...and we go again with Castleford. F♡ck that!

Understand why DR is contentious but I think if we can get the lads that aren’t playing week in week out playing in their reserves that it can only be beneficial in their progress .

Don't like the principle of DR but think we've got to be realistic- board have invested in a good quality squad, but there's little margin for injuries that we're already facing - in the past can't remember us ever being pressured into dropping good players who were in form to accommodate DR players - as long as this continues I'm prepared to accept it as a necessary evil.

No need to get angry about it. We have been DR with Huddersfield for years. So there is no news here except a different club.
As other s have said and the club we have a very small squad so insurance is what it is about. Once again we have a partnership in place with champ 1 for our young lad and you don’t seem to complain about that. Why not? This is a good thing for our younger players as the RFL will NOT ALLOW us to run a proper A team so this is the only way for Halifax youngsters to improve and play at a higher level.

The reasons have been stated and if it's not clear enough then no point in trying to explain colour to a blind man and it's a good job the club can represent themselves in public in a more professional way other than effing and jeffing about it to explain their position.

We didn't really use DR last season and I would imagine it will be the same this season but it's there if we need it. Grix is no mug and him and Radford are old mates I imagine the link will be used with respect. Needs must we are probably at the very least 500k away from Fev's spend so at this point we have to try and use any edge we can get.

I see this as anther pointer to the BOD not investing sufficiently on the pitch to push for promotion.

Given the future is "licensing" our twenty years in level 2 will stretch a long way into the future.

I have no interest in "closed" leagues.

If you have no interest in closed leagues then you should be happy for our 20 years in level 2 as I think there is promotion and relegation between that league and what is Champ 1

Bit surprised to see Daniel Smith from Cas named in the squad when all our forwards appear to be fit - may be just Grix making it clear to some underperforming forwards that even with a small squad their places are not guaranteed. Personally only 2 games in, against what shouldn't be our toughest opponents of the season, would have preferred our own players be given another chance to prove themselves.

It’s
Only the squad not the starting 17

Get him in. That performance by some of our forwards at Fev was simply not acceptable.

A couple of our lads played this afternoon for Cas reserves against Lock lane oakley and foster. As for us using dr the main thing for me and i take both sides of the argument on this is the attitude of the players we get from Cas. If they turn up and just go through the motions then they will be no better then what we already have in the squad and i would hope that simon would not pick them again in the future if that is the case and tell Radford why. But if they put the effort in for how ever long they are with us then with them being fulltime super league players they should add quality to our side which in my eyes we need more of in the pack. Ideally we would sign the players ourselves to bolster the squad which i believe we are trying to do so in the meantime this will after do.

I agree with some points that DR can be a disruption to a team, I also agree that if used properly it can be a great thing. As mentioned we use it to champ 1 for our own use, it could also be as again mentioned above, being used as a ‘ don t get complacent about your place’ to our own players.
How will the nay sayers feel should we use a d r player and they score the winning points in a game? SG will only use a d r if he feels they are better than he has available at that particular time.
As for comments about the board, unless you know the full story of what is going on, keep your mouth zipped and your fingers off the keypad.

There's been far too much hysteria concerning DR in connection with our club both in the past and now with none of the doom and gloom predictions associated with it coming true.

One example is the claim that we would lose our identity.

Well the facts are the exact opposite, during the same period we have had a successful rebrand with a new identity more relevant to a younger audience and adding to the larger profile of the club within the modern game and at the same time kept the traditions by this year celebrating the 150 years history of the club!!!

Regarding our own squad.

If I were a Panthers / Fax player I would accept someone else getting picked before me based on performance first of all in training and then on the pitch but if that player underperforms on game day then I would expect to be the one getting first chance at wearing the shirt before an outsider, otherwise how will I ever get a chance to show what I can do and would find that scenario hard to accept.

For us DR is an insurance for when we are so low on players to use as an option to maintain our competitive strength, leaving people out who haven`t had a chance could actually work the opposite way and weaken us through discouragement.

All part of SG's judgment and player / game management skills and interesting to see what he does and then listen to his reasoning in the post game interview / comments.

I've stated on here more than once that we shouldn't use DR in any way, shape or form including us farming players out to other clubs. Fact!

Yes we know but it’s one thing to say what we shouldn’t do when there is never a workable alternative put forward.

Let’s follow your reasoning and never use DR in any form.

Even with our small squad of 24 players that means, depending on fitness and availability 7 will not feature on any given game day.

What are they to do?

Just stay at home or sit in the stand and somehow turn up with the right match fitness and skill levels an unknown number of weeks further down the line if and when.

When results are the key factor how can that approach put out the strongest team from the options available in the modern game?

Use the squad to cover for injuries/losses of form. Last week people were saying we had to use DR as we hadn't enough players of our own. But, yet again I'll say that my opposition to DR is not solely about Fax using it. It's about the fact that it is detrimental to the Championship and skews the league table. It's there for the SL clubs to use as they wish and we do what they want and not the other way round wether you like it or not. By the way, where's Smith this week?

But that evades the question of what to do with the squad players who aren’t getting a game and the fact if they aren’t playing won’t contribute much when they do as they can’t be up to speed and can’t have any form of their own.

And secondly ignores reality.

Is DR part of the modern game not just by SL but across all the divisions? Yes.

Are Fax and all the other clubs being forced to do what a SL clubs tells them? No.

Are all the Championship 1 clubs being forced to do what their Championship partners tell them? No.

What you are proposing is based on a game structure (one without DR) that doesn’t exist and with a dictatorship structure (where every lower club in descending order are being told what they have to do) that doesn‘t exist.

Back from fantasy land to the real world of rugby league of today, Smith his back at his parent club having done a job he was brought in to do on the day he was brought in to do it by Fax because that’s how the system works, sometimes for a week, sometimes for longer.

I hope we aren't including neither. The context looks like they are being farmed out on the back of their performance vs. Hull. Where is Fanoua going to play? Surely none of the current backline will make way for him. I'm not a big McComb fan, I don't think he's a starter but still wouldn't remove him from Fanoua. Likewise, Matagi is a donkey. We shouldn't be putting either of them in purely because they had a stinker against Hull.

Daniel smith is injured , he has a cut and is unavailable for selection according to a lee radford interview https://youtu.be/D7T1kUcJ6jI

Daniel smith is injured , he has a cut and is unavailable for selection according to a lee radford interview https://youtu.be/D7T1kUcJ6jI

Exactly. Have a look on the Cas forums and that is precisely the view Cas fans have of the situation involving these two players. If they indeed have been sent to Fax as some form of punishment it's hardly likely they're going to bust a gut for us is it? Then what does it say to the Fax players who make way for them?

I would imagine that been sent to us as a punishment should have them busting a gut for us. If they don't then SG does not seem the sort of person that would have them back and I cant imagine LR will be too impressed either. Lets face it we have come in to the season with 2 centres short and we need to do something about that and as much as I think McComb tries he is more a winger and is nowhere near the quality of the 2 we had there last season and that has stood out in the first games this year. Our pack also has been badly out matched so far as well so this is really no surprise.

Does anyone like DR? I don't know anyone who does but I am not going to lie, its nice to actually see some established Sl players playing for us as part of the link up.

Of course no fans ever look for scape goats and someone to blame whether that be the ref, players or the coach after losing a game do they and can always be relied upon for the most balanced view of things, after all we have you as an example to rely on





Actually. None of this answers the questions asked about your previous erroneous statements concerning DR.

And concerning players feelings who's advice if followed from a 24 man squad would see at least 7 players not even getting a game week in week out for any club!!!

As before all this is all based on "if's" and imaginary negative conclusions.
"If" they are being punished and "If they are picked" then they will automatically play crap for us



I mean it's not as if they are seasoned professionals who are international or dual international players or anything.

No no no "if" they have a bad game one week then surely they must want to follow that up by just going through the motions and have an even worse game "If" they get selected the week after, that would make perfect sense, or maybe not.



What about "If" Maizen is still not fully fit and "If" Tibbs has had a reaction to his current injury and "If " there are a couple of players other than Kev carrying a knock and Grix just wanted the option of experience cover to call upon "If" anyone broke down?

When you listen to SG talking about the game whether that be to fellow professionals or to the fan base rugby league knowledge just comes out as natural as breathing and without even having to think about it is part of the conversation as anyone I've ever listened to.

By comparison, how much coaching experience do you have at any level, have you ever even played the game at any level?

Yet you are implying from the comfort of an armchair that you know more about both the bigger game as a whole, the weekly ongoing situation at his club than he does and that Simon Grix is signing up to a deal where he is being forced by Lee Radford into partly picking his team, it's a complete insult to him and the club to even suggest so, it's absurdly delusional.

Instead of always jumping on the clubs back why not wait and see what happens and then listen to the reasons for it?

The thing is this year we currently have a small squad of 24 so we are limited at the moment. It’s already been noted that fax are on the lookout for players now and in the future there are players who in the past that have signed for us permanently after having enjoyed dr spells with us . It’s a bit of a try before you buy scenario . Some of our players haven’t been up to scratch yet and need a kick up the backside. Covering both castleford and fax players poor performances and fans judgements on that , one bad performance doesn’t make them a bad player, for us last year , walmsey, jouffret, aston , McComb all had bad games and were dropped but subsequently returned and started to perform consistently for the rest of the season.

Ps let’s not forget joe Keyes never really made an impression at hull kr but yet was our star player last year . Mahe fonau will be more than capable at this level.

Firstly, no need for bad language, it's not very professional is it?

Then to answer your points about the seven players missing out 'week after week'. We have a small squad and all players will be used, be it for injuries, form, suspensions or tactically. They will all have trained together and know our calls and moves. Also, yes i have played the game and done a little coaching not that it means all that much in the context of commenting on here. As for sitting in the comfort of my armchair i'm doing that as we speak. I also go to every home match, been a season ticket holder for years, and the vast majority of away games. I'm allus available to pontificate on all matters Fax,usually in The Three Pigs, with anyone and long may that continue. Up The Fax!