on their mud bath pitch made Leigh look second rate.
Looking to the future, I have tried to assess the relative strengths of these team in an attempt to predict how the next 4 games will pan out.
Managers
Both teams have recruited well and have appointed Managers with a proven track record.
Backs
Featherstone have looked on paper to have the better back line. Leigh have now added to the class of Aekins and the maverick nature of McDonald, by signing Inu and Ferguson. This is now going to be a much more even contest.
Half Backs
Featherstone have so many decent half backs that they have started to off-load the surplus, with Dane Chisholm off to Keighley to make room for Johnathan Ford. Leigh on the other hand are still trying to find a partner for Joe Mellor.
Forwards
Leigh have been superb in the middle when they are fully blessed with Prop forwards. The defence is the meanest in the league and gains made after the point of contact is phenomenal. Featherstone have recruited some talented forwards but they appear to have a weakness. They are a bunch of old men.
Craig Kopczak – 35, James Lockwood – 36, Brett Ferres – 36. Jesse Sene-Lefao – 32, Matty Wildie – 31, John Davies – 31, Junior Moors – 35, Ben Hellewell – 30, Kyle Trout – 31, Adam Cuthbertson - 37
It is my opinion that this group all in their 30’s are going to get a battering when the two sides meet. Tom Amone, Adam Sidlow, Mark Ioane, and Ben Nakubuwai are going to leave some bruised bodies on the ground.
Interested to know what others are thinking.

A fair assessment overall, but why did the old men batter Leigh, rather than the other way round, at POR? Rain and mud have an impact on the passing game, but not so much on who wins the forward battle.

Horseman, I was there at Featherstone. Leigh were playing only their second game as team, and most of them are from the other side of the world. I doubt they had seen a slope on a Rugby pitch never mind several inches of mud. The Leigh pack is now greatly enhanced, it is big, mean and mobile.

Having said that the team are still not attacking as a cohesive unit on the flanks. Lammy as stated that it is a work in progress and will be the last piece of the jigsaw. I am not expecting Leigh to dominate Fev, but I do think Forwards win games. Half backs cannot work miracles when going backwards.

FWIW I don't buy the mud or slope excuses, these guys will all have been playing RL for double-digit years and will have played in the mud on numerous occasions, and the slope is negligible at POR these days.

On the other hand I've seen quite a few of Leigh's games this season and they have been dominant up front every other time I have seen them. I think it's hard to call what will happen in the upcoming games given the subsequent changes in personnel on both teams. It's possible Leigh and Fev will end up playing each other 5 times all in all, so it should be a fun ride.

With the squads that Fev and Leigh have,there'll be 1 or 2 SL clubs glad that they did away with the middle 8s.

Featherstone
1Brandon Pickersgill
2Luke Briscoe
3Joey Leilua
4Ben Hellewell
5Craig Hall
6Morgan Smith
7Dane Chisholm
8Luke Cooper
9Matthew Wildie
10James Lockwood
11Junior Moors
12Josh Hardcastle
13Jack Buffey
Subs
14Connor Jones
15John Davies
16Callum Field
17Adam Cuthbertson
Leigh
1Caleb Aekins
2Kieran Dixon
3Keanan Brand
4Nene Macdonald
5Tom Nisbet
6Ben Reynolds
7Joe Mellor
8Chris Green
9Aaron Smith
10Tom Amone
11Joe Wardle
12Sam Stone
13John Asiata
Subs
14Ata Hingano
15Mark Ioane
16James Mcdonnell
17Jacob Jones

I would consider this to be a weak Leigh team compared to what we can now put out.
Swap out the wingers for Inu and Ferguson. A prop that broke his arm in the first 15 minutes.
Also the pack would be bolstered by O'Donnell, Ipape, and Ben Nakubuwai.

Don't get me wrong, Fev were good for the win.

Sure. The mistake most fans make is to only look at their own team though. Bring in Kheirallah, Jacks, Kopczak, and Sene-Lefao, with Ford to arrive soon, and that Fev team has a very much stronger look too.

The big question is really, should Leigh & Featherstone both be invited in to SL now & be prepared to up the anti ready for SL 2023 ?

The gulf in standards/quality between Fev/Leigh & the rest is now so vast as to make the Championship a none event for the rest & is harming the other Championship clubs who cannot compete with the two protagonist's.

Ste, the championship competition is what it is. We are approaching mid way through the season and, lets face it, the structure of the league is not going to change one inch before the end of the season. Why speculate on a change that is not going to happen? Sorry, i just don't get the point that you are making

Secondly, i don't think that the supporters of York will agree with you that there is a gulf in standards between Leigh and Fev and the rest. They (York) are currently only 2 points behind Leigh in the league and that, for my money, does not represent a gulf in class. I was at Leigh's game at York and if they play against either Leigh or Fev in the return fixtures as they did against us in that 1st half at York then they will give both of the top teams a game and a run for their money and will be in with a real chance. I think that it is folly to dismiss York. They are a more than decent team and they will remain a threat come the end of the season playoffs.

Given what i saw at Halifax when Leigh played there I wouldn't discount Fax either from potentially springing a surprise. On the evidence of that game Fax play a pretty good game of rugby and are another threat. I think that they will be there or thereabouts come play off time. Where they are now in the league is not where they will end up come the end of the season.

In addition, i don't think that the supporters of either Barrow and Batley would agree with you. Both are in my opinion potentially dangerous opponents in a one off, winner takes all, game. Both are potential banana skin opponents

Ste, why are Leigh and Fev harming the other Championship clubs? I would like to know why you think this. Not being able to compete on the pitch does not necessarily harm a club. Nor does it harm a club if it chooses to live within its financial means, which the majority of clubs in the championship are choosing to do. The two teams with the largest budgets are Leigh and Fev and they are the only two clubs spending big. They are doing so because their owners are bankrolling the signings. The other clubs do not enjoy this luxury.

Other clubs may not be able to compete financially and that may not appear fair to the neutral fan but when has sport ever been about being fair?

Come on, let's enjoy the ride that is this season. Leigh or Fev will be hugely disappointed if they don't get promoted this season and whilst i have not seen any statements from the Fev owner (owners) about what position they will be in financially if they do not get promoted this year at least at Leigh we have had very positive statements already from DB that the spending on the team will continue next season irrespective of the outcome this season. Everything at Leigh financially is not dependent on promotion this year. Fingers crossed it will not be boom or bust for either club in which case let's just enjoy what is unfolding as both teams try, with each signing, to outdo one another.

As has been said earlier in this thread, the teams that both Fev and Leigh will put out against one another come the business end of the season will be significantly different and stronger to the ones put out at Fev at that mudbath at the beginning of February. It's going to be fun and there going to be some colossal games between the two teams during the season. Surely, this is going to make for great interest in the competition and for great entertainment.

Lastly, the signings that both Leigh and Fev are making is resulting in real attention and national press coverage to the Championship. I cannot see that that is a bad thing. This is surely a positive outcome of the two clubs' rivalry and dominant positions in the league. In most seasons the Championship competition is largely, or in some seasons totally, ignored by press and TV. This year it is different. It is a positive development not a negative one. This all makes this season a real event and not as you say Ste a non-event. I think that we are going to have to beg to disagree with one another on this one.

It is not a mistake to avoid looking at the opposition. Kheirallah, Jacks, Kopczak, and Sene-Lefao, and Ford are signings that excite most Fev supporters. My argument is that contrary to most Flat Cappers, Kheirallah and Ford were both offered to Leigh, and Lammy and Chester decided that they were not an improvement on the current Leigh side. Featherstone on the other hand had a stable team which is now being ripped up, sold off and loaned out to reduce a very large salary bill. Leigh during Round 2 barely had enough players to make a matchday squad. The management team have deliberately targeted problem areas and sort to buy not squad players, but genuine first team players to improve the team.
I have trawled the Featherstone fans forum and Ford appears to be marmite. He comes with considerable skills, but for a big man in a physical sport he does not like the contact side of the game.
Kheirallah on the other hand appears to playing well, and has no doubt improved the Featherstone team. The Leigh management team decided that he would not be better in the fullback position than Caleb Aekins. They have the stats not me, so I can only go off their word.
Ryley Jacks is a player that I would love to see at Leigh, but Featherstone already had a large number of players in this position. The marginal gains from such a player are not as great when you have no cover in that position.
The Featherstone fans are crying out for a big Prop Forward and instead Brian McDermott chose a Fullback and a Scrum Half, and recently courted Zak Hardaker. I am more than happy with the way Lam and Chester are conducting business.

Mate, this is all fairly obvious spin in favour of your own team and it's really basic stuff you're putting out there too. Anyone can do that eg...

"The Leigh fans have been crying out for improvement at half back, with plenty of criticisms of the current incumbents and the team's clunky attacking play, yet Beaumont has splashed out on yet another wing when the club already has five or six on their books".

"Beaumont claims that Kheirallah - and Ford - were offered to Leigh (the truth is they were offered to anyone in a position to sign them), but he's sticking with a full back who even the Premier Sports analysts condemned for his obvious reluctance to catch high kicks at Featherstone."

"The Leigh fans claimed they will be much better than when Fev put five tries past them despite the conditions at POR, but some of their fans were scatheing about their latest game, with descriptions such as "poor in attack, too much indiscipline, too many dropped balls, scrappy, horrible game."

Truth is they are 2 good teams, probably not much between them, each have advantages over the other in certain areas. Beyond that, nobody really knows.That's why it's such an exciting season.

It’s sure is going to be a great season