Re: Summer bash Halifax vs Batley : Mon May 29, 2023 11:21 am  

Listened to the radio, just seems we had several brain farts at the same time.
As mentioned last week probably took more out of the team than most realise. I did think after Batley scored early 2 nd half, senior player might have slowed the game down to retake control.
Fax to rebound and have a great run in .

Re: Summer bash Halifax vs Batley : Mon May 29, 2023 12:15 pm  

We were in control for first 30 mins. Forwards making easy yards and played them in their own half. Then we seemed to go off script, kicking ball away when it wasn't the play, not completing our sets and suddenly letting them make yards close to the ruck.

JWH won't normally make that many mistakes in a season. Despite all that, it relied on our mistakes to either gift them the tries or the field position.

Calling for Grix out seems to show mentality of some our supporters at times. The one who posted on FB (since deleted) berating Grix for only giving Inman 3 mins game time takes the busicut! I've occasionally had a beer too many at our games but I'd like to think I'd still notice a player who was on for the full game!!

Re: Summer bash Halifax vs Batley : Mon May 29, 2023 1:35 pm  

Im surprised how many of our fans are happy to accept mediocracy and think that is the overall mentality that we as a club have slipped in to. Ive read so many excuses to why we served up what we served up yesterday. I'm not to the point where I think Grix has to go but i'm also not at the stage where I am going to defend him whatever the results.

A few things that people seem to be forgetting regarding our "tired" performance yesterday. Batley also had a tough game last Friday and took a bit of a beating both physically and on the scoreboard. They also pick up just as many bumps and bruises as us from that game. Despite that for some reason for 55 minutes or so we were the only team that looked tired and unorganised.

People also seem to be letting our cup run blind themselves to the sort of performances we have been putting up in the league. For me we have comfortably the 2nd best squad in the league and we probably also have the 3rd/4th highest squad spend in the league and you have to ask the question if someone like Craig Lingard was in charge of this sort of squad would we be running 5th in the league at this point? Look at our league performances so far, we scraped a win against Sheffield which on the face of it given how well they have done was a good win, we then lost to Fev in the first 15 minutes, snook a win at home against London and then turned up terible performances against, Widnes, Barrow, Bradford and a poor performance against a depleted York side. We all happy with that?

Outside of the cup we have really only put on one solid performance all season against a poor Haven side for me at this stage of the season with the side we have that quite simply is not good enough, that is unless we are happy to just meander along making excuses.

Personel wise there have been a lot of questions asked about recruitment. Grix does not seem to do his homework on players, multiple times signing players who within a few games are suddenly "not good enough" for us. We get rid of Springer, King, and probably Doro next who all seem to excel away from Fax. We start the season without a recognised centre which is almost laughable the arrogance that we thought that would be okay and its a problem that has come back to bite us on the bum multiple times this season. We bring in Fleming and Pickersgill which seems a waste of money especially given the perfect situation yesterday to bring Pickersgill in to the team and that was passed up, maybe its just a case of another signing who it turns out is not good enough for us.

So the positives which for me at the moment are been outweighed by the negatives. On our day we are the most exciting team in the division to watch by far and we are capable of playing some brilliant rugby. The cup run has been brilliant and we still have a shot at making Wembley thanks to a great win at Fev and an awesome display against Bradford. If anything its those performances that set the bar high for recent games that we have not been able to live up to. Signings wise he is responsible for putting the team together that has been able to play this sort of rugby and we have the makings of a really good team. I guess another plus is that despite our league form we could still put a run together and get 2nd and where as Batley and Sheffield are celebrating great seasons, ours has been pretty poor in the league and we still have been able to give ourselves a good shot and the reality is that come the playoffs Fev would not be comfortable playing us in the final.

So overall I don't think it is time for Grix to go but we have some tough fixtures coming up and a couple of losses will have the pressure mounting on him and lets face facts, we are not Bradford, we would have people lining up out of the door to go for what in reality is probably the 2nd most desirable job in the Championship and personally I would love to see Liam Finn given a chance if need be especially as our decline seems to have coincided with his move to Dewsbury. The thing I find annoying at the moment is the constant excuses to why we have been average for most of the season, we seem to be at the point now where we are setting the bar so low that its simply seen as been ok if we fail. Nobody ever achieved anything with the attitude that we are showing at the moment.

Re: Summer bash Halifax vs Batley : Mon May 29, 2023 1:45 pm  

Added to that just watching Grix's interview from after the game and he talks basically about the other team wanting it more than us. Its not the first time he has mentioned this, why are we coming up against so many teams that seemingly want it more than us? Grix seems to be getting increasinglt agitated that the players do not seem to want to raise their games for him outside of the cup games at least.

Re: Summer bash Halifax vs Batley : Mon May 29, 2023 2:38 pm  

I think Grix is a great coach and a good communicator. I think what we are missing is someone on the pitch to get the team to stick to the game plan , a captain, I think we missed Keyes’ organisational skills and overall some intelligence and calm heads to get us through the difficult periods in games. It’s been a very disjointed season and I feel it could either way , some big games coming up .

Re: Summer bash Halifax vs Batley : Mon May 29, 2023 3:35 pm  

Did not go to York along with many others it seems. Nothing special about a trip to York. Listened on the wireless (ok t`internet).
Hard to judge from commentary other than Batley worked hard in defence in first half when we on top and then scored off our errors. Everyone makes mistakes in life, yes even referees. Get over it!
This division is really tough and every team will turn over a team above them at some point , re Broncos beating Toulouse on Saturday. This for me is why it is so compelling even though I love to see Fax win I prefer to see a close game where the outcome is unsure.
We play some attractive rugby and every player puts his body on the line for the shirt. Grix has his style and we have made it to playoffs years in a row . We all want better for Fax but that needs more money....

Re: Summer bash Halifax vs Batley : Mon May 29, 2023 3:42 pm  

Well what the hell went wrong yesterday. We was 12-0 up and for me in complete control and not appearing to be missing keyes and then for pretty much the rest of the game we fell apart. I will give Batley there due like as been said they had a tough game in the cup too and had players missing but they seemed to thrive on that sort of challenge where it seems we use it as a excuse to perform crap and throw a game away. I also agree with Greg that our league form so far as been at best poor considering our squad and spend we should be performing far better and not being bailed out by our very good cup form. It would not surprise me if we won the 1895 cup but miss out on the playoffs and for me that would be unacceptable. As for Simon when we play well he and the players deserve there pats on the back but when it goes wrong badly like it as done too many times for my liking in the league he and the players deserve to be questioned what as gone wrong and why. Would i sack him right now no but lets not think that there is not other coaches out there that could do a good job for us given the chance to do so.

Re: Summer bash Halifax vs Batley : Mon May 29, 2023 3:56 pm  

That's the thing for me, with the talent we have in the squad I think we could put anyone in charge and I couldn't see us been lower in the league than we are now. If it were not for the cup run i'm not sure Grix would be in charge at this point given the league form and next week is massive. Get a win and we are right back in with a shout but get a loss and there is a gap opening up and our season is in danger of turning in to a really poor one.

Re: Summer bash Halifax vs Batley : Mon May 29, 2023 4:56 pm  

Greg Florimos Boots wrote:

Get a win and we are right back in with a shout but get a loss and there is a gap opening up and our season is in danger of turning in to a really poor one.

Toulouse are really poor at the moment.Bedevilled by injuries but they just don't have that much talent anyway and no depth at all. London are ordinary but were the better team by some way. Fax should win comfortably and so should Fev against Toulouse the following week.

Re: Summer bash Halifax vs Batley : Mon May 29, 2023 6:28 pm  

The Phantom Horseman wrote:

Toulouse are really poor at the moment.Bedevilled by injuries but they just don't have that much talent anyway and no depth at all. London are ordinary but were the better team by some way. Fax should win comfortably and so should Fev against Toulouse the following week.

I think it will be a slog, in Barrow and Widnes we had a couple of away games where we should have done better than we did so going to Tolouse knowing the players will be having a jolly up it's tough to see us coming away with anything.