Farrell on a fiery return to action

06/07/2021

Joel Farrell upset the opposition in his last game. 

You’ve probably heard that one before and the Jamaican international’s return to action on Sunday, against former club Dewsbury, was no exception. 

The Eagles clawed their way back from 18-4 down to draw 18-18 as a late penalty - won by Joel, who was sin-binned alongside guilty party Liam Finn - was converted by Izaac Farrell with seconds remaining. 

“We’ve been playing too nice recently and nobody has been giving it to the opposition,”  

“I thought I’d go back to the old Joel Farrell for a little bit, rattle some cages and get under their skin.

“It seemed to work as Finny came up with a cheeky little slap at the end. 

“We got under their skin, made them crack and managed to draw the game from it.” 

Keeping Dewsbury scoreless in the second half was something Eagles chief Mark Aston lauded his side for and Farrell also had similar praise for his teammates. 

However, the forward wasn’t shy in mentioning the mistakes made during the first half as set completion edged over 50%. 

“The effort was positive. We’re working hard but playing dumb.

“We’re covering our errors with loads of defence and we’re not going to win many games doing that. 

“We need to fix up our errors and penalties. If we do that, we should be flying.”

Despite coming back to 18-18, the Eagles had to defend one last Dewsbury chance to win the game as Michael Knowles lined up a drop-goal but captain Matt James charged it down.

Farrell had no doubt in his mind about the impact James made over the 80 minutes. 

“He was the best forward on the pitch by a mile,” the back-rower beamed. 

“He’s getting back to his old self and it’s great to watch him.

“He was struggling through it, playing long minutes, and I came to take a few carries to help out.

“I have to give him massive wraps.” 

Farrell is eyeing up a victory against Swinton on Sunday as the Eagles look to get back on track. 

"We need to go there and win, that is the long and short of it," he added. 

"Other than the Oldham game, we haven't been winning so we have to go to Swinton and put in a good performance to kickstart our season again. 

"The tide has got to turn but we have to work hard to get it. Nobody will give us anything if we don't work for it."

By Dan Fowler, photo by Alex Coleman