www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/sport/h ... _1_3314783 I honestly thought he would come out and offer up his usual excuses but he hasn't shirked and has shown a passionate "fanlike" reaction. He is honest and he knows and has shown the reality of the situation we are now in. Anyone doubting his passion and commitment to the Fax cause must surely think again after that. Good on you Matt and I hope the players heed this rally call.

www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/sport/h ... _1_3314783 I honestly thought he would come out and offer up his usual excuses but he hasn't shirked and has shown a passionate "fanlike" reaction. He is honest and he knows and has shown the reality of the situation we are now in. Anyone doubting his passion and commitment to the Fax cause must surely think again after that. Good on you Matt and I hope the players heed this rally call.

Fair play to him and I hope some new faces are brought in as a few are not good enough and others past it! But its more than just the players that need to be looked at. For me I think the whole coaching setup seriously needs to be looked at. We have 4 or 5 people involved and nobody seems to know anything about defence. And all except Gonzo played in this Fax team. I do feel its a bit of a Old Boys club. Something needs to be done and some tough decisions need to be made. I doubt Matt will leave if at all before the end of the year. But he has to prove himself now as does each individual at the club. This is more than about MC but about every person involved with the playing side at the club and seeing if they should be with us.

Calland is being badly let down by some of his most experienced players. Some of the mistakes last night weren't even schoolboy stuff and credit to Widnes for punishing them; the mistakes when fielding kicks by Holroyd and Aizue spring to mind, not to mention White's howler from the monster drop out!

Slippery slope now.

"If I can find players that are young, enthusiastic and have that desire that we are lacking, then I will do."

Get the feeling if he had done that at the begining of the season we wouldnt be in the mess we find ourselves now.

at least he is being honest and saying the players are letting the fans down.

It does beg the question why this culture/attitude has been allowed to develop. I wasn't there last night, but MC's comments last night applied against Batley, Toulouse, Sheffield and parts of the Leigh and Featherstone games.

There is an inherent lack of commitment in a number of our players - when we need that extra effort, it simply doesn't matter enough to them. Unfortunately, this then reflects badly on those players who do put the effort in, as well as the coaching team.

I am not part of the MC out campaign. He deserves the opportunity to sort this. I suspect he has been guilty of having misplaced loyalty to some of his squad by not acting sooner. Unfortunately those players have put MC's job on the line. He now needs to start work on a long term solution.

hear hear!!
Hes let too many of them get far too cosy at Halifax and now its starting to bite him on the ass, its long overdue, he can't have sentiment or keep mates at the club, well, not if they aren't performing, nobody is bigger than the club, not even Matt, and not even Michael Steele, its upto all of em to either turn it round or get someone in who can, we have better players than 0 from 5, theres no excuses, its down right poor, and once again we're letting golden opportunities to grow and build turn to rat 54it, again, its so frustrating, no wonder theres only a couple of thousand who can stand this inconsistent tripe.

Did'nt he come out with the same spiel last year and the year before though?

Just remind me again, weren't those the years when we reached the play off final followed by actually winning the final ?

If it has an effect like that, then I won't complain. I think we are stuck with what we have for this season, so let's just get on with it, there will be big changes for Fax next season, one way or the other, good or bad. That is the time it will get sorted.

I'll be honest, thats made me feel alot happier, I just hope he sticks to this 'dropping players' now because in the past he hasn't. But like Haighy said, he at least understands the problem now and is able to talk about it.

Bring in some young props from Super League who want to prove themselves.

Use some of the players from the 23's like Josh Barlow etc. They at least want to play.

DEFENCE DEFENCE DEFENCE in training, bring in a defensive trainer?

Can anyone confirm, for definite, whether Toulouse are still exempt from relegation or not?

more then once if im not mistaken


Its a shame when after winning or doing something good we always do something bad. We should have kicked on and either gone all youth or gone all out to win again. We've done neither in truth. Its not going to attract new fans or grow us.
This team is good enough to bail him out again though, so the cracks will more than likely be papered over again, one thing he has done well is get players who can win games, they will turn it around and inconsistency will continue, the leaking defence will continue, the board support will continue, Punxsutawney Phil will remerge zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Bring in a defensive trainer? we must have 6 coaches already if one of them hasn`t been picked for defensive skills then serious questions need to be asked.

It's tough being a coach. So let's say he drops a handful of players for Monday and dewsbury beat us, then there will be a host of fans on here saying he changes the team too much?

I have to agree with the defence issue though, ours has been poor for the mist of Callands reign, and has to be addressed sooner rather than later.

Well obviously not, and if they have well they're not doing a bloody good job of it, so yes bring in a (new?) defensive trainer.

We just can't carry on like this.

Have the last two years bored you?

Would you rather have been a Leigh fan? It's been groundhog day for them for the last 5 years. Or how about Widnes? They're off to Super League sure, but go and read about their last three years in the Championship on their forum. Fancy being a Fev fan? Ooooooooh, so close - but no cigar. Or how about Barrow? Hey they won the GF year before last. Would Barrow excite you? Their Chairman certainly isn't a wallflower and his antics are far from Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

I have no problem with people's frustrations with what is happening now - it's dire but to suggest that what we are going through now has been prevalent throughout the club over the last two or three years is to deny the hard work and patience shown by players, officials and fans alike and the results that we've enjoyed recently.

More than ever now with the salary cap there isn't going to be one stand-out club that is going to win all the time. It's not going to be us, Leigh or Fev. However - i agree that we should expect a level of consistency and to go from Champions to this is bloody annoying. Only the players and the coach can put that right - more so the players. They have to start turning this situation around - starting with Dewsbury and Barrow next up.

We will be back. Hopefully it will be this season but something tells me that once again - we may have to be patient.

I know where you're coming from, and I know Calland can't please everyone. But it was clear last night there were just one or two players who just seemed like they couldn't be bothered at all. And i'm not one for changing the team around, but I genuinely believe one or two new additions are needed.

Its where we are and where were going that matter, the past is gone, its not even fish and chip wrapping these days, the question is can Matt complete the set of coaching badges and breed consistency, tactical nouse and defensive resilience and more importantly, make the shirt mean something every single time the lads put them on, PRIDE, if he can't, we have had our golden day. If he can he will make a good career from coaching because he can clearly spot players that can change games and he can clearly attract them to the club.

PLEASE,PLEASE stop your winging all of you,mat calland and martin hall will turn this around im sure, KEEP THE FAITH

Risky tactic but yes honest.
If he does manage to turn this around he will deserve a medal, I hope he manages to do something as none of us want a complete walloping against Bradford, please no.
I have my doubts but hey will be happy to take it all back if he does pull it off, although I would like to see less 'we can score more than you' type games and a more lean and mean defence, with more consistency please?

Show me the money, were 25% where we should be and no wins from 5.
a hard rains gonna fall.........................................maybe.... upto you Matt.

. . . . and of course the players, without them none of this poor form is possible

Get a grip most of you with your negatives !
I've said all along, not with this current coach, but with every coach I've ever known, supported or played for, it's the players who are at fault, most of you will never understand that because you won't have played the game. If Calland has come out & said it in the press, then you better believe it because we have a coach who has had the players & staff back him through a lot of troubled times at our club. He knows which players are letting him down & don't forget too quickly that Frank, Patto & Banno have all played reserve rugby already this season. At least we have a reserve team for these "lazy" players to wallow in, a luxury we haven't had for a few years, so I hope the supporters of our club will see by team selections who he means when the suffer the embarrassment of having to take a drop into the "stiffs".
I reckon we should get off Callands back, some people have very short memories, I bet some of his critics were kissing his & patting him on the back after last season's GF great escape, a game of rugby that was won by who ? THE PLAYERS.

So who are the lazy players?
Let's touch on that which has so far been skirted around. Let's start a witchunt

good on ya mate KEEP THE FAITH