For me that was a poor game with both sides making plenty of errors but credit to Barrow they in the second half showed more composer then us with the ball kicking well and they took there chances well. We made enough breaks Joe and Louis in particular to win that game with a bit to spare but for some reason the ball was just thrown anywhere and the chances blown time and again. Once those chances have gone to waste and our attacking play pretty much fell apart we do not have a plan b by that i mean when our attack is going well no problems but in a game like yesterdays when we couldn't get going as a team with the ball we do not have a set of forwards who can grab a game by the scruff of the neck and grind a scruffy win out and that as been a problem for a number of years. As we all know games like yesterdays are quite common for us at the start of the season and with our pack we will drop points which doesn't stop you getting in the playoffs as long as you can go on long winning runs later in the year but it does stop you going any higher then that. The decision to play Maher for the first 15 minutes and then not use him again is beyond me and why wait while the last 20 to bring Gannon on. From what i have heard the reason Doro is not playing is simon is not happy with is defence he likes the way he carry's the ball but without he is not happy. I will not name names but i have been told we are speaking to centre and the only clue i will give is he currently playing in france and if it comes off he would join once there season finishes. All in all i would expect a big response from us in the cup next week it doesn't get you the 2 points back but it would show that yesterday hurt the players too.

Pretty much in agreement there.It's a team game though and different players bring different attributes.Forwards who can add punch and offload maybe allowed a bit of slack in defence as there are plenty who offer little more than 5 yard plods and a reasonable defence to cover them.
I thought Doro went very well in the shay mud last season.Not sure why anyone would call Mahar a heavy ground forward...

The clubs don’t have the finances and even if they did there’s not enough players of sufficient quality to have a fully winter team and a fully dry weather team especially at Championship level.

They try and get the balance right but because there’s more “dust-track” games than the “paddy field” it’s weighted towards summer rather than winter.

In the league apart from Fev everyone’s results are all over the place and even including Fev the form is as well, that’s just where the standards are at and why the best thought out game plan is rarely fully executed on the pitch.

After 7 rounds last season we only had 6 points se we are better placed than 12 months ago. We had lost to Batley, Fev, Widnes and Leigh. Beaten Sheffield, Barrow and Whiteheaven.
Just put this on for comparison no real reason It just seems a bit quite. I wonder when the exciting news is coming we were promised last week.

I've been wondering about that news also! Regarding comparisons with last year, with like for like games, we have lost at Widnes and Barrow as opposed to wins there last time. In that respect we are already four points down on last terms tally. icon_eek.gif

I still don't understand the Springer argument, Grix knew exactly what type of player he were getting when he signed him so to me it always feels a bit more like Grix trying to put players in their place. We saw the same with King who also decided enough is enough and asked for a release and we are seeing it with Doro. It almost feels like he feels the need to "punish" players yet it has to be himself that has done the research on these players. Its ok setting high standards but to sign players and then make out they are not good enough, or try make them feel like they are not good enough, just seems crazy and certainly not the best way to get the best out of someone.

I agree about knowing what type of player springer was before Simon signed him and the same could be said of Doro. I could only guess that he thought he could change them . And lets not forget springer spent a number of years in a fulltime environment in super league being coached by the likes of Daryl Powel so if they couldn't change him why would Simon be able to especially in a part time role.

Of course a coach signs a player knowing what or who he's getting, they must initially rate them otherwise they wouldn't sign them in the first place.

How many times has Grix said that there are players out there but we don't want to sign anybody, it's got to be the right player.

So the "right player" signs and because all coaches have their own style of play there given a role in the team, this may be similar to where and how he's played in the past or something different.

In every case involving every player the coach and club will work with them to help them settle and fit in and try and improve the player in question and it will be explained what his current role is and what the area of improvement are.

This has been repeatably mentioned in interviews on Fax Tv by both Grix and multiple players who have all joined the club under the Grix tenure as the two players you mentioned but none of them have anything but good to say about the coach and the setup at the club and none of them have asked to leave.

In fact the exact opposite despite other offers they have decided to stay and signed contract extensions, what do the stats say, 2 leave and 22 stay, why focus on the 2 leavers?

Sometimes there are other players wearing the shirt that are performing better than you are and get picked which has nothing to do with you not being good enough.

Sometimes despite everyone's best efforts it doesn't work out because of not being able to settle or other crap going on away from the club, sometimes despite everyone's best efforts people fall out which has nothing to do with punishment and both of these situations applied separately to the Springer and King situations.

Grix no doubt will get things wrong and make mistakes but to finish 3rd two seasons on the trot and to be in the final nominees for coach of the year he must have got more things right than wrong.

It just seems to me that when things go wrong that gets all the focus and he's the one who's being punished out of all proportion.

The fickleness of fans is across the fan base of all clubs win and he’s a great coach lose and it’s out . I think expectation is a big thing, when you lose games you’re expecting to win the emotion is greater and vice versa. In the last few seasons we’ve played well overall and by and large progressed , there’s probably a bit more pressure on this year as the expectation has risen . Look at fev they only have to lose one game and it’s like the world has ended . Overall the club seems to be being run professionally and several key players have re - signed so the coach must be appreciated by the majority. A few people criticised Grix for being too laid back after the loss on Facebook but on the flip side he was as equally relaxed when we beat fev so I think it’s just his manner. As regards recruitment there’s always an element of risk and for the most part he’s got it right , tibbs , Murray , calcott , walmsey, jouffret, Keyes , inman, to name a few who have shone under Grixs’ tenure. Appreciate the loss was frustrating but things will improve I’m sure .

I don’t get this supposed ‘success’ at third place finishes,it’s the minimum I would expect from any coach of Halifax.The real challenge is put together a team with real super league possibilities.The pathetic loss to a York side we’d already hammered twice last year actually demoted us from third anyway.That defeat on a fast track proved this so called mobile pack needed a major overall and what have we left of our recruitment after the dummy spitting at perceived defensive issues.....15 minutes of Mahar...

It’s a close one but I’d rather watch 15 minutes of Maher than read 15 minutes of your bS.

No surprises there regarding “not getting success” as whenever Fax win there’s never a positive comment acknowledging the win whereas when they lose like at Barrow you can manage 5 or 6 negative criticisms.

And it’s Maher, closer to 25 minutes. Can you get anything right.......

That's not true though is it? There were plenty of plaudits handed out after Fax's cup win at Featherstone. People are allowed to criticise you know as well as applaud. If you don't acknowledge there is a problem, you will never fix it. The Barrow performance was awful and to say owt else would be daft and only avoiding the obvious. Let's see what team is selected for the cup game against Barrow but as has been said elsewhere whatever the result this coming Sunday it won't bring back last Sunday's two points.

Yes it is true, I was replying to Beaujangles “not getting success comment” and since you mentioned the Featherstone cup game he said nothing about the win.
Sheffield win... nothing.
London win... nothing.
Batley win....nothing.

Check it yourself with the Barrow loss 5 or 6 criticism, clearly he’s allowed to do so, that’s what he’s doing and no one’s stopping him.

Obviously he doesn’t rate Grix (which is his prerogative) and will wait for when things go wrong, recent posts the York loss and the Barrow loss and then slag him off and I for one will point it out and offer a different interpretation of events.

On the game we had enough chances against Barrow to win by a couple of scores but didn’t take them which was solely down to the players on the pitch, they said it and Grix saw it and on fixing no one’s ignoring anything that’s precisely what Grix said he was focussed on in his post match interview.

Sunday was a perfect banana skin set up and a desperate Barrow on their heavy pitch which they know how to play got the result through 110% commitment.

It’s not like Fax just had to turn up and Barrow role over, there’s two teams involved don’t forget and their club, coach and supporters expect exactly what we do from ours but there can only be one winner.

They had the best of the bounce of the ball, the first try hit the scorer on his arm and he managed to regather and go over, he looked like he was the dummy runner for the pass out the back and wasn’t even expecting it, how many times would that normally be knocked on?
The second was a flying leap from an up and under on the last which again stuck.
The third was in the first place a Pickersgill error after a freak slip and a missed tackle by the usually defensibly reliable T I.

Losing games you were expected to win is an experience every club encounters and Fax have a fair few on their cv going back decades, likewise there's a fair few Fax were expected to lose but got the result, it’s all part of the game.

As frustrating, disappointing or even sickening (and I was absolutely sick to the stomach on Sunday) as losing is we just have to deal with it.

I believe these comments about changing a player doesn’t make sense to me as if it is Grix’s fault. It is the player’s responsibility to play for his coach and the style that coach wants. Turn all your arguments around. The player is signing for a club and is aware of how the coach works and what the coach wants. The player will speak to established players at the club and now what the coach is about. If the new player then refuses to listen to his new coach and adapt their game to suit the game plans and playing ethos of the club then they are creating a problem in the game plan/relationship between coach and players/the club overall. When that happens they need to go no matter how good they are perceived to be.

How we lost this i do not know. Resting players from a winning team which was going well
I have no idea why Doro is not been played but Will is. He brins nothing to the team. We need props who will make an impact and Will can not do that

Hopefully back to normal Sunday but we need forwards asap

Difficult to decipher that drivel,but whether you blame the coach or not it's holding us back and needs sorting.When one awkward player becomes 3/4 then the casualty is usually the one with the ultimate responsibility.

So you can understand I’ll write slowly......



Question, who are the 3/4 who you claim have become awkward and how do you know?

Prick

Springer,King,Doro Arundel all falling foul of the 'requirements'.Won't repeat what Arundel put on facebook..Gwaze didnt stay-I know you'll come back with finance but his 15/25 minute replacement man who makes Anthony Seuseu look origin standard-i'd pay the difference in contract myself..

I'd rather hear an intelligent counter argument.....

What about going into the Panthers club shop with Grix serving from the other side of the counter

Springer and Arundel may loosely fit the awkward description but Gwaze and King left for different reasons and since the Gwaze negotiations went on for months why didn’t you make your contract payment offer when you had the chance?

By the way it’s well known in every work place environment once you pay 1 player / person more you open up the prospect of having to pay everyone more or causing internal division if you don’t.

(You have hit on what’s holding us back though and it’s finances and not the coach.)

Springer and Arundel’s departures were seasons apart, Gwaze was brought in by Grix so he got that one right and he left for a better deal and Doro is still here so the 3/4 is clearly not in line with the facts and is unfairly loaded negatively against Grix.

The facts are under SG after the regular games in the last two seasons Fax have finished third both times with only the likes of Leigh, Fev and Toulouse finishing above them all of whom had much bigger budgets which was acknowledged by the wider rugby league fraternity Grix having a high level of performance vs resource ratio.

Who would you replace him with that you could guarantee something better with the same situation?

Not sure I agree entirely but appreciate the reasoned response.
Personally I don't like what Grix demands in a forward and don't believe his methods at this level will work.His recritment 3 for this season have been a disaster so far...no guarentees with anything but Kyle Amor would be my choice,knowlegeable,respected and I'm sure would be capable of assembling a pack with the right credentials for all type of track rugby.