Featherstone may have gone down 30-22 today to big city rivals Leeds Rhinos, but there were plenty of positives for Rovers coach Brian McDermott to ponder following the game.
In the first half, against a near full strength Leeds side, the Rovers caused the Rhinos some real problems and even had them on the back foot for spells. They only trailed 18-6 at the break with Jack Bussey scoring the Rovers’ only try of the first half.
Featherstone won the second half 16-12 with the likes of Gareth Gale catching the eye. So, McDermott had plenty to be pleased about after the game but was also keen to stress that there were still some areas for them to improve.
In the post-match press conference, Super League’s most successful coach ever noted just how much his side got out of the game: “I think we got quite a lot out of that. I thought in some areas we were a bit rusty but there were some really good passages especially defensively.
“We remained competitive throughout. You’ve got a list of things you need to tick off when you come to a pre-season game and we pretty much ticked them all especially to remain competitive against the Rhinos’ first team.
“I actually thought when they brought on their young fellas on in the second half it exposed us a little bit. We have a bit to work.”
He did emphasis that he wouldn’t read too much into the scoreline itself however: “You can’t read anything into it because they took off so many players. If they’d have kept on the halves, their props, their outside backs I’m not sure what the score would have been.”
He also revealed that there were no new injury concerns going into the friendly against Wakefield next week and is hoping to use the friendly to sharpen up a few areas: “We were a bit rusty and a bit clunky with the ball today, expectedly so. We’d look to sharpen that up next week.”
The former Rhinos boss also had plenty of positives to say about his old side who some believe could push for silverware in 2022: “They’ve got a good side on paper and a really balanced squad. They’ve got the talent there and they’ve got the big fellas to back it up. It’s only a team on paper but that’s what you need at the start, a good team on paper.
“I think they’re ready for another surge.”
That said, he also wanted to note how his side have a good team on paper capable of challenging for promotion in 2022: “We’re similar, we’ve got a decent team on paper but we’ve got to make sure that plays week in week out.”
Nonetheless, the Rovers competed against a side who made it to last year’s Super League play-offs and that has to be a massive positive for the club going into 2022 and a real push for promotion.
