the fax one no, but saw Batley 'run us ragged' for 60 minutes

Fax have and are doing what we did in the early part of this decade (Century) building steadilly and well and consolidating over a number of seasons.

Well take it 1 game at a time, I was pretty impressed with Batley..... but maybe they like playing us????????

Batley did OK in the first half, 18-0 at half time. They had a player sent off on about 39 minutes which gave us a great start to the 2nd half, we never looked back then. We didn't play anything special, we just played simple, but attractive rugby, also helped by Lee Pattersons kicking debut of 12/12 conversions!!

We have been there since the turn of the century. Winning by large margins playing good stuff lucky cup draws and then it all goes t*ts up and then you are back to where you where ie the same place.

It didn,t happen to the biggest club in the world however HKR but no team can compete with them.

Leigh will get better the longer the season goes on but it,s going to be the latter end of the season imo.

Fax are the team to beat this season though.

That has been a long time coming!!

I think it is going to be a great tussle between Fax and Leigh.

No not this year

the player was sin binned not sent off

If Fax are allowed to play they will rip anyone apart, get in their faces and mix it up and who knows we may only lose by 30.

Halifax are developing steadily? what planet are you on? Developing means bringing young players through not signing every available player no matter how much they cost!

have a look at our squad mate and fax are hardly in a position to bust the bank, don't you think? We're, at last, a well run club and maybe instead of shooting us down, other clubs should be looking at what we do and learning from it!

I disagree Fax have been in the same position as Leigh many times I'm not having a go at your club far from it, what I'm saying is that This season Fax have spent a lot of money they must have to get results on the field the same as Widnes have, The Fans are very happy to see quality on the field and winning every week that's a fact BUT what happens IF you lose in the semi final and don't make the GF? Next season do you start again paying crap money and get poor players?

Swinton my opinion are the best example of this when they played at Bury they had one season where they destroyed us but tailed off toward the end and as a result the next season hardly won a game and had financial trouble! Most clubs have done it and will continue.

At Leigh we have some very talented youngsters but as a result will lose quite a few games but the effort is most definitely there, The Fans aren't happy as we aren't wining every week! Chicken and Egg!

The challenge you face is igniting the interest of the town, 2184 last night to watch the best team in the comp. That wont pay the waged.

16 year old Andy Bowman played last night as did 19 year old Anthony Bowman both Halifax lads as is james Haley. Haley, Greenwood, Cherryholme all of whom played last night are under 23. And Fax have not payed for a player for years. They did sell Gorski last year though.

Your post smacks of somebody who is jealous. Not sure why as you have a good stadium and you will likely be in the Championship for a few years still just like Fax. Fax have concentrated on building up the scholarship and run this year with no reserve team-saving something like 50-60,000 pounds atleast. Whether that could be a good or a bad thing we wait and see. Fax have a problem that the best youngsters in the area are being signed by Huddersfield, Bradford and even Salford on good money. Fax are not in a position to offer that type of money sadly. I guess Leigh are in this position too.

You missed my point mate. Fax don't have a lot of money, no sugar daddy at our club. As a result they can't have spent big, god knows we've learnt the hard way about that. We are a well run club with good atmosphere and coaching, that attracts players who could possibly earn more at other clubs. The perception of Halifax in the game is good right now meaning we attract good players with good attitude, other clubs should try it and not pretend they are relying on youth by choice!

Very true, the best kids wont be at Fax/Leigh etc but what must be clarified is does not running a reserve team exclude you from the franchise? If not then why bother as £50-60k is 3-4 good players better than we have who would put bums on seats.

Correct but then with the various Sponsors on board of which many are new then it does. I believe Fax have more sponsors this year than ever before in there time in the Championship. Thats more money as well as gates are up on the Widnes and Batley game compared to last year. Crowds are increasing each year at Fax slowly but steadily. Many of whom are youngsters. As you say its a big effort to get more people to watch Fax but there is no easy solution to get 4000 people to turn up to watch a game against a Batley team who bring few fans and who are in a mess at the moment and a fairly big score was predicted by both sets of fans despite Fax fielding a weakened team

Also a number of players are on pay as you play and we are part time in most cases with a couple doing schools work for the Club/Council partnership. Obviously money is tight at the moment across all clubs, sports and life in general but the noises coming from Fax are that they are not losing money. In fact they reckon over 50,000 pounds has been saved with the decision this year not to run a 2nd team in a league where some teams failed to turn up last year and few players are good enough to play 1st grade at fax.

I think I am right by saying our shirt is the highest sponsored shirt of any rugby league team including Sooper Doooper Wigan ended up taking £50,000 for theres.I think last nights gate wasn`t too bad as Batley brought only a few.

I would be very very suprised if that was the case.

We do develop our own players but we also sensible enough to see you need good players on the team as well to help bring them through. We have got the balance right we think this year and the fans are enjoying their rugby again.The last few games I have seen people at matches that gave up coming years ago when we were playing poorly and lost many of our fan base.Plus I hope moving to the new stadium works for you but it did not for us we lost loads of fans then who never did come back we are now steadily having to build it all back up again.And I`m sorry but you can`t do the rebuilding if what`s on offer doesn`t keep them coming back..

The more expensive players such as Gleeson was signed through raising cash through supporters trust and Ben Black sponsored by Roger Harvey to bring him over so think of that before you make assumptions. Our best youngsters from Halifax have been snapped up early from SL teams so sod off!

Lets not forget also we have in Penky one of the best in the league and he was nurtured through our Acadamy set up from being a youngster playing with us when we were in Super League his re-signing was like geting one of our youngsters back. I have a great deal of sympathy with the Leigh club as it is such a hot bed of rugby and I am sure if you kept all Leigh lads you would have been consistently at the top of Super League for many years.But you don`t understand that Halifax is the same and all our young lads get taken by Bradford who have never had a decent youth policy prefering to take what others have spent good time and money nurturing. But that`s life you use what you have but don`t compare us with the likes of Bradford `cos we`re not, were like you.

Don't want to have a go at Leigh because I respect Leigh but your av crowds were less when you got promoted in 2004. Lets leave it.

Me thinks that is right a deal done with H BOS before everything went pear shaped, I do believe it would have doubled as well if we had got back in Super League plus all the other sponsors.The only bad side to it is I believe it runs out at the end of this season but from what I hear there is lots of interest so things are looking up at Fax finally.Was told at the begining of the season the shirt was worth more than any other in any League next year could be differant

We've spent a small fortune on reserve grade competitions over the last 4 years - winning the GF on two occasions. Out of those squads we've had one - maybe two - coming through to the first team. The club simply decided that - FOR THE TIME BEING - they would concentrate on the first grade comp - hopefully winning the NRC and/or appearing in a GF. This gets the club past the first hurdle of being able to apply for a licence next time round. We can "re-deploy" a reserve grade side once the initial objectives have been reached. (hopefully).

It's a plan. It's a gamble. It's based on a set of ridiculous qualifications laid out by the RFL needed to even apply for a licence. Simply put - if you don't win an NRC or appear in a GF in the next three years you can forget about applying for a licence - you just can't submit one - no matter how good your reserve grade is doing, or how many other of the criteria you've reached.