Having just read joes interview on loverugbyleague about joining the bulls he does seem a little put out by some of comments made about is departure from fax. Personally i thought simon was spot on with is remarks about joe and maybe if he had pulled is finger out performance wise he would still be a fax player. And as for possible replacements there is plenty of young and talented at clubs like huddersfield and leeds that we could surely get on loan at the very least.

What a load of tripe that is as well. Who'd have thought that promotion in Rugby League would come down to box ticking as much as performance on the pitch? Fax voted for it by all accounts though so it's a case of you've made your bed, lie in it.

Rat & Ratchet, shuddersfield. White Rat 4.0 % Mmm!

It got mentioned on here once or twice so if fans can see it no doubt the coaching staff saw it as well. Ive heard from people within the club that Simon's comments were actually quite reserved compared to how they could have been.

Joe has gone now and so it doesn’t matter what or why he went what ever the reason is. The Bulls fans seem to be happy with him and so they should be. He is a good player. Some of the comments on the Bulls site are a bit off towards Grix but that’s how some them are. Joe is probably the best signing they have made so far.

Aye the raging bull character, he’s also on the total floor forum and talks a lot of nonsense there , comes across as a bit of a Ronnie pickering character and is clearly peeved that fax beat them three times last year . Calling Grix a moaning pxxck is ironic after dunnings interviews last year but hey ho it is what it is .

Not sure how the current Fax Board voted for it when they weren't in place when it was announced that IMG would be getting involved.

Likewise, finishing in the top 4 being one of the criteria was only decided upon by IMG in the last couple of weeks.

As regards the other boxes it's hard to say when they haven't been officially announced.

What has been muted as one of the reasons is that in the past certain SL clubs have just taken the money and not put anything back into the game.

Three clubs were anonymously mentioned and IMG were aware of who they are and the intention is to stop this from happening by having targets to achieve both on and off the pitch, this would help to determine which level of grading each team would be awarded in the initial phase and could also be used to measure the progress, or lack of it of each individual club after every season.

Those who made progress in meeting the criteria had a better chance of getting a higher grade and would move up the pecking order with the opposite happening to those who didn't.

As for the full implications no one knows, but as with everything else no doubt some we'll like and some we won't and it will vary from individual to individual as to what they are.

In any case the point I was making was the game is going to undergo some radical changes which involves more than just league position which the club are having to take into consideration.

IMG put forward a broad range of proposals which included the ridiculous grading system A,B and C. The present board were in place and voted in favour of this. The only club to vote against it was Keighley.

IMG put forward the broad range of proposals in late September before the current board took control and then in October a few days after the new board had taken over the "principal" of these proposals were agreed to, however at that time "IMG had yet to determine what the criteria would be".

Up until now at no point were any of the clubs in a position to make a fully informed decision.

It won't be until February of this year at the earliest until the clubs have the full information, only then will the real feelings of each club become known and still another year before there implemented.

Who's to say IMG won't be tinkering around with it during that time once everyone has had time to say their piece.

Likewise if the clubs don't know all the details how can we, who know even less call a system ridiculous when we don't know what it involves?

It's a bit unfair to say of your own club "Fax voted for it by all accounts though so it's a case of you've made your bed, lie in it" as if Fax should somehow be punished or detrimentally affected.

Who are the "you've" surely the club includes all of us, the BoD and supporters?

You're quite correct in saying 'youve' should be all of us. It's our club and we are all proud of that. Where I don't agree with you is the thinking that IMG ,whoever they are, have any real interest in the future of RL as a sport. To them, it's all about money. I just don't get it. We will see, but i can't see where clubs like ours feature in their thinking. Up The Fax!

Sorry Hudds but I can't make any sense out of what you are saying.
On the one hand it's "IMG whoever they are" as if not knowing anything about them and on the other it's "they have no real interest in rugby league" and at the same time "it's all about money" as if you do know all about them?

This is just as they have entered a 12 year deal with the game.
Why would they do that in a sport that they have no interest in?
How would that work to make them any money?

Regards myself and IMG, I'm not thinking anything about them and i'm neither agreeing with nor disagreeing with them there simply isn't enough information available at the moment to know but their here so have to be included any discussion regarding the future of the game.

It will all come out in the wash as they say, we'll see. All I can say is that if Fax don't get promoted to SL this coming season, don't hold your breath in the hope we will be back where most of us want to be any time soon. Up The Fax!

I'm happy that we've signed Joe, but I think signings such as Michael Lawrence from Huddersfield, the Papua New Guinea international Keven Appo, and Bodene Thompson from Leeds are a cut above.

Some decent signings for you this year. Its going to be interesting the battle between Bradford and Keighley to see who finishes higher and I can see the Bulls possibly sneaking in to the playoffs this year.

According to Skybet its you in a battle with Keighley not us. For 3rd. I know there's a feelgood factor about the Cougars, but this feels a bit OTT.

Featherstone Rovers - 6/4
Toulouse Olympique - 2/1
Halifax Panthers - 12/1
Keighley Cougars - 12/1
Bradford Bulls - 14/1
Widnes Vikings - 16/1
York City Knights - 16/1
Batley Bulldogs - 20/1
Barrow Raiders - 25/1
Sheffield Eagles - 40/1
London Broncos - 50/1
Newcastle Thunder - 66/1
Swinton Lions - 100/1
Whitehaven RLFC - 125/1

Yeah I would be surprised if both teams signings push them above York and Batley who don't seem to be that highly thought of again this season.

Just listened to the mark dunning interview, he says Halifax enabled the joe Arundel transfer by paying him off to leave , seems Grix really wasn’t happy with him .

If true that's ridiculous !

There's no way club would have paid balance of his contract otherwise there would have been no point letting him go, likely paid a sweetener to ensure deal went ahead. He would probably have been one of the higher earners, and while he's a good solid centre, if Grix decided he wasn't going to be first choice next year, I can understand him not wanting another Aston scenario where you've got a good, frustrated well paid player kicking his heels for most of the season. We are though now looking a bit thin in the backs, Mccomb has shown he can cover centre and wing more than adequately, but after that we could be struggling.

Quote ="Ilkley Fax"There's no way club would have paid balance of his contract otherwise there would have been no point letting him go, likely paid a sweetener to ensure deal went ahead. He would probably have been one of the higher earners, and while he's a good solid centre, if Grix decided he wasn't going to be first choice next year, I can understand him not wanting another Aston scenario where you've got a good, frustrated well paid player kicking his heels for most of the season. We are though now looking a bit thin in the backs, Mccomb has shown he can cover centre and wing more than adequately, but after that we could be struggling.'" I agree probably not his full contract but perhaps a percentage of it , here’s the link https://youtu.be/1pWyePRaS_Q , comments on Arundel start about 8 minutes in.

Quote ="Ilkley Fax"There's no way club would have paid balance of his contract otherwise there would have been no point letting him go, likely paid a sweetener to ensure deal went ahead. He would probably have been one of the higher earners, and while he's a good solid centre, if Grix decided he wasn't going to be first choice next year, I can understand him not wanting another Aston scenario where you've got a good, frustrated well paid player kicking his heels for most of the season. We are though now looking a bit thin in the backs, Mccomb has shown he can cover centre and wing more than adequately, but after that we could be struggling.'" I agree probably not his full contract but perhaps a percentage of it , here’s the link https://youtu.be/1pWyePRaS_Q , comments on Arundel start about 8 minutes in.

Quote ="Listenup94"I agree probably not his full contract but perhaps a percentage of it , here’s the link https://youtu.be/1pWyePRaS_Q , comments on Arundel start about 8 minutes in.'" Mmm? Very interesting. I wouldn't have thought Fax were in a position to pay anyone off but that's what he's said. He does however also say that Arundel also needs time to get himself up to Bradford's standards fitness wise which is just laughable. He could mean after missing some pre season but still... Anyroad after last season's effort Joe is no big loss but he does need replacing as SG himself says regarding squad's size. Up The Fax!

Quote ="Listenup94"I agree probably not his full contract but perhaps a percentage of it , here’s the link https://youtu.be/1pWyePRaS_Q , comments on Arundel start about 8 minutes in.'" Mmm? Very interesting. I wouldn't have thought Fax were in a position to pay anyone off but that's what he's said. He does however also say that Arundel also needs time to get himself up to Bradford's standards fitness wise which is just laughable. He could mean after missing some pre season but still... Anyroad after last season's effort Joe is no big loss but he does need replacing as SG himself says regarding squad's size. Up The Fax!

The fact we paid him off probably speaks volumes for how desparate we were to get him off our books. Looks like Grix was not happy with someone treating the club like a retirement home.

Yes I heard that about the fitness and laughed out loud , I get the feeling fax/Grix upset a couple of coaches last year ie dunning , aston . I think the first game against Sheffield will be a humdinger especially in the pack . Grix seemed very relaxed about having a skinny squad but with barber , worthington, Arundel leaving who played centre through out the season we do look a bit light there .

Maybe Joe is too fit for the Bulls after being at fax. Perhaps Dunning has got Joe on a pie diet to slow him down a bit so the rest of the Bulls squad don’t feel left out.

https://twitter.com/m_shaw1/status/1613 ... R-8LNNCIQw

https://twitter.com/m_shaw1/status/1613 ... R-8LNNCIQw

This is exactly what I was referring to with regards to more being involved with the box ticking criteria for the future under the IMG directives.
Like it or not the reality is there is a lot more involved these days than ever before and living in the past isn't a way forward.

It will of course apply to every club and outside of the so called big boys of those who are trying to improve I see Panthers in as good a position as any.

Decent academy / college, ladies and wheel chair teams and ground, still a lot of work to do but could be worse.