No real wish to see Will Maher back - similar but not as good as Dan Murray- given a choice would much have preferred to keep Titus Gwaze, who would also probably have been cheaper.

Big shoes to fill in Scott Grix who has done a noticeable tremendous job with the fitness levels of the squad , Simon will have to find someone he trusts to fill this position. Regarding the rumoured recruitment so far here’s my 2 peneth , are the players potentially coming in better than the ones going out ( so king , doro , Maher vs barber , gwaze , Morris) I think it’s close tbh barber probably had his best season yet and was instrumental in some breaks , offloads and tries comparable to king who scored 14 tries and multiple assists in a weaker side ( king seems a more destructive forward but from what I’ve seen his work rate needs improvement) Then doro vs gwaze who are very closely matched infact I’ve rewatched the fax vs Widnes games and it’s a good battle between them too , no doubt doro has great potential but so does gwaze . Then Morris n Maher , Morris a great servant of the club with a great offload and difficult to put down , struggled a little with fitness. Maher has played 3 seasons at superleague , 100 % commitment brings great culture but probably lacking a bit of punch for a man his size and low leg speed however dominates the ruck most of the time by landing on his front for quick ptb . Appreciate Knowles has left but only played a few minutes and impossible to judge . Overall I’m pleased with the ones mentioned however I still feel we need a plan b forward especially for the early part of the season when the ground is slow , a Lewis bienek type forward who admittedly does less minutes but is massively destructive, I think we need that balance in the interchange. Grixs’ philosophy of playing the long game is fine but you have to not to be too far behind ( like fev at home ) to make it work.

Watched some Tom inman highlights, tackles hard a bit like bourouh , not has dynamic as amir but better distribution and good left foot kicking game .

P.S Also hoping with the Warrington academy connection that Cole Oakley kicks on he’ll have some familiar faces with doro and inman and if he has a 2nd season like tibbs could play a bigger part .

Happy with all the rumoured signings so far and think Will Maher would be a very good signing, the games I have watched him play for Hull KR I have been very impressed in how much he looks to have improved since he first played or usand would add a bit of size up front for us. One thing that stands out is that we do need a centre now so whoever we have lined up that is the signing that the club are managing to keep under wraps so Im assuming its going to be a big name for us.

It would be good to find out if some of the following players are staying for next season or not. larroyer, fairbank, gee, martin, oakley, out of them i would like to keep fairbank and gee the others could leave for me. I did give scott some stick about his playing performances when he came back to the club but the job he did as conditioner was very good and like as been said will take some bettering and will we finally get a replacement for liam finn i suppose only if simon can find the right person for the job. I have seen will maher doing some training at my local park if i see him again i will ask him if he as signed for us hopefully he as developed a more aggressive streak since his last spell with us if he hasn't i wouldn't want him back.

Well just connecting a few dots on recent events / posts.
Will Maher at the moment seems just a strong possibility and my thoughts are he was pretty good for us last time round when he was a young man and now a few years later he's a fully matured man with plenty of SL experience behind him so should be an overall better player for it.

Connected to him and in the same article of Matthew Shaw he says.
"If the deal is completed, Maher will join former Robins Matty Gee, Ben Kavanaugh, Joe Keyes, Dan Murray and Kevin Larroyer at The Shay".

Dan, Kav and JK we know to be staying so hopefully it means we have retained Matty Gee as well.

On Tom Inman, he looks a good player and to explain the extra incoming 9 it could mean either Kyle by agreement is moving on or possibly Brandon being played at loose forward more often?

Well that's cory aston leaving too we will need to find another halfback as well now. It looks like there could be more new signings then first thought for next season.

Surprised he has gone as Cory played well when he got the chance. But I’m sure he wants to go play more games. Best of luck to him but that raises the question who will come in to cover keys. Someone better or an upcoming layer

Tom Inman confirmed as our new signing

Really happy with the inman signing, from what I’ve seen looks to have great potential, like I said before similar characteristics to borough plus he knows a few lads so should settle in well . Grix seems to have the canny ability to spot talent , hopefully the Warrington academy lads can step up , Oakley , doro , inman, Grix always gives the young ones a chance ie tibbs , calcott etc . If doro and king are to follow I think another centre/wing player and another back rower. I’d also like to see an explosive loose forward maybe someone from the Polynesian countries .

Ps forgot we will also need cover for Keyes/jouffret.

I am also pleased with toms signing he looks a good all round talent and should do a good job for us in the short and long term.

Whilst Tim is a solid player, I don’t see him adding the class needed for a promotion push.

There is still a while until the season starts I would genuinely like to see our new Board commit to players who can get us out of the league, even if it upsets the Grix clique. There is still no evidence he can coach higher level players rather than develop young talent (which in itself is a real skill). Perhaps that’s why Harrison is there so when they sack Grix they have a “friend” to replace him

While I have great respect and gratitude for Karl Harrisons contribution to the club as a player, there is no way that he should ever be considered to coach here again.

I’m confident Grix will be fine coaching a high level player if that ends up being case, I’m also confident that Harrison hasn’t been brought in to replace Grix . I wasn’t following fax when Harrison was coaching, which high level players did he coach out of interest ?

Mmm?

...and I get accused of being negative at times. Do you know summat that's not out there or are you just stirring it? Elland Craft and Tap, Burning Sky NZPA 4.5% Mmm!

No inside information nor stirring it.

History has shown that a change in ownership/control of Fax results in a change of coach during the following season. I would suggest that history will repeat itself. Early in the season unless we dominate the league table.

Harrison hasn’t coached for eight years, so is unlikely to return, but as the only “rugby man” amongst this bunch - even on the periphery - he could have a strong influence on who next.

Well in and amongst the pointless negative guess work and speculation a couple of facts I do know are.
1. Young Tom Inman is a good player now and will be improved at Fax.
2. When he plays the noise levels will go up in the South stand from those who will be there to get behind him and watch him play, many of them were sat behind me at the York game and were the ones giving the biggest support.
Maybe it would be a better idea to follow there lead and support him instead of linking his signing with the future sacking of Simon Grix.

In the interview with Dave Grayson conducted by seb sternik he was asked about how Simon had done in the two previous seasons, the answer was one of the key drivers in getting the consortium together was basically to give him extra cash outside of the club to push for promotion, on top of that it was said how the board feel they have a brilliant coach ‘ one of the best in the championship’ so I would be very surprised if Karl was brought in covertly to help in his dismissal, how I read it was Karl was brought in as an ambassador for the club . On Grix not coaching a high level player, that is probably more down to budget than anything else .

A couple of more thoughts.
1. That's how I heard it, KH isn't here to coach.
2. Tom Inman to get some game time next season and if it hits the straps I can see him putting pressure on Kyle Wood (whom, all things being equal he will replace for good in the following season) for a either a regular start or as the interchange 9 on the bench.
3. On Simon Grix being sacked, there's always that possibility but it's just as likely if he has another decent season we might be lucky to hold on to him.

In-between the will he stay or will he go the club are announcing 3 new contract extensions today. The first being brandon moore for 2 more years and the second being kevin larroyer for 1 year. It goes without saying i am happy with brandon staying and i think kev did enough last season to get another year at the club just one more to go now.

Think Larroyer had probably his dest season last year, be very surprised though if he was on more money than Gwaze, and of the 2 would have much preferred to keep Titus.

That comes across as quite a bitter leftfield take. Im not sure what you took from that meeting that suggests that the new board are suddenly going to be finding hundreds of thousands of pounds extra that will be needed to take us to genuine promotion contenders. As for Grix, well there won't be any evidence that he can coach higher level players yet will there unless Im missing something. I'm sure Karl has no interest in getting back in to coaching either. Strange take but we will wait and see.

While we knew he was leaving very disappointed to see that Gwaze has signed a 3 year deal with the Eagles. I know we can't sign everyone, and obviously don't know what went on with the contract negotiations at Halifax, but this is a player who got both the crowd and the team going every time he came onto the pitch, and should only get better as he approaches what should be his prime. Really hope we've tied up Matty Gee and Saltonstall.

Gee and salty in the preseason vid.

Maybe Titus priced himself out of Halifax, or hung on too long to decide on an offer and by the time he had decided the funds had been spent elsewhere?

Yes I'm disappointed he's gone - but the rumoured signings are probably better in my opinion