Re: Summer bash Halifax vs Batley : Mon May 29, 2023 7:54 pm  

I think Toulouse are under even more pressure than us given early season expectations and their poor recent form - even if they do always play a lot better at home. Before Sunday thought Grix should stick with Inman in the halves to keep JWH at fullback - he's now a really difficult decision to make but wouldn't be surprised to see Pickersgill make an appearance this week. It is crap luck that having carried a spare quality half last season who hardly played, we've now suffered just the sort of injury situation he was brought in for. Don't think JWH is anything like as effective in the halves as he is at fullback - but we are running out of other options.

Re: Summer bash Halifax vs Batley : Tue May 30, 2023 10:28 am  

So Inman is being made the scapegoat Ilkley Fax ? There are enough experienced heads out there to have put a stop to the rot.
For me it seems Fax want to score with every set of 6, never gonna happen.
Don t know whose idea it is to kick the ball to the same place every time, wombat is not a miracle worker, the kicks do not have enough hang time for the Fax players to compete, along with the opposing defense knowing exactly where the ball will go,
Fax have international rated players who should be smart enough to mix up the on field happenings, or are they so scared of Grix and derailing the boss’ orders, the game plan too easy to read.
Sure Fax play some very entertains rugby, great to watch but at times it has cost points on the board and in the league.
I am not a Grix Knocker per se but he needs to change his style and set up, and as has been remarked many times previously, we seem to miss the input of Liam Finn and Scott Grix.
I could go on but I think most know and feel the same, something needs to happen sooner or later or the season is gone.
Up the Fax and never say die.
“From Hull Hell and Halifax may the good lord deliver us” The Thrum hall spirit should be the rallying call

Re: Summer bash Halifax vs Batley : Tue May 30, 2023 10:55 am  

I’m not sure he was making Inman the scapegoat. I think most of us were undecided about who should partner LJ after the St Helens game. Tom played very well that evening, so it was no surprise that he was given another go at half back, meaning we kept JWH at his better position of FB where he is more dangerous coming into the line. But I think Tom struggled to have much impact, he also kicked the ball away twice in good field position early on in the game. Too much was then expected of LJ. We definitely missed Keyes’ organisation and he is also our best better kicker from in the field of play.

Whilst I think we lost some of our intensity around the ruck after the first 30 mins, it was the mistakes that really cost us. Even their first try came from a fumbled kick and subsequent scrum. Had JWH dealt with those kicks better and we weathered that pressure, then who knows, but it would have meant Batley having to chase the game rather than us.

Re: Summer bash Halifax vs Batley : Tue May 30, 2023 11:21 am  

Greg Florimos Boots wrote:

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.

A perfect post and sums up eloquenty why several people,myself included,aren't Grix fans,which doesn't make us naive and misguided as the apologists suggest...

Re: Summer bash Halifax vs Batley : Tue May 30, 2023 4:22 pm  

gizempo wrote:

I’m not sure he was making Inman the scapegoat. I think most of us were undecided about who should partner LJ after the St Helens game. Tom played very well that evening, so it was no surprise that he was given another go at half back, meaning we kept JWH at his better position of FB where he is more dangerous coming into the line. But I think Tom struggled to have much impact, he also kicked the ball away twice in good field position early on in the game. Too much was then expected of LJ. We definitely missed Keyes’ organisation and he is also our best better kicker from in the field of play.

Whilst I think we lost some of our intensity around the ruck after the first 30 mins, it was the mistakes that really cost us. Even their first try came from a fumbled kick and subsequent scrum. Had JWH dealt with those kicks better and we weathered that pressure, then who knows, but it would have meant Batley having to chase the game rather than us.

Thank you- exactly what I meant. Inman is a young player with more experience at hooker than in the halves, but on seasons form so far I'd have him in the team every week - just at hooker, in the knowledge that he could fill in at half to cover injuries

Re: Summer bash Halifax vs Batley : Tue May 30, 2023 6:07 pm  

Beaujangles wrote:

A perfect post and sums up eloquenty why several people,myself included,aren't Grix fans,which doesn't make us naive and misguided as the apologists suggest...

Problem is people like you only appear in a negative sense and offer no intelligent counter argument, I actually agree with some of florimos arguments and he speaks a lot of sense , the last time you made a suggestion it was some ludicrous idea to get Kyle amor in to recruit some land of the giant non existent props and if anyone offered an intelligent response they were apparently a clown .

Re: Summer bash Halifax vs Batley : Wed May 31, 2023 10:21 am  

I think Simon has suffered from both the loss of his brother/Fiunn and from any recruitment direction from an experienced Board member.

At the start of the season I said i didn't think he should continue in his job and be replaced, I still think that.

More importantly second level rugby looks the ONLY future for the club without substantial investment and increase in Crowds in next year or two under IMG's proposals, so playing budget in future may be considerably lower than now (we are far from alone in this),

Re: Summer bash Halifax vs Batley : Wed May 31, 2023 11:23 am  

Seems we can only sign players we've had before now..Maher,Lannon,Fleming,Douglas-none of which were spectacular previously-as when we go for potential upgrades Springer,king,Doro the coach takes an instant dislike.Something drastic needs to change in our recruitment policy.

Re: Summer bash Halifax vs Batley : Wed May 31, 2023 12:17 pm  

Yes apart from walmsley , Keyes , jouffret, inman , tibbs , wood , gee , maizen , and doro is injured btw .

Re: Summer bash Halifax vs Batley : Wed May 31, 2023 12:26 pm  

I was only refering to the more recent forward signings as this is where the problem lies IMO.
I accept Gee was an excellent signing-the only forward who impressed me at York.