Not everybody mate said the pack wouldsmash everybody off the park. I personally had serious doubts as Gannon, Frank, Mikali, Larder are all over 31 and Gannon was always a penalty machine. And I remeber many saying Maloney not staying was a big miss as was Brannighan and Royston. Taking a Pay Cut was a big thing and I respect MC for doing it when he didnt have to do. But for me I see the same problems that have been woith us for years and nothing has changed. And today when I heard Bally mention about Negativity in the camp, then you have to question whether its time for MC to part ways with Fax.

Currently think Jones has been poor, bad decisions by going for little chips when we need a deep kick, cost us the match against Batley and that win could have been the kick start we needed.
Calland picking a fullback on bench against Fev - ridiculous - just meant the forwards had even more work to do and it's those decisions that make me feel he should go.
Penky makes so manyy mistakes/wrong decisions but has got away with them with spells of brilliance but I'd have Beswick on the pich everytime. And Penky is NOT a captain.

Penky is a captain.

I dont actually remember anyone saying this. How a pack this light weight could smash anyone is beyond me. Ive said all along we have the best backs in the league but that dosnt matter when by the looks of it on the first few games we have one of the worst packs in the league. Forwards win games, the backs just score the trys.

Gannon not taken a backward step? I have yet to see him make a yard. Featherstone's props took him out of the game and it was the same at Sheffield today.

If you think Danny Jones is yet to show his ability then I think you must have missed his kicking, passing, tackling and determination. He was one of our stand out players at Sheffield and created that try out of nothing for White.

The coach is definitely to blame when things go wrong. Nobody gets to play semi-professional rugby league by being rubbish at the game - it is the coach who makes the difference to how well they perform. Look at what Powell has done with Featherstone and what Harrison has done with Batley. In all walks of life the performance of a team is heavily influenced by its manager and can change dramatically when there is a change of manager - that is a given recognised everywhere. Yes, the team members take the plaudits when things go well - it is part of the manager's role to stand back and let that happen, or even to encourage it. It's all about motivating people.

We have some terrific players at Halifax but the team is less than the sum of their parts and the coaching is not addressing this.

It's time for Calland to go.

if we continue to play like this then we will not make the play offs, simple! HOWEVER it is not that long ago that we were in this position, remember hunslet leigh and fev. I think its time us fans really got behind the coach, not just the team, and let him know that we have faith in him.

Could that be down to the coach then?
Making too many wrong decisions like making Penky captain (again), did he never learn last time as the guy is not a born leader he is too individual, like when we need him to make the right call he does things like running the ball instead of taking the 2 points.
Said it many times before a well coached teams know how to beat us and we cannot cope, so yes once again I do question the coach do we have a gameplan???
Come on look at the resources at clubs like Batley and Sheffield not being cocky but they are small clubs compared to us yet because they have good coaches they do well, especially against us, so do Fev under another good coach.
We have done well the last 2 years under Calland because we have had a good squad of players and some individuals players who can score from nothing, but we have less of them now and I am concerned that we have gone backwards this season and yes I did go to Toulouse and they were bad there too.

I won't be getting behind the coach because I no longer have any faith in him.

Being pedantic here as I understand your point, but I wouldn't even put Batley in the same ballpark as Sheffield in terms of resources, mate. If you told me we (Batley) had enough money to sign even ONE out of Taulapapa, Yere or their new Samoan guy who recently had NRL trials, I'd probably spend the rest of 2011 laughing in your face.

Maybe based on support mate, I can only guess Mr Aston gets some decent sponsorships being in a large city like Sheffield.
When he goes I think they will struggle he is Mr Sheffield.

I won't be getting behind the coach because I no longer have any faith in him.'"

Like i said its probably his best game he has played for us and to be honest that break was all that he did. That just speaks volumes for how poor he has been for us. His kicking game has not been good for us and i bet he will be the first to admit that. Hopefully he can go from strength to strength after today but for me Holly and Black have to start and we cant afford the luxury of having a half back on the bench. On the note about passing, how bad is our passing? How many times do our props have to check or reach behind to catch a ball? Our distribution has got to be much crisper especially without a big pack. We cant afford small guys to be stopping running to catch a ball, they need all the momentum they can get.

Maybe he had no option but to take a pay cut as no-one else would have given him a job.

I notice how people are getting on Jones' back but I don't see anyone having a go at Black who has been totally anonymous so far this season.

Could it be that we reached two Grand Finals (and won one) DESPITE the coach rather than because of him?

It could be argued that, with the players that were available to the coach over the last two seasons, any other coach would have achieved just as much and, if they had sorted out the defence which our incumbant coach seems unable to do, might even have finished at the head of the league table in those two seasons and added a second Grand Final crown.

Who knows? But what is crystal clear is that things are not right with the team / coaching. Something needs to be done, though there are potential pitfalls in whatever transpires.

I was there today. Your pack was dire. I know how you feel I have been following my team through thick and thin for a lot of years.

You fans turned up in numbers but sorry but your squad looks thin too me. We will see but this isn't the Fax I have seen play certainly since 2004 when you put 50 on us.

Be a long season but sorry to say you were well beaten and played poorly.

Not a wind up it is just what I saw today.

Pretty much my thoughts exactly.

I cant believe none of you get it. This is just a ploy to get us in super league !!

Widnes got in by having and average team who couldnt beat an egg, so we have until July to go one better.....bottom of the table !

Getting good at this consipracy theory stuff me........or is it just the booze

Thanks. its good to hear what other clubs fans think.
You are bang on by the way. Looks like an easy win for you lads a week on Sunday, even worse what will Bradford do to us and on TV???

Next 2 league games are Leigh at home and widnes away. We're gonna be at the bottom of the league after 5 games with only 1 bonus point to our name.
I've said it all along (not on here though) that we've had the sucres of the last 2 seasons despite of Calland, he's taken us as far as he can and his time is up for me, but who we gonna replace him with?? because personally I don't think Ball or Gonzales are up to the job either, Martin Hall back as first team coach maybe???

I think the reason Martin Hall went to the less hands on role he took originally was due to his business commitments, and time he spends abroad. If the club were to replace Calland, it needs to be someone completely new, not rehashing the current set up

I had a go at him in one of my previous posts. Always better to be honest i feel. Like i said this was jones best game for us and all he did was that break, i could have pointed out how poor his last option on their line was late in the game but i chose not to. Black was anonymous for most of the game apart from his break up the middle where he picked up the injury that saw him leave the field. I doubt Jones would have got on otherwise. I do feel for them though, no half backs of any quality can play well behind such a dominated pack.

THE WAY THAT I SEE IT....WE HAVE MAJOR PROBLEMS AT THE MINUTE WITH BOTH ATTACK AND DEFENCE. THE DISPLAY AT SHEFFIELD WAS THE WORST I HAVE SEEN IN ALONG TIME.

WE ARE DEFINATLY RUNNING LOW ON CONFIDENCE, AND THIS NEEDS TO CHANGE QUICKLY!

MC's JOB IS TO COACH AND MOTIVATE...I SUGGEST HE STARTS DOING IT NOW.

3 GAMES IN AND 3 DEFEATS IS TERRIBLE.

WE HAVE LEIGH NEXT, TO BEAT THEM WE HAVE TO PLAY WITH THE SAME INTENSITY AND CONTROL AS WE DID AGAINST FEV IN THE 1ST HALF...IF WE DONT WE WILL GET BRUSHED ASIDE.

IF WE CAN BEAT LEIGH IT WILL BOOST CONFIDENCE AND GIVE US THE CHANCE OF GOING ON A WINNING STREAK.

HOWEVER IF WE DONT WIN, I CAN SEE US LOOSING THE NEXT 3 GAMES AFTER THAT.

COME ON FAX SORT IT OUT!

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS! PLAY LIKE THEM!

If a player needs motivating to play for Halifax he shouldn't be playing for Halifax at all!!!

THIS IS TRUE...

BUT BY THE PERFORMANCE AT BRAMALL LANE YESTERDAY....I WOULD SAY ONLY PENKY, JONES AND CHANDLER 'WANTED IT'

THIS HAS TO CHANGE...AND QUICKLY