Batley played to the game plan.

As JK has just said on radio Leeds they were well aware of the attacking threat of Halifax but snuffed it out almost perfectly.

The Fax three quater line never got the ball or made a single line break all the game, we need a quick play the balls at some point in any game to rack up the points but it never happened today.

Our attacking sets were poor which we barely completed a set as was our kicking game especially with Tigers knowledge of the pitch.

Todays ref allowed a fair bit of laying on and hands in at the play the ball and a skinny 10 yards to go unpenalised for both sides.

Batley were more patient and as a result got the win.

I prefer a more open attacking brand of rugby league and found the game a bit flat.

The main dissapointment with Batley is that they are a very good attacking side themselves with dangerous players that did not, or were not allowed to play this type of game, but who am I to question Mr Kears tactics especially when it won them the game.

The main dissapointment I have with Fax is they just didn't adapt to what was going on and had no control over the play or the game and with only 12 and then 11 players on the pitch didn't exactly help.

Went as a neutral today so am a little suprised to say the least that Fax fans are blaming referees because he absolutely caned Batley....I thought halifax had a big pack but Batley had some big old boys out there today and dug in a bit deeper than your blokes. Very exciting game though. I think either team could have nicked it today but Batleys halves were also smarter than Fax's. The sending off is even more bizaare a mate told me that Rettie nutted his own brother in law........what a tool !! There was also an incident where he blatently kicked Walton which will probably get him an additional ban to the long one he is staring down the barrel of now.

What's wrong with that? I've wanted to nut my brother in law for years. Mind you, everyone want's to nut my brother in law.

Not blaming the ref myself but i will say the following.

Where the ref is concerned is that he is there to officiate the game without influencing or affecting the outcome by his own actions or inactions.

In the context of todays game the constant slowing down and hands in at the play the ball did play a big part in what happened during and later on in the game.

If he had stopped that early on, which on another day will be the case then a lot of the niggling and frustration on show that eventually led to the sending off and other unsavoury incidents would have been avoided.

In this sense the ref can and does influence things for the worse, they wind up the players and supporters long before the result is known because they are just not good enough and often make blantantly wrong decisions.

They are just as responsible and should be just as accountable as the other parties involved but they never are.

Sooner or later every team will be affected by this and many supporters of the game would agree the standard of some of the officials is poor and if Fax had won the game I am sure one or two Batley fans would have not been too happy with the man in the middle.

The question is.
If our team wins is it okay for the officials to have bad games but we don't say anything?

In todays game Batley deserved to win and as a team were the better side on the day but that does not mean the officials can be excused for his performance that affected both sides.

Excellent post mate. I spoke to an old school mate of mine before the kick off, he's a long serving fax fan and we both knew what to expect, even before the game had started. We knew there wouldn't be anything in it, because Stokes (today's ref) never penalises holding down, he killed us (dog's) away at York last season with it. Surely that is a bad indictment of an official, if fans know exactly what an official is or in this case isn't going to penalise, even before a ball is kicked. The coaches surely will if fans do and plan accordingly.

TBH, I don't think it did either team any favours today. The guy is totally incompetent, simple as, but at least he is fair. He isn't talented enough/intelligent enough to cheat IMO. I cannot say the same for either Tommason or Leahy though.

I totally disagree with this. As we have seen the last 2 games, when we get on a roll with quick play the balls we are pretty difficult to stop. I would love to have seen the game played at the same pace as the last couple of weeks but it was never going to happen once the ref set his stall out and ive seen amateur games that have been played at a quicker pace than todays.

Fax definately benefit from a quick play the ball but it's not just about Fax or any one other team.
The game as a whole is much better.

Fast attacking Rugby League is what sets it apart from any other sport and is possibly one of the main reasons that got us to watch the game in the first place and keep us going back.

Think about it, on a decent dry pitch like today slow play means this.

From the intial impact of the tackle they remain in contact grapling about until the ref calls HEEELLLLDDDD.

Even after that they still often fall to the ground and have a wrestle and roll around until the ref says MOOOOVE.

Slowly but eventually they let go of one another but still push and shove at the play the ball when they are getting to their feet.

Sometimes from the man in possession the ball comes lose and the ref gives a knock on.

Sometimes in exactly the same situation in the same game the ref gives a penalty for interference at the play the ball.

By which time the players and supporters are getting wound up.

On a wet pitch it's even worse when this happens because it's like a cross between WWF and aligator wrestling, not exactly what we want to see at a game.

You can't have a stop watch out but if we have a common sense tackle completion and clean ruck play the ball where you have to let go and either move or roll away without all the messing around the game benefits as a result it's not too difficult or hard to achieve surely.
More attacking play, more breaks, more points, more enjoyment but most importantly of all more Rugby League.
More like what we pay our money to see to be honest.

yes, the ref was poor for both teams....he should have penalised Batley many times for holding down and didnt. Neither teams has square markers especially in the 1st half.

what frustrates me is the complete lack of consistancy between games.

the ref however is not why we lost.

Calum Casey wants sending back to Leeds, it is beyond me why? on the 4th tackle at 16-16 do you kick through to nobody but yourself (downhill!) instead of building pressure and knocking over a drop goal. That is where we lost the game.

Bowman in i think for Swinton.

Patto also needs to have a word for missing that penalty and not kicking it dead!

Too many of our players made poor decisions today. That is why we lost - simple.

Watching Batlley for the 1st time this season today, they are average. Fax lost that game.

Batley didnt win it!

oh yeah, onwards and upwards! Swinton to smash on Friday! Awesome away support today!!!!

We are STILL top of the league!

I think hes saying we would probably have won the game without the daft last 20 minutes. Lets face it, by the time Rettie came up with his moment of stupidity we were well on top. We blew it big style, i bet our completion rate was about the 50% mark yet we probably still should have won the game, i think thats one good thing our fans can take out of yesterday.

From what you say Moleydog, theres clear no reason for your fans to be jealous.

Mr Kear, Mr Powell and Mr March certainly know how to play the ref in this league.

A good fast game is all we fans have to look forward to, what we get is not helping sell this comp most weeks.

If the ref allows a slow ptb at least take em back a good 10m. As a spectacle our, Leigh, game was boring today - although Ii do think the CC hangover had a part.

Well yes I can see an argument for 'entertainment' value being greater with a fast expansive game.

Maybe I'm a bit old school but in my playing days we had a coach who coached to our strengths and had a game plan for the team we are playing.

Sometimes, if you have to play the ref, slow the game down, niggle your opponent etc to gain and advantage your way, then that's what you do. it's always been part of the game.
Actually I don't mind it. Almost like a game of chess, seeing who's got the 'smarter' players, who will crack first etc.
Against Wigan our lot did that throughout the game and kept us in the game. Against Fev yesterday, York unsuccessfully tried to slow the game down to keep the pace of the game at their level - it's what they had to do and it was up to us to break them down. Again, it made for an enthralling game - just different from fast free flowing rugby.

On Sunday, Fax lost that battle because regardless of the ref - but because Fax weren't smart enough to handle that part of the game which is surprising given Harrison is your coach and was one of the best at getting in opponents faces.

Feel the love!!!!

So are you saying Halifax is the only team that is hard to stop when on a roll???

We got on a roll early on in the 2nd half against Fev last week scoring 3 quick fire tries in the opening few minutes, as we did against Hunslet the week before. I'd go as far as saying, every team who gets a consistent quick PTB would get on a roll and score points, providing they do not make silly mistakes.

I too, would have liked to have seen the game played quicker, but I find myself thinking that in almost every game I watch including SL. Since this wrestling and dominance nonsense was introduced the game has become very stale and rarely do you see any team getting on a roll like say St Helens did 4 or 5 years ago.

Sadly the clown we had yesterday, rarely penalises holding down, and I've seen him a few times now to make that assessment, both as a neutral, and with my rose tinted glasses on watching the Dogs, he is always the same rarely penalising holding down.

The fact is, he gave a couple of arbitrary penalties for holding down and not standing square to both teams yesterday, but he would have been justified to penalise almost every ptb throughout the whole game. The only consolation was at least he was consistent with it and didn't favour one team with his interpretation.

He's not just talking about 'getting a roll on', what he's saying is (we believe) that Fax play better throughout the game when the balls moving quicker, ship the ball around quicker and cause the defence problems. From what we saw yesterday, it seems Kear sussed that and seemingly got your guys to slow us down, which is fair enough if you can get away with it. And no ones saying he's biased towards a team, but the consequences of his decisions (I believe) did favour Batley's style of play yesterday.

However, we can't know if that's true till you visit the Shay, see you then.

i didnt realise Batley fans had an 'problem' with Fax fans to be honest. I always love going to Batley (as by the looks hundreds of fax fans do)!

Even though we, like you say in recent times usually get beat!

We were on top going into the last 20, and if Wayne hadnt have lost the plot [u(forced by dirty niggly play from your lot)[/u we would , i believe have won.

Even after going down to 12 we could and should have won it.

We made some poor plays (pattos goal attempt, casey kicking it away!)

Batley built next to no pressure to get the win, a rushed, sliced, dipping DG from 40 yards from that little sh#t moore won it.

Neither team played well, it was an arm wrestle full of niggle and holding down.

When you come to the shay we will do you by 30. Like last year I suppose oh hang on?

Aye if you say so, and angelic Barlow's attack on a defenceless guy on the floor, was I suppose Maun's fault for diving on a loose ball? That was somehow in your eyes our dirty niggle ridden style of play which made Barlow do that? GET A GRIP



Rettie's a complete D.ick for reacting like that, whatever the provocation. It probably did cost you the game, although we visibly lifted after Patterson missed the penalty.

That was ashall. Not barlow. Barrow took exception to maun going ballistic at anyone within swinging distance. Bit of a lad barlow. I find it funny that maun can take exception to anything that happens in a tackle. I guess someone must have really rubbed him up the wrong way...or rubbed his st tropez off

I know Fax play a much better game when it is faster but would give the Dogs a lot more credit in this department as well.
When the coach tells them to they can play this style of rugby and when he doesn't they don't.
I would love to see the same teams play a game when we had a more open type game.
I would go to the game really looking forward to it but just as unsure of who would win and come away much happier whatever the result.

Just something to think about is that not all the recent games when Batley won were like yesterdays, they are a dam good side that need to be respected in any type of game and so can a few more of these so called lesser sides.

Perhaps this is an area that we need to take onboard a bit more as a club, players and Fax fans.

I'm not one to bag referees usually but Stokes had a shocker today. Batley's gameplan was to slow down our play the ball to stop the massive threat of Penky, nothing wrong with that. However when a player wins the ruck tries to get up to play the ball and the referee let's the tacklers lie on for 5+ seconds, something is wrong. When a mis-timed grab which barely brushes a fore-head is penalised and multiple swinging arms to the head are ignored, something is wrong. His failure to stop the messing about at the ruck from both sides meant he lost control and led to the bad blood near the end of the game. A very Robot Ronnie performance.

However, Fax should know opposite teams tactics and be able to rise above them or play around them. We've got the personel to be able to do it, just brain-farts and naivity like Casey kicking on the 3rd tackle when we should have been lining up for the drop goal cost us as well as other opportunities to win the game.

Agreed,we made some really poor plays yesterday, put that with ill discipline, bad decision making and poor completion rate and it cost us the game. We were very average yesterday but still could have won so im not too concerned. Fair play to batley they wanted it more, took their chances and deserved the win. The batley pack was awesome, 10,15 and 16 were all monsters and we couldnt cope with them. I notice barlow is getting some stick on the batley forum but correct me if im wrong but wasnt it a case of mistaken identity and it was actually ashall who comitted the initial offence by inexplicably punching the batley player as he laid defenceless on the ground? Dont get me wrong barlow got involved in the ruck that followed as did the majority of the players on the pitch or did barlow do something else that i missed?

Every time we play against one of the March's it's the same story, niggling slow play the balls, short 10, try and run the game, and if they can get away with it then so be it. BUT it's about time the refs manned up to them and laid down the law, tell 'em to shut up and get back or put them in the bin. The March's spoil the game of rugby as entertainment and need to retire.

I think the March Brothes should retire too. I'm sure Swinton and Leight were sick of them this week as well as Halifax ????

Quite simply, we didn't "win the ground" on sunday & that was the difference. As I said during the 2nd half to fellow poster Thripdinger, it's up to us to win the ground not look for ref assitance, well done Batley you did a good job. Am not prepared to blame the ref either, he simply didn't penalise at the holding down part of the ruck, so it was there to be taken advantage of.
I'm more bothered about the selection of a four forwards bench & plenty brain farts by our players, notably Reitties sending off, Casey making several wrong options in attack & defence at centre, Patto not securing possession from the penalty kick, we simply didn't handle the pressure game as at Leigh in the cup.
Batley deserved their win on the day & I thought it was a cracking match & well supported judging by their chairman's programme notes re: attendances & their budget for certain games.