Man of the match yesterday and a massive improver from the start of the season.

With the opportunity to showcase himself in the Middle 8's how long before the Superleague clubs come sniffing.

id put money on 2020. think he'll stick around for another year had him pegged for super league as soon as i saw him. Strong, quick, powerful AND young. seems like he's got his head screwed on too - unreal player

Awesome lad, in every sense.. his family must be very proud.

I do hope he learns his trade for another season with us at least, and tears it up with us, I think hell be ready for the next step then.

I wouldn’t want him to go to SL too soon, and languish in the reserves, lose confidence and end up not being the future star we are seeing.
20 tries for us next season easily attainable, and tonnes of confidence.

Ideally it would be marvellous if our young guns could go up with us.

That surely has got to be the aim, hasn't it? What's the point of going to all the expense and time of building a structure if the lads just get picked off by SL clubs. We're Fax, we're as good if not better than half the SL clubs. Time for us to progress now and not be a stepping stone. Up The Fax! The Cheery Tree, shuddersfield. Naylors Belgian Waffle 4.0% Mmm!

Agree.
This is exactly where I am at now. Too long have we accepted mediocrity and either stagnated or been held back by lack of recruitment funds.
It's a massive task putting together and running a Reserve team and credit to the Trust for helping to fund it. This structure has to be continued in my opinion (Rimmer is saying more clubs need to be running one but as yet not compulsory) Main thing now is to kick on and use our talent to help Halifax RLFC. Make every effort to retain the talented youngsters we have nurtured/brought in and build the team around them for the long term Fax future. Sell the vison of Fax been taken into SL by and to the likes of Butler, Moore,JWH,Salty, Jones. etc. Not just roll over first time a vulture SL club comes along.
If the player still wants to go then fair enough but make damn sure we sell the Fax future vision first and their part in that. Then spend some of the money we do get on a couple of new 'Senior Pro' signings that get bums on seats off the field and help the young ones on it.
Muzza and Grix have helped RM massively with the coaching whilst he was on crutches and I would certainly be looking to retain their services for continuity.
I would also be sitting down with RM pretty quickly before some SL clubs come a calling.
We have a real opportunity this time to kick on and take things to the next level.Prudent but imaginative decision making by the Board and we really could have the making of a great side for a long period of time.

would we be entitled to a fee if he went to s/l ? how do the clauses work these days ?

Yes if he is under contract I would expect us to get something. Not if he is out of contract though -aka Rawsthorne when he went. I am sure the club have nailed this aspect down now.

Hopefully that's the case(not that i want him to go by any stretch).Thought i'd read that championship contracts had a s/l get out clause,which surely can't be right but in reality who knows.

What we don’t want is a repeat of the Rawsthorne transfer, to be honest he would have benefited from another season with us I reckon, rather than getting shipped around by Hull then offloaded. We’ve got some good young lads but I agree LTD that we needn’t older head if Muzza is thinking up hanging up his boots.

Even if they have a clause they should still have to pay something' I can understand in the QLT case but in Chester we have put a lot of time and money so should get something back.

If not then we might as well scrap our reserves and just get players in on pay to play, though I know we don’t run it to sell on that is usually how they finance themselves.
To me the biggest issue here is that very rarely does anybody pay a transfer fee for a player, the SL clubs want any lower league player for nothing and the player wants to play at a higher level so you’re pretty much stuffed once the player knows somebody is after him.

Totally agree.

And lo and behold, Wigan sign Barrow prop from next season, no mention of any money being payed.
Though he was originally at Wigan’s academy.

I think all we can do is be up front and straight with players. Yes you want loyalty but you also want to ensure the individuals attain their aims in life . Always a hard one but it's about frank direct conversations to attain that buy into the club . Very glad Jones got a game on Sunday because I am sure he was begining to wonder when he was going to be back in first team action. Hopefully now he can kick on with game time in the 8s and aim for a starting spot next season if he shows he can perform consistently at the right level. At just gone 20 you can probably anticipate him being close to 110 kgs at the end of next year and causing some damage . Likewise with Chester he will probably start next year around the 100 kg mark so eyes will be on him from SL. We certainly do hold the advantage cards currently with a very closely bonded group of players and a growing link to the supporters and town . Coupled with a coaching team that you would struggle to get better elsewhere.to nurture players so they achieve their potential

Chester is developing into a fantastic player. Hopefully his contract does not have a clause in it like QLT.
Richard Marshall leaving is what I worry most about. Such a fantastic coach who has against the odds has exceeded expectations. Surprised Leeds didn't look at him TBH.

I thought Jones blew his chance on Sunday as he put in a performance similar to the ones that saw him dropped in the first place. Probably a case of trying too hard but hopefully once he gets back in next season he can do exactly as Butler has this season and kick on to the next level.

Bit harsh..dropped the ball once having made 10 yards more than he'd any right to.

Or to put it another way he did not do enough to keep his place in front of anyone coming back in or likely the players brought in on loan. He just did not stand out enough for Marshall to probably think that he has a selection dilema. Like I say probably trying too hard which is not a problem in the slightest and he just needs to follow Butler's lead.

That's fair.

He needs another season with us to mature and learn his trade under a good coach and in a good team, maybe take us even higher next year with a few good signings?

Very hard game to stand out in when you are trying to deliver the coaches instructions to the letter and not go off on a youthful frolic to do what he probably wanted to do. A very controlled approach from the lad who just needs game time to be very comfortable at first team level next year IMO.

Being on the outside of this as far as some fax supporters:

Firstly fax need to hang on to the Young group of players coming through, whatever it takes as this is our future. ( Rimmer saying clubs should have reserve sides, placates the Championship teams that have one, without penalising the S L teams that don t).
The Young guys also need to look at what has happened to other Young guns taken before their time, the R F L should make it compulsory to fully compensate/ transfer fees of any player coming through academy lines not promisary notes if/when, but for time money,spent and the cost of a replacement.
Along side this theBoD need to keep the current coaching team !
How M G has not been pilfered is a misnomer to me.

As a final word I visited a 'Chinese fortune teller' what she said positive for me was "dare to dream!"
up the fax!