Firstly a very committed performance. Well done to all players.
The mixture of the loanees and dual reg in the pack is certainly paying dividends. They are pushing the bar upwards.
To me this year is going to see the changing of the guard as we go along. there are a few key areas where it's blindingly clear where we can improve.
1. Speed of Play of the ball from Ben K ( but not lack of effort or enthusiasm)
2. Lack of pace and fitness (but not ability) Muzza
3. Creative attacking ability left edge Centre . Tyrer does little wrong but not enough in attack to worry the opposition.

Fix those and I really think we have the makings of a very strong team . A gradual progression as mentors because they are currently the binding to the team. But the team now has to evolve to improve if we want to beat top 4 teams because as Torronto showed , the bar has been raised.

A decent assessment, but don't underestimate what effect Muzza has on the team just by being alongside the other 12 players. Tbh, he might lack speed now, but he's as fit as anyone else in our team.

We need a bit of "sparkle", and I hope RM give JWH a good run-out at half-back as he has the makings of a really good player in that position.

We need speed at dummy half, and although I like BK, he needs training to learn how to ping the ball out without having to set his feet and then take it back before passing.

Blimey....if you think Scott is on a par fitness wise with the rest of our lads we've no chance! Today was his 150th Fax appearance and on his display and fitness it should be his last. Great player for Fax but true.

Yes good shouts on points 1, 2 and 3.
First of all I thouht both sides gave a good account of themselves and went at it toe to toe for long periods and it was a good game to watch.

The score didn't reflect the game overall but it did reflect the different threat levels posed by the two sides.

T W 's scored a few tries on the edge through faster play the balls and passing across the line to create the overlap.
Fax just just missed out scoring a few tries on the edge through slower play the balls and passing across the line.
T W's had a couple of line breaks and scored off one of them through faster players and faster support.
Fax had one line break and failed to score through slower players and slower support.

We defend pretty well but we don't threaten enough and it leaves me wondering where the threat will come from.

We haven't got the players to go full length.
We haven't got the players to pull off the brilliant X factor play.
We don't build enough pressure when in the opposistion 20.

We must find a way to cause sides problems when we are on attack, if we can't score enough points against the better sides we aren't going to be one of the better sides simple as that.

Close but not close enough.

I'm not entirely sure how my opinions would directly affect the team and their chances of winning games, but Scott does a full 80 every game and is still going strong at the end. He's lost some speed, and he certainly doesn't have any "twinkle toes" but with the team we have at the moment, we'd be lost without him. That said, some of his kicking game today wasn't the best.

So taking the above in to account, should we be moving out of the halves to 13?

Not sure what game some of you are watching but changes are needed at number 6 and number 9 and centre and these need to happen fast. Watched the York bulls game earlie and a certain mr robbinson was ripping it up for York why did we let him go.

Scott may try and raise the team but his kicking in the last 3 games as been shocking his speed is shocking and he is massively over weight.

Ben kaye trys but posses no threat where moore is now the better hooker by a mile

And tyrer needs to speed up again poor so far this season offers nothing poor passing game no threat when he was tackled behind the sticks for the drop out in the second half he had all the time in the world to get out.

Imho the 3 need swapping for the next game. Either move muzza to the pack or drop him and bring some one in or play brook.

Let moore try for a full game

let heaton play for tyrer

No brainer in my opinion.Struggling to create so the more ball handlers we have in 13 the better.Having signed Brook he needs to be given a chance.

I like Muzza, you can tell he's passionate and he's got a great rugby brain but I do feel he's in the Rooney-esque category at the moment. At what point do the plusses not outweight the minuses. Thing is as you get older you need to look after yourself more and Muzza's gone the other way. He's never been a lean player or sprightly but the shape he is in this season which is obvious to everyone must be having an affect on his performances. We sacrifice a running mobile halfback to compensate for Muzza but at what point do you say enoughs enough, there's no room for sentiment in this game and no one player is bigger then the club.

I pay hard earned money to watch a team of players be the best they can be, I don't expect one of our most important players to be out of shape at the start of the season. It's not a jolly boys outing team it's a professional sports team. You should look after yourself to be the best you can be. Even more so frustrating when it's a player with talent like Muzza. Yes I know he's never going to be a runner or mobile type of halfback but at least give yourself a fighting chance. Yes I also know he lasts 80 minutes but that doesn't mean anything with the way he plays to be honest.

Torontos halfbacks were all over the place, fast passing and accurate passing. One fan shouted it was like watching Paul Harkin yesterday. We even did the worlds slowest run around, back in the 80's moves.

We get stuck in with defence but our attack is predictable and slow and we lack guile, speed and mobility with our half backs. JWH I'm yet to be convinced he's a halfback, he needs a run at it but he was very quiet yesterday and seemed in 2 minds what to do when he got the ball. He's obviously got great feet but when combined with Muzza I don't think he has the time to learn as we need an halfback now. If Muzza had gotten in great shape I'd have said yes 1 more season but at this moment in time I feel maybe it's a season too far. If we rely on him like people say we do and without him we are rudderless then it's a poor sign of the other players ability. You can't knock his enthusiasm and dedication, he's great for team spirit I imagine but if at the cost of having to build a game plan around him is that wise.

Excellent post,exactly how it is.

Theres 2 good halfbacks in reserves playing well...punchard and brook, give them a go

Yeah. In the challenge Cup, and Johnston will be at York within the month

I personally would like to see Brook and WBH as the halves.
MUzza at 13
Chester left ( or a loanee)

Sharpe
Salty ( is framing at last)
Barber
Chester
CLare
WBH
BRook
MUrray
MOore
FLeming
Green
Grix
Scotty (who you can use as reserve hooker as well)

MAher
MOrris
Douglas
Grady (who can play as well)

If one of the loaners unavailable then bring in Cullimore on bench

Enjoyable rugby to watch - the main positives for me was a decent crowd being entertained and seeing the Halifax player stand up after an awful spear tackle.

Heaton should be in team..

I thought spear tackles were an automatic red. Even if that isn't the case he should have been sent off for that one, it was done with intent and could have caused serious injury. As for the game it was an excellent display 1st half followed by a poor 2nd half. Time to put some of the reserves in at Rochdale and rest Scott until he gets himself fit. He's been great for us but he could hardly walk after sixty minutes. Still overall a promising display, let's hope we continue to improve. Up The Fax!

Have to agree Muzza looks out of shape but he has a fantastic rugby brain and is a leader. Just think he needs a HB to compliment him which we don't currently have at the moment. We are experimenting with JWH who played Centre for us last season and did well. Put JWH back at Centre and bring Adam Brook in to play scrum half. You take away a extra forward playing Muzza at LF and not sure he would have same influence.

No team is perfect but If we could just stop making the amount of mistakes and actually complete some full attacking sets without just turning the ball over early in the tackle count it would go a long way towards fixing the problem and we would be a pretty good side.

It's more of a team issue rather than any individual issue such as Muzza's waistline.

Top post I agree.

Got to agree with you, watched your game tonight Murrell never runs he gets the ball stationary and just flips it on, he is like a statue he never attacked the line once or drew a man he can not be the best off half at your club he should be playing pub rugby, he has got to be 3 stone over weight and his kicking was dire, a few times players ran round him like he wasn't there one leaving him embarrassingly on the floor if you want to challenge you will have to find a good young stand off who can do a bit of organization and support the man, and is at least a threat going forward and fit sorry but like would love to see you bk in super league but you have got to get rid of deadwood

He as been poor in the last 3 matches is kicking game is also poor but two many are hanging out of is rolls and think he is are saviour

Muzza isn't just the only problem.

We have to have a threat and each team has to work out where they can pose a threat and play to that.

As stated before we're not going to go full length.
We haven't got the X factor player to come up with the X factor play.

That leaves field position and building pressure when on attack as the main option but we are not doing that.

Sunday as a typical example, when we had knocks on's early in the tackle count.
We chose to kick early in the TC.
We had the ball thrown into the crowd early in the TC.
We had passes thrown to an oppostion player with tackles still in the bag.
We had the ball thrown to the ground and a mad scramble to go back and pick it up looking like we had hardly played together etc etc with mulitple different players involved.

All this takes the pressure off the oppostion and puts it back on yourself.

If I were to ask RM, how are you going to fix it and he replied by dropping Muzza and by putting him on a crash diet I would be concerned he wasn't seeing the bigger picture.

Not the only problem true, another one being 2 players on the field who obviously didn't want to be there judging by their performance and body language and that came from a Cas fan who made the trip.

Which 2 players

Sunday is the perfect opportunity to try out something different. Put Muzza on a enforced diet and play 13 as a pivot not a runner. The pack is good enough to cope and see if a younger half back pairing can work. If it's wobbling he is around to help. RM Is a good coach but needs encouragement to change. I would rather push now before we get to June wondering why we can't score against the better teams. If he need stats then look at how-many trys the old guard have scored in the last 6 months worth of games and how many assists .....there is your answer. Solid defence but lost the cutting edge. As I got older my defence technically got better standing slightly wider but my try rate no matter how hard I tried or what position , went down from about 20 a season to about 2 close range ones! I had lost the "cutting edge" ( no pun on the sponsors! )