That is what frustrates me at the moment. Fax have great resource available, a good BOD, a good ground, good support, YET we can't utilise this resource effectively to dominate on the field.

WTF is going on!!!!

You answewr your own question . . . . . . Where do you mention a good coach in your list of positives? - OOps you don't read my post do you!!

but is MC the problem? as someone posted earlier, is it M HALL?

I dont know so wont speculate, I trust the BOD's to address the issues if and when required.

I wish I had your confidence but I honestly think the BOD will leave it until its too late. Calland should be already out of a job now. These defeats and the manner of them are really hard to swallow but its clear this team won't do anything under Calland.

I think a "back to basics" approach is needed for the Toulouse game, good set of 6, play percentages, target weak links, cut out needless penalties, get Black & Penky to cut out the bullet passes. If we can do the basics right, there may just be a little team cohesion.

I would suggest Toulouse is a crunch game - playing a pretty ordinary side travelling some distance away. Fax have a chance to put the last 3 horror shows behind them and win this one handily. Lose this one and I think heads have to roll - these have been heavy defeats recently...

I cannot believe how you have started this season after last.

The Grand Final could have gone either way if your kicker had the right boots on. I'm glad he didn't.

I know you took a lot of good natured stick from our lot over the 'country mile' statement by Calland but your team cannot be as bad as the scores suggest. The coach has to carry the can. Someone has to.

Somewhere in this thread it was suggested that you have 5 leaders out on the park which cannot be good. One leader, whether it's Larder, Penky, Black or whoever it don't matter. One leader who they all will listen to.

Watene looks too big to be of any use to a team other than for a couple of minutes. He's carrying too much weight around to be of benefit to your team. Stanley, come on, who in their right mind would sign him on at his age whatever it is. He looks as old as me and I'm 52 FFS.

Stick with it guys. I've witnessed some dark days up here in South Cumbria over the years. We need each other among the traditional clubs to keep believing. Raiders haven't started as we finished last season. Both of our teams are 'top of the ground' teams. I'm waiting for the sun to start shining and dry out the grounds so that we can see the type of play we had last year.

The future is Blue and White as they say.

The point I was trying to make was that you should have put 100 past us. We had no commitment, no enthusiasm, no idea in attack and a complete inability to defend.

The post I was replying to implied / asked if fev were really 44 - 4 good, I lust replied that it was fax that was that bad

cool for cats!

some people are saying its just lately that we cant defend but look at some results from last year and then tell me its just lately:

Halifax 36: 30 Featherstone
Barrow35:12 Halifax
Batley 32:28 Halifax
Sheffield 38:24 Halifax
Halifax 42:50 Whitehaven
Widnes 42:16 Halifax
Gateshead 34: 28 Halifax

need i go on, does anyone get the point?

most of them look terribly unfit both physicall and mentally, others are simply past it.
all we need to do now is avoid relegation and start afresh next year with a new 3 year plan

It's no coincidence that the older heads on here seem more reluctant to join in the "coach bashing". We've seen it all before, and out of approximately 20 coaches Fax have had in the 30 years I've been supporting them, I reckon there's only 4 of whom haven't felt the flak from the fans .... these being Maurice Bamford, Colin Dixon, Chris Anderson and even Martin Hall before he handed over to Calland. Even Mal Reilly and John Pendlebury came under fire at some stage. It's extremely difficult to get the ultimate coach, and maybe the "coach carrosel" is the only way to be, especially at this level.

I was talking to a fellow poster about this subject the other day & I agree with you Tony. Maybe there should be a ban on over 30's using this messageboard and then they could all sing from the same song sheet ?
I wonder how many of these users actually know what's involved in coaching, Bamford & Dixon I have played under both in teams that they have coached, two very very different approaches to caoching. One of them had a fantastic RL brain and brilliant man management skills, the other a bully who when he didn't get things to work chose to throw his flat cap on the floor and shout obsceneties, failed to turn up at crucial sessions to work in the media, after dinner speak etc etc. Coaching really is not an easy job when things aren't going right, it's how you pull through that counts.
Me, I'd take ugly wins every match for the remainder of the season, some folks wouldn't I bet.

Do you want to borrow some ' spanners ' , you can lend us them back later in the year

Is a great coach one who gets the best from the best players or makes the mediocre ones as good as the best.
In our league its the latter and Millward is a master at improving what he has, I look at what he did last time at Leigh with what he had, what he did at Saints (Stankovich, Bennett, Stewart, Martyn etc) and I can see every weekend what he is doing again at Leigh. We have a pretty young team with a couple of old heads thrown in, mostly local products who have discovered what its like to be coached properly and have reacted positively to the regime of fitness, diet and personal development introduced.
My biggest disappointment with you guys is that you recruit for a quick fix, no forward planning. The amateur and junior set up in the area is first class, you need to invest in it more supported by a quality coach to bring them through.

And I thought we'd just managed to get rid of all the Leigh fans, then bang! You're all back.

I can guess which one is which, MM! Personally, whereas I understand the frustration and horror what's going on at the moment, we can't keep going mental and chopping and changing everytime we hit a bad spell, it's ridiculous! At least give Calland the full season to show what he's made of. Patience .... it's a virtue .....

and white , as for Maurice , be happy he's taken the time out from enjoying Toulouse to post on your site

I can understand your adoration for Mr Millward, but he's the Neil Warnock of Rugby League. Great tactician and motivator who'll make an immediate impact when he starts somewhere afresh (Wigan apart!), but once he gets his feet under the table ..........

And did you say this when we signed him ?? No everyone was saying what a fantastic signing

I've seen it all before too, poor performances, disappointment, relegation yo-yo team. Back then I remember the fans showing their distain from the Scratching Shed and no doubt in the pubs and working mens clubs the discussions taking place would have been exactly the same as what appears on here day after day.
My opinion is that Calland is not the man for the job. I'm not saying that because we lost 3 on the bounce. I'm saying that on the back of so many poor performances and the lack of reaction to those bad performances. But the deciding factor for me was the behaviour of Mr Calland and Mr Hall whilst in Toulouse last season. Anyone who was there at the time probably thought it was funny but in reality we had a game 5 days later and we all know what happened from there on.

I'm not sure what to say,obviously very disappointed about the result. I can't knock the effort especially in the first half, defended and tackled well andat least completed our sets although our final tackle options were generally poor. 2nd half a lot more concern.how many times did we lose the ball in the tackle,gave away soft pens etc. Confidence is low; there's no apparent leadership out there, we are
missing brannigan and Gleason dreadfully while Nash would add weight and punch to a small 2nd row. I also thought fev went very well. Big pack (that's a recurring theme) , half backs dictating things and a well executed game plan.def top 3 material

Some help for Matt, hes my review of your side, im afraid some of your coaching and selection was on the optimistic side, perhaps the board and Mr Hall should take some blame too for allowing us to have a good side on paper, when the reality is a little more complicated. We look tired in more ways than one. Read a book on Brian Clough or something to see how its done



Starmen
Branighan and Gleeson, without doubt our 2 best players. Great to see Luke get better after the first couple of weeksn.

The young guns - The positives
Ostick - Looked very game indeed, there was a set in the first half where he and Maloney took the first 4 drives between them, thats the spirit, needs more bulk. We made yards and attacked the line, its a simple game isnt it?
Maloney - As above, i was really impressed with his effort, he looks to be getting bigger, and we look better with these guys on.

Dads Army - The not so positives (would have been a great pack 5 years ago - getting out muscled and enthused as a unit now)
Azuie - Not had the expected impact, maybe Hull KR saw this coming, lucky if we get half an hour out of him. Not made hardly any breaks and spilt the ball plenty.
Watene - I keep being reminded of the Blackadder goes Forth '20 minuters' Franks 10 in each half, his couple of drives look good, is that enough? are we expecting too much?
Larder - I feel for Dave, I shouldn't but he looks genuinely cream crackered after a warm up, its a shame because one thing we could never question about Dave was his commitment and effort, i dont want to remember him as a tired defender allowing people to dance past him.
Wrenchy -Dave was never gonna set the world on fire, but he puts in so much effort, id have him in the squad for his enthusiasm, lacks bulk though.
Said -He gets himself about, lacks control though.
Stanley - Still enthusiastic, father time catches us all up though, even Stan.

The others - The er!
Bannister - I still dont know his strengths, i dont dislike him, he doesnt seem to make mistakes, i just cant see what impact he has on the game.
Roberts - The days of people cheering as he bounces off 6 defenders, runs 40 yards back and forth, and gets tackled a yard behind where he started seem to have gone, thankfully, seems to an aversion to dipping his shoulder and running straight., probably due to his size, or lack of it.
Cherryholme - Neil, Neil Neil, take some time off and go backpacking or something, find yourself, just doesn't seem to have becoming a hardened big RL forward on his radar yet, well, the mental toughness side of it anyway.

Saved by the bell
We all know Penkys strengths. we all know his weaknesses, while he is chucking silly passes and trying stupid offloads, its not his fault the pack isnt going forward and not his fault a coach has played him in stupid positions, if we started making in roads, he would come to the fore again with his natural game. I feel the same about Black, hes a match winner and not effective if we cant break sides open in the middle.

The backs
Not having a pack thats laid a platform means they have fed off scraps, very dangerous when we do get parity in the forwards though.

Top post. Have to agree with the bulk of what you have put there. I'm sure you'll get into trouble with the forum police for actually criticising some players but I guess you can only say what you see (said in my best Roy Walker accent).

If we can put together 2 good drives, with quick play the balls, the defence is all over the place and then Penky and Black can play their game. If we don't set that platform then they have nothing to work woth and look very ordinary and are forced into making bad decisions with the ball.