Got my tickets and ready for a ‘good Friday’. The Bulls fans don’t seem happy with how they played on Sunday and are expecting us to win fairly easy. I will be cautious and say Panthers by 6 to 8.

Would have expected a bulls win but clearly they are not happy at all. Could you imagine saying barrow would beat bulls at home a couple of years ago . You can just envisage another bulls financial crash . It's all gone wrong and they are wanting john kear out . Richard marshall would be a good shout there

Would he? TBH I'd take Marshall Mathers at the moment. We are crap. The only issue you might have is that us losing to Barrow might mean you get a backlash but this will be handicapped by our lack of fitness, attacking play and discipline.

I would expect some form of a response from bradford on friday to there performance yesterday. But we have not been setting the world on fire either even so if we get our attitude right from the word go i think we should be good enough to get the win. I do still remember what happened in our game against bradford at dewsbury last season so will be taking nothing for granted.

Tbh I don’t see the bulls vs barrow result as a positive thing , if they weren’t fired up they should be now . Halifax need to concentrate on themselves and really need to concentrate on putting in an 80 minute performance. I noticed Martin , Oakley ,tibbs , calcott and Morris all featured in the Huddersfield reserves again on Sunday whether that signals their lack of selection for Fridays game remains to be seen . On reflection after the shock of the 1st half against Whitehaven I think arundal and tangata had upped their performances from previous weeks but feel Aston had his worst game yet in a fax shirt and on grixs’ philosophy it should be Keyes n jouffret in the halves on Friday. Hopefully woodburn hall has recovered from his bruised ribs inflicted in the Leigh game has he hasn’t been seen to full effect. Gwaze is a certain part of the 17 and Kavanagh who has linked up well with Keyes .

Feel this is a critical game for both sides, even as early as it is in the year.

Can't see Kear surviving much longer if he loses this (they have Fev game after). If we lose I think we'll be consigned to mid-table.

Need to start well and avoid the inevitable period where Bulls have some success. Even on Sunday they got on a roll and could have sneaked it.

Be interesting to see how Chester Butler gets on.

He's been alright so far, his fitness (due to being fulltime) shows in comparison to the other lards in the pack (barring Tom Doyle).

Pretty sure Bradford will be up for this one, after that the next challenge will be how many inevitable brain explosion moments that we always seem to have in every game will likely determine the outcome.

Fax to sneak it with a drop goal keyes

That'll do!

https://twitter.com/halifaxpanthers/sta ... HN2rbYRvkw From the 21 I would go Woodburn hall Walmsey Arundal McComb Saltonstall Jouffret Keyes Murray Moore Calcott Kavanagh Garside Fairbank Wood Tangata Gwaze Barber Grix ll probably pick larroyer but he’s not a prop for me .

https://twitter.com/halifaxpanthers/sta ... HN2rbYRvkw From the 21 I would go Woodburn hall Walmsey Arundal McComb Saltonstall Jouffret Keyes Murray Moore Calcott Kavanagh Garside Fairbank Wood Tangata Gwaze Barber Grix ll probably pick larroyer but he’s not a prop for me .

That line up looks about right to me i would put arundal to right most sides seem to favor attacking down there left side so our right side as more defending to do. And as much as i like mcomb at from a attacking point of view he does worry me defensively and we have been exposed by a few sides down that side which is not all mcomb fault. And as for larroyer he is like a lot of our players inconsistent at his best he does carry the ball strongly which we need more of from our forwards. I could also be tempted to give morris a run in this game.

Listening to Grixs interview it looks like after a bit of mix and matching against 2 teams we should have expected to beat he'll put out what he believes is his best team this week and going forward. Like most I'd like to see Jouffret play, especially as according to a pal of mine who supports the Bulls Jouffret tore them apart at the end of last season. Unfortunately I'll be amazed if Aston doesn't start. If Larroyer could repeat his second half performance against Whitehaven I'd have him in - agree though that while Grix doesn't seem to rate him I'd find a place for Morris who's one of our few forwards who's both solid defensively while also offering something in attack.

If Jouffret is fit and doesn't start I would seriously doubt SG's wisdom. Zavaz Bar, Cancun. Spiced rum & coke. Cheers, Up The Fax.

LJ and Keyes in the halves for this one, Aston had not only his worst game but the worst game of the 3 of them so far this season both in attack and defence against Whitehaven.
Another commitment means i’ll miss this one but not overly fussed as Odsal isn’t my favourite viewing experience. Up the Pants.

Agree seeing walmsey n jouffret on the team sheet after what they did to Bradford last year will certainly give them food for thought , fax will need a bit of off the cuff rugby to unlock the Bradford defence as even if well executed the structured play is easier to defend against with the pitch being as small as it is .

On paper we do look quite a bit stronger than them but as we saw against Batley and then Widnes in those conditions, we really do not have the type of pack suited to a postage stamp pitch and the type of rugby that you can play on it. We pick up a win in this one and we look on track for 3rd or 4th with York probably our main rivals.

I watched the Bradford vs barrow game and Bradford dominated for large parts of the game , Bradford have a big pack which if allowed to get a roll on can cause problems but do occasionally run out of steam due to their traditional style . A good kicking game is needed to keep their big lads turning and tiring them out and we have some skilful off the cuff players to unlock them . Say it every week we need good discipline and patience and we’ll be fine , haven’t managed to do that yet though .

But wait! apparently Bradford's narrow pitch is a major disadvantage for (checks notes...) Bradford


[i
I've thought this for a while now but the narrowing and shortening of the pitch at Odsal directly places John Kear and the Bradford Bulls at a distinct disadvantage against visiting teams.
Bradford likes to play extremely tight and direct early in the tackle count.
Before looking to move the ball and target the edges mid tackle count like most sides in the Championship do.
We all know the return to Odsal has its concessions but it's a huge issue when you nullify any home advantage by squeezing the defences tighter on a narrower pitch.[/i

Courtesy of Mick Gledhill...I actually quite like him because he's daft about the game but he does have a habit of saying stuff that's daft too...who knew that Bradford's skinny pitch was detrimental to their flowing, expansive game!

One thing for sure who ever loses it will be sack Kear, sack Grix or maybe sack them both.

John Kear teams noted for playing expansive rugby.

Well that was a good Friday! Leaving to last few minutes but I’ll take that. Well done the lads, a man down all game and still get the win. Keeping Bradford to two tries. Don’t know why Fairbank started smacking the Bradford player but Fairbanks face looked a mess and their No 10 was smacking Fairbank. It was a red a card and I’m sure he will get a lengthy ban but their No10 should have at least a yellow

Who would have thought the narrow pitch would help us in that way. What a great win though, Bradford looked awful and the decision to go for 2 points when 7 in front was baffling and probably helped us.

Well done could have easily lost that but fair dos team spirit building .!

Kear out it is then