88-6 wasn't it?

Northern Rail cup game in 2006 when Couturier kicked 14/15

Yeah your right Stan I think we were 54-0 up at half time and we played them in the league the following week if my memory serves me right which turned out to be a close game

I really liked Couturier, classy centre, a bit small though.

Had a great first season, then got injured and never got a look in after that, I thought we should have persisted with him.

Does this dual reg lark mean that we can recall The Drighlington Dynamo?

You are quite correct. We nearly beat you in the league game. I went to both games and stayed to the bitter end of the hammering that you dished out on us. See you on the 11 th of Jan.

No hands off our captain. Last time I saw Couterier playing he was playing for Toulouse.

Got fed up that day hearing the announcer saying try converted by Couturier. Worst day ever as a fax fan.

It was swift revenge for the play off beating you gave us in 2005 when Ben Fisher & Pat Weisner ripped us apart. That was the brainfart game when Morgan put Dwayne Barker at stand off and Paul Mannson (in his last game before retiring) at centre. It was almost as if Morgan deliberately threw the game.....

That was my lads first game it was terrible it was like we through the game on purpose a bit like when fev beat us at craven park by 50 in the play offs after we had beat them in the league easily something didn't seem right the only good thing about the fax game was that we signed fisher

Seriously.

How does this deal work?

The 'Fax fans seem very unhappy.

We were a lower grade club for a long, long time.

Do Gateshead's PNG players have a pathway through 'Fax that will benefit them, Gateshead, 'Fax and possibly us?

For all the comment I've read I've not seen that addressed.

I've shamefully not played enough attention to The Championship.

I think the Fax fans dismay is rooted in many of them slagging other clubs for a couple of years for entering dual reg deals, whilst they stayed "independent".

They also don't think we are sufficiently "bigger" than them, and perceive our youth set up to be on a par with Waterloo Road.

Pretty astute these Fax fans

Yet nowhere near as predictable as a Hull fan.

Imagine if 2006 hadn't led to promotion and you were now outside SL, your BoD decided that it would make perfect sense to DR with Hull FC, nearest SL club, run with a smaller squad and share some other costs etc

Would you welcome it?

Sport is full of what ifs. The only sensible thing is to deal with the situation as it is.

It allows you to get into the mind of the junior club's fan, also most fans do not know what reality for their club is

No. I don't agree with any dual reg system. What was wrong with a good old fashioned loan agreement on individual players? However, it's not being run by Rlfans, its the clubs decision and both seem happy with it.

Drawing a comparision between Hull & Rovers shows you don't understand RL in this city of ours, it's a poor comparison. a D/R with Cas (for example) pre 2006 would have been hard to stomach as we had our own ambitions, and crucially, the financial backing to go f/t and carry out the plan.

I do understand that's why it was used, I was attending your gaff when 1250/1500 was the norm, chatting with your diehards home and away like the lad with the 10-5 flag etc Proud rovers lads each and every one of them

I guess Fax were one of the Championship's big 4 during the licensing era (along with Fev, Leigh and Sheffield). The way the central funding works now, there could easily end up being an even more entrenched second tier top 4 and with London and Bradford staying full-time there's no guarantee that Halifax will be part of it. Changing circumstances require new strategies. I can understand why their fans don't like it though.
When there was that rumour a while back that an NRL club might be interested in using us as a farm team, it wasn't hugely appealing - but if the alternative is worse, I guess you make the best of it.
Some partnerships have worked well and others haven't. Hopefully the relationships between Chester, Poching and Fax's coach will oil the wheels.
The club-trained rule will be challenging for any club that does win promotion, even assuming a temporary partial dispensation. SL quality will likely be hoovered up by SL clubs and there's a suggestion on the fax board that they won't be continuing to run an under 20 team. Perhaps we could help by having a small handful of their young players turn out for our academy, while they remain Halifax trained and registered players? They've linked up with Gateshead too though, so perhaps that isn't needed.
Good news for Rovers, and well worth our while trying make it work from Fax's pov.

Stan....From my point of view It's nowt to do with the size of your club. Somewhere I've seen summat about Rovers being Hull's only unmerged club, and quite right too. DR stinks and always will. If summat isn't right it's wrong, and that goes for RL in general as well as Halifax RLFC.

But what are these things?

I've posted a couple of times on your board and I admit I've accentuated the positives for Halifax as I see them.

I haven't had a response, I'd be genuinely interested as to why this is so bad for the rightly proud club of Halifax RLFC.

We don't have the money or power or influence to degenerate your club.

Mate I've never been a fan of DR and this won't change my opinion of it. It smacks of "feeder club" and that's a potential identity killer. I have a lot of time for Fax, probably stemming from a very drunken weekend at Wembley in 1987 with some Fax supporting friends. I don't have any answers though, you need something if you are to compete with Leigh, Bradford etc in 2015. I doubt DR will solve your problems though.

If all teams need players to one get up to speed or 2 get back to full fitness after been injured or 3 just dropped till they get their form back bring back A teams they worked well before

I saw some very good A team matches down Holderness Road. Don't think such matches will return due to cost though.

Aye, most SL clubs can't afford second teams and most Championship clubs can barely afford a first team.

Dual reg is limited to 5 players next year, rather than a limit per game and all the fed-trained players in a SL squad going out as and when it suited - as I understand it, anyway. That should stop stuff like Championship teams being used to help experienced SL pros get up to speed after an injury. It's good that we can have 5 dr with fax and 5 with Gateshead.
It'll be interesting to see who Halifax choose (and it'd be sensible to give them the choice, along with advice on who'll suit their needs, rather than 'suggesting' players to suit ourselves, IMO). There's a balance needed between quality and likely regularity of availability.

Aye, and that sums it up.

I would rather not compete next year, we know who's going to be at the top of the league anyway, but stay alone and build the club back up properly. We've had a few poor seasons of late, I can manage another one or two. Up The Fax!