: Fri Aug 07, 2009 1:57 pm
Manweb wrote:
Some things don't make sense. Haydock A finished near the top of 5 last season, and Bury finished rooted to the foot of 6.
Haydock A are now in 6 and Bury are in 5???? Doesn't make sense to me.
As a player at Bury it was maddening to train hard for a game, get psyched up, turn up, get kitted up, strapped up, warmed up and then find out another 'A' team had cancelled. Plus we'd paid for the pitch, food, etc, so we ended up having to eat loads and drink loads to console ourselves.
We were a brand new team made up of around 10 experienced RL players, some RU players, some RL lads who hadn't played for many years (myself included), and some brand new to the oval ball. We competed very well in the majority of games, but it'd be hard for any team with such a mixed, inexperienced and it times, small, squad.
The first few weeks of the season were good, we were getting match-fit and hardened, and starting to gel. Then 'A' games were cancelled, the weather moved in, more games cancelled, etc. We had 8 games in 7 months, including a 2 month gap. Some players lost interest, training was hard to promote in the bitter winter months - it was bloody hard going.
As mmp said, several teams in 6 were a much higher standard - Milnrow and Hindley had come from higher divisions, Rochdale got stronger as the year went on (with some good player acquisitions!). Other teams such as Simmies 'A' could call on very high standards of players, especially when the first team wasn't playing and/or first teamers were coming back from injury.
Div 5 looks a fairly even and competitive standard and we've already beaten a few of them in friendlies. I appreciate the move by the NWC and can't wait for kick-off.
