Is it the Halifax holiday weeks? Do you all still got to Morecambe?

The embarrassing and sad fact is that this game really, really doesn't count. At all. For anything. It's a non-fixture.

It is deceased . It is no more. It is pushing up the daisies. Lovely plumage though.

No, but I would be really really really vexed with we lose for the 5th time in a row against Fax.

Will be be happy if we win no. But it's a game I'm fed up of losing TBH.

I think our players went on holiday about a month back. Not sure why we'd go over the border for our hols, Brid is more than adequate.

Morecambe is much nearer though - you have to consider all sides...

But surely the recent form makes it all the more irritating, since in the event we win, we really can't actually take any satisfaction from "winning" an utterly meaningless fixture in a D-grade competition

19 man squad for Halifax game. No Gaskell, No Clark:

3. Adrian Purtell – sponsored In Memory of Brian Widdop

15. Matty Blythe – sponsored by Smith Harrison Sampling

21. Epalahame Lauaki – sponsored by Vision On

9. Adam O’Brien – sponsored by The Monro Family

13. Danny Addy – sponsored by Bear Boating Canal Boat Holidays

10. Adam Sidlow – sponsored by Gareth and Ruth Rider

19. Steve Crossley – sponsored by Tyre Power

23. Alex Mellor – sponsored by The Top House

42. Stuart Howarth

11. Tom Olbison – sponsored by C and K Wood

4. Kris Welham – sponsored by Stuart Readyhough at Maclean and Company

5. Danny Williams – sponsored by Phoenix Gates and Metal Fabrications

14. Jay Pitts – sponsored by John Fountain

40. Lewis Charnock

7. Dane Chisholm – sponsored by 39 Steps Consulting

43. Joe Keyes

39. Kieren Moss – sponsored by Helen Smith and Catherine Kendrick

25. Ben Kavanagh – sponsored by B.M.G Leeds

28. Kurt Haggerty – sponsored by The Two Ridlers

Still no Gaskell?!

So Blythe's on the wing again. One would assume Purtell goes into the centre in place of Mellor who moves into the back row. You can't drop him after last week. Keyes to miss out along with Olbison, Pitts or Haggerty.

He's being kept wrapped in cotton wool for the Final

please FA: the final.

don't you mean [size=50the final[/size?

So Alex Mellor scores a hat trick and gets MoM as a centre last week, and will presumably now shunted to the back row or even bench to accommodate a guy who hasn't played for months and is leaving at the end if the season (apparently)?

Sometimes I just don't get the thinking behind selections...

I can't bag the coach for playing people in their preferred positions. Mellor will still play, where he's best suited, and Purtell will come into the side and do a job. I'm not a huge fan of his but he's still better than Blythe.

Someone on here said Purtell was considering retiring at the end of the season, not sure if that is still the case anymore. He's still contracted for next season and if I had to guess, I'd say he's probably one of our top earners.

[size=50lol[/size

I don't think it's like that. Mellor himself said this week (In the T&A was it?) that he sees himself as a back rower. Will play anywhere, but prefers to be in the back row. So he's not going to see it as being relegated if he starts in the back row this week instead of the centre. In fact if anything, it could be a reward to play in his favoured position.

If he ends up on the bench, I agree it's a slight demotion. He earned a starting spot last week.

I think Mellor's attitude is first class, tbh. At this stage of his career he may still have to determine where he is best suited, so it is best to explore places he might not have really considered.

I agree, and that's the reason I'd like to see him in the centres tomorrow. Apparently he played very well there last week, quite apart from the tries he scored, and it would be good to see if he could replicate that against (frankly) better opposition.

That's why I don't see any value in playing Purtell. If he is leaving, and it's once more heavily anticipated in today's T&A, I don't see how playing him ahead of Mellor helps build for next season.

And if these Shield games have any value at all, surely it is about building for next year?

I'm not a 100% convinced Purtell will be leaving next year.

Smith did say on Bulls TV that he's going to change it throughout the comp and the younger players will get a chance.

Well, he is signed until the end of next season, so unless he has some particular reason to leave - maybe retiring or some such. He's certainly been over here long enough to work out any homesickness, though it's possible there are other family considerations.

In today's T&A he seems to be hinting that he may well be off to London in a coaching role assisting Langley with their academy

What's happened to Ferguson. Have I missed something or is he injured?

Bradford at -12 is a gimme on the coupon with the team that Fax are sending.

Really? You haven't seen us play this season have you?