Re: Batley on Sunday. : Fri Sep 17, 2021 2:41 pm  

Tough game to call with both sides not in the best of form i will go for a fax win 24-16. As for team selection who knows but from the 21 man squad lets just pretend they are all fit i would pick.

woody
salty
mcomb
worthington
mcgrath
harris
robinson
larroyer
moore
murray
barber
tangata
kavanagh

morris
calcott
fairbank
curtis davies

Re: Batley on Sunday. : Fri Sep 17, 2021 3:28 pm  

If fit that line up looks good enough to beat most Championship teams.

Re: Batley on Sunday. : Fri Sep 17, 2021 6:37 pm  

Agreed..but not the two that matter.

Re: Batley on Sunday. : Sun Sep 19, 2021 5:02 pm  

Typical Fax both sides of the story performance and comes down to not creating enough in attack from the amount of the early possession and then conceding a soft try from virtually the first or second Batley attack with the flip side being showing great D keeping them pointless in the second half.
Overall to finish third is certainly an achievement but losing 4 out of the last 5 takes some of the gloss off and shows the room for improvement that's required.

Re: Batley on Sunday. : Sun Sep 19, 2021 10:15 pm  

It was an abysmal end of season showing, mirroring the coaches interviews and remarks.

Re: Batley on Sunday. : Mon Sep 20, 2021 1:40 am  

Once again Fax go into a downward spiral at the wrong end of the season. Whilst finishing third is as good if not better than some projected at the beginning. When I saw the squad assembled it was with a quiet hope Fax could cause an upset.
A rocky start losing games through silly mistakes and poor game management, then it clicked and a win of nine on the bounce only to see the wheels fall off again.
Whose fault is it? The coach, certainly has made some strange team selection choices .
The players , poor discipline and game management in some instances.
The BoD certainly the information highway hit an early exit sign and some odd things transpired over the season.
Players being told / knowing they would not be retained after the last game?

It all ends with the familiar sour not sweet taste of winners, I keep saying to myself that’s it I am finished with Fax and the RFL, the whole circus is all too familiar and has been for a generation.
But then I think what the hell, Halifax founding members of the Rugby League all the history and heritage, players who gave their all including broken bodies over the years for the cause,
Remembering the quote over the clubhouse doors at Thrum Hall, watching some great stars over the last. 50 years, starting with Kielty, Dean, Wilkinson, Dixon,Freeman, Fogarty, to name but a few, they never gave up, nor will I, I will be here again next year in spirit if not in body hoping and praying for the impossible dream to be reality and the Fax become a powerhouse and driving force they deserve to be.

Re: Batley on Sunday. : Mon Sep 20, 2021 6:34 am  

Well I for one really enjoyed that game, one of the best for a while imo .We really came out of the blocks fast and Fax could have had it wrapped up in the first twenty minutes but Batley hung on with committed and scrambling defence. I thought our passing looked crisp and accurate. After that it was end to end with both sides putting bodies on the line. Some big hits with Fairbank and Moore standing out with their non stop effort. Batley just deserved the win with a couple of their forwards making the hard yards that we have missed this season. Lots of broken and bruised bodies which unfortunately doesn`t bode well for the Whitehaven game. I sadly will miss that one.

Re: Batley on Sunday. : Mon Sep 20, 2021 6:44 am  

Could of done with Harris in the team today. Not playing because he got cought with his pants down at the local hotel his a bit of a p1ss take at the business end off the season.

Re: Batley on Sunday. : Mon Sep 20, 2021 7:53 am  

I’m starting to think we’ve had a secret takeover by Marcel Marceau such is the level of communication between Halifax and the fans , I find the questions from the interviewers underwhelming. Hi Simon why do you think we lost today ? Er well some fine details were a bit off but we defended well .

So in terms of composure in attack why do you think we’re a bit lacking in that department?
Er good question, we let them off the hook with some silly plays .

Do you think the choice made by Brandon Moore to wear Maroon underpants rather than blue had any influence on the game ?

Er no .

What about his socks ?

Er no .

Alternatively we could ask questions like

Whilst we have played well at times this season why do you think by your own admission we haven’t managed to put in a full 80 minutes performance?

Obviously with the departures of 3 players that were fundamental to that success mid season why weren’t they replaced?

Can we have an update on Liam Harris?

How’s Greg worthington and saltenstall with injuries?

Where’s rawsthorne?

Is Connor Robinson fit ?

Half these interviews are non informative nonsensical crap .

Re: Batley on Sunday. : Mon Sep 20, 2021 10:41 am  

Personally thought the game was not that great to watch with two teams looking very tired and neither really offering a lot. I thought yesterday spoke volumes about where we need to improve for next season with another centre to compliment Worthington, 2 new half backs, and at least 3 or 4 forwards who can make any sort of impact. Our game basically fell apart when we had to use our bench yesterday and we lost all intensity from the first 20 minutes after that. Our kicking game was poor but it has been all season and hopefully that changes next year with Keyes coming in.

Totally agree with everything said about communication from the club been poor but it does make me wonder if its simply Grix telling the media to not ask those questions because our squad is so thin and its very hard to keep opposition guessing if he were to come out and say the likes of Harris are injured.

The frustrating thing about this season is we had the nucleus of a team that could get us to 3rd and give us a glimmer of hope that we could cause a couple of upsets and maybe have a shot at SL. Instead we have got 3rd and its most likely that our season ends next week and everyone is supposed to be happy with that.