The plan was to do a season review before Christmas, but it was one of them were you say, “I’ll do it tomorrow”, tomorrow as usual never came around until today, but even then you won’t be reading this until tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, anyway as I say, I’m doing it today. 

“Craney, why oh why are you doing a mid-season report thingy, this is only Chorley”. Well, my answer is the same for lots of little things like this, “little things make big differences” if the people who started up Fylde or Preston Grasshoppers thought like that, they would definitely not be two of the biggest clubs in the north west like they are now. Also, I just want you to know what’s going on with the squad. 

Last season I was lonely most of the time, I had nobody to talk to. I’m obviously meaning on the side of the pitch, someone who would say “yeah good idea” or more importantly for me, someone who would say “no don’t do that”. I needed someone I could say “what you reckon if we do this?” and get a totally honest answer whether they agreed with me or not. Stuart Hammond made an impression as soon as he came to the club with the intensity which he played at, I love players like that (Matt Lago, Chris Highton and Michael Jessiman are exactly the same), absolutely all or nothing, no self-preservation and his enthusiasm is infectious. As he was injured, I decided to keep him occupied and ask him to help coach the forwards, which thankfully he said yes to. His input is part of the reason we have pushed on yet again this season and are now challenging bigger clubs. New players also arrived, Sam Norris, Joe Laddle, Rob Gatefield, Isaac O’Grady, Asa Bellamy and Matt Lago all strengthened the squad and have become regulars in the team. Two other huge positives that we had were that Chris Highton and Michael Jessiman, were going to carry on playing, they both have such a positive effect on absolutely everyone, I actually don’t think they actually realise how much.

When I chose a pre-season friendly, it had to be something that was going to test us both physically and mentally. The first team I thought of was, De la Salle from Manchester and after a couple of calls we were set to play them on a Thursday evening at home. We actually lost the game 26 -17 but what a test it was, especially as they play 2 levels above us and considering that, we gave them one hell of a game in the glorious sunshine. Looking at the lads afterwards you could tell it was a very physical game, actually last week when we beat Eccles away, reminded me of that game. 

At this point we were able to train at Brookfield’s because of the good light, but the pitch was still very new and not established, so we knew that couldn’t continue for long. Tuesdays, was on the car park for circuits. We’d use tractor tyres, sledge hammers and even a wheelbarrow full of stones that the lads would continually fill up and empty, we went really old school with some sessions, but in others it was more modern sessions. We’d also do many weights circuits with explosive exercises again to make the sessions varied and relevant to rugby but more importantly, enjoyable. Training though was something that became a big issue for us as the year progressed, I’ll come to that later though. 

We started at Blackburn away with a 7-33 win, the thing that stands out most for me was the long walk to the area where we had to warm up, it was miles away, two lads actually got lost and 1 player actually forgot his shirt and only just got back for kick off. The other thing that stood out was a Blackburn player thinking it was funny to stamp his studs all down the back of Sean Livingstone. The lad was sin binned and the laughing and couldn’t care less attitude did not go down very well at all with me and Chris Highton, let’s just say we got very annoyed with the gentleman. Ormskirk the week after was a close game and when we played Southport at home on the 24th September we were 3 wins from 3, with the last two being really close games and the lads really digging in, to seal wins. We talked and trained so much on having an AGGRESSIVE RELENTLESS RUTHLESS DEFENCE, this is something that is printed on posters around the changing rooms and it was now beginning to show in games. We were actually supposed to play Eccles on the 1st October but due to a wedding and many injuries we just couldn’t get a team out and the fixture was awarded to Eccles. But we remained very focused and the lads knew good performances were ahead. 

Two pieces of magic will always stand out on the day we beat Kirkby Lonsdale away, which saw a 42-5 win, one on the field and one off it. On it, was a quite sublime chip over the defence from Connor Baxter 30 metres out, he caught it and glided in to leave the Lonsdale defence static and unable to react, brilliant. Off it was quite simply amazing. After the game 10 of us decided to go back to Chorley and go to our rugby club bar. We were all chatting away and Paul Dawson told me he was a magician, obviously we had to ask him to do a trick. The first one was unbelievable; he gave his phone to one of the lads and got him to open the calculator app. He asked other lads to give him various numbers (I can't actually remember how he got them to give the numbers, but the lads decided them). Stu Hammond then put all the numbers into the calculator and times them by another number which again the lads decided, he then told Stu to put the answer of that sum into my phone and call that number. We couldn’t believe it when my phone actually called Paul’s phone, unbelievable!! He then took a coin out of a can of lemonade that Stu had bought from the bar, unopened, again brilliant! 

Next was Fylde at home, hands down they were the better team on the day, they just made better decisions than us. This was definitely our poorest performance of the season, not for effort that’s always there, but decision making in all areas cost us. As I write this it’s the Tuesday before the return game and the lads are becoming a team who make less and less poor decisions. A 57-0 away win then came in which all Leigh seemed to want to do was fight, but we came through with no injuries or broken noses or jaws. Aldwinians who were next, were starting to improve in the few weeks before we played them and going into the game we had chatted so much about decision making and our defensive pattern. Within 4 minutes we were 7-0 down, some would think oh no what’s going on, but we don’t panic anymore, we don’t try and chase the game as much now unless we really need to and definitely not in the first few minutes, we ended up winning 40-7. One thing that did stand out was how many supporters they brought from Manchester, they brought lots of the family and it was so nice chatting to lots of them in the bar, good people, its what rugby is all about. 

A 27-5 win away at Ormskirk followed with the welcome return of assistant coach Stu Hammond. After he calmed down at half time, he was brilliant, I knew we'd miss him after a long time out due to a really bad Achilles injury, but it was just great to see him running around.

What do I say about the Southport game without getting in trouble…i'll just state the absolute facts.

We were supposed to be playing them away but the game was called off due to a frozen pitch. Apparently there were no free dates to rearrange the game so a 3 person panel would decide the result (I know…..). Remember this, we had beat them at home, we had beat them last season, they had played 1 more game than us but were 10 points behind us, they had conceded 359 points and we had conceded 95 (which was and still is the best defence in the league), we had won 9 out of 10 games and they had won 3 out of 11, you know what’s coming eh….yes, your unbelievably right, the three person panel awarded the victory to Southport, to say I was shocked, mad and totally disillusioned was an understatement and to top all that we were told we couldn’t appeal it, if we’d won the game (which I think we would of) we would be 2 points clear at the top of the league, I’ll say no more.

We have lots of good people who volunteer at the club, like most clubs these people are the only reason you can function and grow and help you improve things. One of the things I wanted to do was create a match day team which would set up the pitch, run the water on and basically help make it easier for the players and make it a better playing experience. I think it’s worked really well and the players really appreciate the work the team do. One person on the match day team was Nicola Singleton, she loved been part of the club and helping out around and also watching her son Logan, play most weeks. On the 7th December last year we were all totally shocked when we were told she had passed away. It's one of those days i'll never forget as my phone constantly rang or pinged. She was a lovely woman, although we didn’t agree on some things, she always spoke her mind and I liked her a lot, as did everyone else. She will be greatly missed around the club and it won’t be the same without her running onto the pitch with water for the lads. We will always support, care for and send all our love to Ian, Logan, Cam and Zach as much as possible.

Social media has taken on a whole new life with Sean Livingstone taking up point. He’s like a wizard, I ask him if he can do something, and minutes later he will send me a picture that looks like it's taken him hours, then say “that ok?” I like Sean, he’s like Stu, we can be totally honest and neither take offence in any way. Me and Stu constantly bicker and take the mickey out of each other but not once have we ever taken offence or become even close to falling out, that’s exactly how it should be.

Training during November and December was so frustrating. At this time we couldn’t train on our home pitch the risk of potential damage due to constant training and with it not being properly established yet. Thursdays was southlands school on the artificial pitch. In 6 weeks, the floodlights failed, it was flooded and the all-weather pitch that is great in all weathers, was then frozen. We ended up training for around 30 minutes spread over 6 weeks, the first time we trained after that was the 5th January. Thank god for WhatsApp as a lot of the coaching was done on there with me sending videos off rugby slate and also diagrams, I definitely annoyed the lads, no doubt!! LOL. Last week we even walked through moves on the gravel car park, such is our determination to keep improving. So, imagine then going to top of the league Eccles in Manchester and beating them 17-12 in what is arguably our best performance of the season, you’d expect a drop in form or something to drop the standards, but no, ours went up massively, that says more about the lads and WhatsApp than anything else ever could.

So here we are looking forward to Fylde this Saturday, everyone now working really hard in training, played 10 and lost 1, with the Southport decision we would be top of the league and two points clear (that’s twice I’ve mentioned that, I’m not bothered honestly!!!!!ggggrrrrr…). BUT we can’t affect any of what’s happened now in any game or result, it’s all about this Saturday, nothing else. Over the last 18 months I’ve had people say, “oh you are only an amateur team”, it doesn’t matter what level anyone is at to me, it's about having your own standards and the squad standards and being the very best we all can and that includes me as a coach. As I constantly say to the lads “hard work is non-negotiable”, it has to be for us all. That may sound over the top, but I just want the club to move forward and the lads to win something and be the best they can, that also includes me. 

Graham Crane