Having watched the Keighley v Fev game we are going to have to step it up quite a few gears to beat Fev on Sunday. They looked very good across the field. They have some big units and their half back Riley Dean (who is a Halifax lad) is over 6ft.
It may help us that Fev played last night and have a shorter turnaround. Although I don’t like saying I think this is a Feb win. I hope I’m wrong. Fev 26 Fax 6

Featherstone did look good last night but nothing, apart from Dean, much different from last season when we went close three times against them. Keighley were a big disappointment, in i thought they looked awful but maybe that was due to Fev being so dominant. We will need to improve on Sunday's showing but that was a game we needed in the tank and it showed on the pitch. However we got away with it and just about deserved the points against a not bad Sheffield side. We will improve so let's see if we can enough to get the points at POR. Up The Fax!

Be interesting to see if we can contain them.Personally I doubt it,we never address our main issue which is lack of punch in the forwards.With Doro and Mahar potentially out and King not deemed better than last years pack it's hard to see past a home victory.Thought for long spells in Sundays second half we had no momentum shifters in our side and couldnt get out of our own half.It's been our main issue for years.

After watching last nights game Featherstone look like a pretty well oiled machine for so early on in the season not to mention them having a new coach. It was hard to see to many weaknesses but like as been said Keighley didn't ask too many questions and that was down to how well fev played but also Keighley looking off the pace to me. I would think that there physical presence across the park will be the biggest test for us and there ball movement is not too shabby either. All in all if we can get a fair share of ball in the right parts of the field we will have a good chance but our goal line defence will have to improve a lot from sunday because there will be times when we will be under the pump. I will go for a fax win 24-26.

Difficult to assess where we’re at in terms of competing with fev after the opening games of both teams . We played reasonably well in patches against Sheffield but we’re defensively susceptible in our goal line defence . Fev battered a newly promoted keighley who as of yet are an unknown quantity. We had some close battles with fev last year but ultimately lost all three . Have we improved more than them in that time , at the moment I expect not so my prediction is a loss by 12 to 18 points .

Won't be attending this game but can't see past anything other than a convincing win for Fev in this one with the main problems being poor goal line defence at one end and the lack of fluency in attack at the other, both of which would have to be fixed within a just a weeks training sessions.

I reckon a Fev win by about 14 points, I think we will be closer to them later in the season though. Looking for weaknesses in the Fev team I thought they were quite lateral in attack at times against Keighley which I do not think will work against a bigger mobile pack and if they do that against us the game could go in our favor as they won't grind our pack down like they have done in previous meetings and I honestly believe we have a bit more flair than them but Fev's big thing has always mean the size of their pack and if they play more direct they may be able to dominate us in that area and that's why I see a comfortable Fev win at the moment watching the first performances of each team. I do think Fev looked a little vulnarable down the middle late in the game against Keighley but again that may just be a little complacency setting in with the game done and dusted. Im sure Grix picked a few things up from watching the Fev game though like the tell that Wildie has as to which way he is going and Im sure things like that will have been spoke about. Stopping it is another thing though.

Has anyone else noticed how the fixtures for the past few years have come up with Fax away to Featherstone early on? It doesn't affect me as a supporter as we don't go to POR nowadays but it seems a big coincidence. It'll be a tough one again but the squad we have got can do it. I just hope it hasn't come too early for us. Up The Fax!

Yes fev look good but I think they will be very wary of our attack which may just pin them back a bit . Closer than we might anticipate

Just seen the mid-week interview with Simon Grix; while obviously most important thing is that he's consistently producing a successful team playing a really attractive brand of rugby, he also comes across as a really intelligent coach who always offers a balanced view both on his own team and the opposition. This combination will make him a very attractive proposition for superleague in the future - obviously would be great if this was with Fax.

Grix with a bigger budget now that I would like to see .

I believed that the new Board whee going to invest in the club to move it forward. As of yet I don't see anything happening in that area.

Simon has shown he is a quality coach, and has certainly exceeded my expectations, but without that bigger budget I sadly don't see him improving on last years performance.

I think it will be a home win by over 12 points.

I suspect fax made a loss last year as perhaps the crowds didn’t increase in line with some quality signings and a good season overall. The new boards arrival has coincided with new expectations from img , wheelchair, women’s teams etc plus a focus on return on investment and marketing. I think there is money available for a couple more additions but we’re not prepared to pay silly money or just has filler players . It’d be interesting to see if Grixs recruitment policy would change with a bigger budget or if his mobile smaller pack philosophy is forced on him by the available budget. Maher and doro might be a starting point as regards bigger props but we’ll see.

At the risk of jinxing this, I'm surprised how easily a lot of Fev fans think they will win this game. I saw a comment on FB last night about them been more worried about Keighley than they are about us. Now personally I do think they will have a bit too much for us and their team on paper is very strong but I don't see as big a difference between them and us this year as I did last year and to me they are more a solid and dependable team rather than spectacular. Obviously I will take this back if they beat us by 30 today but I just can't see anything between the two teams to see that happening.

Hope king and doro are selected this time , their physicality is something we’ll need against featherstone if we’re to at least compete with them in the pack . We didn’t seem to be physically dominated by Wakefield so that’s a good sign . If we end up giving multiple penalties /six agains away that’s where we will struggle, just hope we make a game of it like we have done the last couple of times.