Well after the excitement of last saturday we are back in league action against the eagles. This game for me looks a tricky one they have lost their last few games but we all know Mark aston would love to bring us back down to earth with a bang. I think they will come out fast at us hoping that we overdid the celebrations at the weekend and catch us cold and they will also want to get back to winning ways and we need the points to stay in the six with London breathing down our necks. If we can get off to a good start i will backs to win a close one 24-26.

Looking to the pack to carry on as they were against London and set the platform and hope young Tom plays in this one.

We’ve got the side to do it but hard to be fully convinced when the side has been so unconvincing at times, really hoping the lads have at least started to turn the corner and kick on.

Hopefully the momentum swing continues in this one.Will be watching Douglas with interest...

Think we will lose by around 10 points or so but as so many times we are more than capable of winning and Sheffield's form has been a little bit shaky which incidently coincied with Aston announcing Douglas for us.

A draw.

Tough game this one ( nearly has difficult has navigating all the pop up ads on the website) Only the best version of Halifax wins this game so impossible to predict. It’ll be interesting to see the squad rotation between league and cup and Grix made a valid point that only 17 can play at Wembley so these next two games are a chance for the players to get in the 17 , that should be motivation enough to perform.

Normal service resumed, add that one to the list of games this season that we should/could have won. Weird game, we looked comfortable for maybe 60 minutes of it then brain farts and gifts and suddenly we find ourselves behind. Also worth mentioning what was possibly two of the softest sin binnings that I have seen on a rugby field late in the game. I think both players looked a bit embarassed that they had managed to get 10 minutes for doing so little. Lannon was very good for us and thought McComb did well for us in his more natural position. Thought Tangata had his best game in a while for us as well. Moore got a token 10 minutes at hooker before his move in to the back row, you could almost feel the reluctance to take AOB off the field with how he was playing.

Not buying into this cup hangover ruse. This is the worst of the points 'throw aways from winning positions' this season (Sheffield 18+, York 10+, Batley 10+, Toulouse +8 at half- time, Bulls 2+ with 10 seconds left). I think someone said a few weeks back that we are looking at 7th and if London win this weekend then we are looking at have to go beat them again. Likely to lose to Fev next week potentially so we might be 3 points outside the 6 in Wembley week. Not taking away from the achievement last week but I can't help but for me that I'd much rather be challenging in the playoffs. Not really sure on the financial side, and no suprise when then RFL kept quiet on shelling over nearly half million to Rimmer & Moorhouse, but what does missing out on the playoffs mean vs a visit to Wembley? I mean you look at the IMG criteria and you get .1 for winning the 1895 cup. Its not over yet but just a little part of me felt that although Fev are dominant again, this was the best chance to be competitive for many seasons.

I didn't go so hard to be objective but two things feel clear to me:

1. Moore is not a captain, Fairbank is.
2. Grix cannot see how vital a true 7 is and losing Keyes needed a real plan not cobbling people together. I understand he is out for 4 more weeks.

We don't have a divine right to win any game but our inconsistency is striking. 18 nil up should nearly always result in a win against most teams.

Move on Grix please. Offer Liam Finn what he wants and let's build for next year.

Did not go did not watch or listen so cannot comment except to say,yes 18:0 up should be a winning margin,but not the first or last to capitulate a lead like that,
However here come the SG knockers again, thought that had been done to death on another thread!?

Typical of how rugby is, within the space of 7 days from elation to deflation from the same group of players and supporters.
One week Walmsley intercepts and scores, this week he throws an intercept and they score.
During the game LJ scores a cracking solo try and then gets a kick charged down and they score.
One short kick off and they score and the next short kick off and we score.

Couldn’t see a cup win hangover but saw some physical and mental fatigue contributing to the result in the last quarter and with 5 minutes to go we’re still in front.

On choices.

The two sides to rugby are the league and the cup and even if you weight one higher than the other you still go into each game trying to win, there simply isn’t a clear cut choice that you can choose that leads to certain success.

Do we miss Joe Keyes, yes any club would miss a key play maker, are Fax using his injury as an excuse for poor results, no, it’s not an excuse but it is one of the reasons contributing to the poor results and no pun intended a key one as well.

Have they looked to bring in someone to specifically cover for him, yes but it’s not like you can go down to your local rugby league super market and put him in your basket, there hard to find at any time but with other clubs having the injury list growing and with the business part of the comps approaching along with the sums being asked makes it hard to get somebody, nothing to do with cobbling just no alternative to going with what you have.

The big downside is that unfortunatley the likely drop in money from missing out on the top 6 will not be compensated by a Wembley trip that if anything will cost the club money. Its great for us fans to have the trip to Wembley but from a financial point of view this season is turning out to be a disaster, crowds are down on what will have been budgeted for after last season so any shortfall is going to hit the playing budget hard.

Sorry Greg but is this worst case scenario between league and cup really accurate?
Bearing in mind all the decisions on budgeting have to be made before the outcomes are known in a sport where unpredictability and jeopardy of every kind are all part and parcel of the game.
First.
Should Fax ask to be excluded from the cup or plan / budget to go out in the first round so they could concentrate on the league?

If they did what would the reaction from supporters be, would that increase the number of people coming to the ground?

Even if they did that should they plan / budget on it guaranteeing a top 6 finish?
Second.
It’s not only about a trip to Wembley, before that there were the games against Fev, Barrow, Bradford, Saints culminating in a away game at London to be included in the finances.

How does all that stand up on the balance sheet to say a worst case scenario of a 6th place league finish culminating in being knocked out in a away game at London in the plays offs?

Well i didn't expect us to be 18-0 up so what came after should of come as no surprise. We started like last week doing the basics well and for once our forwards were on top making plenty of meters the damage was being done up the middle so we had no need to go away from that but we did. The habit we have got into of giving the opposition a way back into a game through stupid mistakes as got way out of hand. Yes Sheffield are a good attacking side so they would always have a say in a game but we quite literally threw that game away. I did say a while ago that i thought we would win the 1895 cup but miss out on the playoffs and the way this season is going the more i can see that happening. Did anyone else notice the fourth official just as the game kicked off hold up the sub card for us but no one came on or off i wonder if a player pulled out late and was replaced by someone who was not 18th man and that cost us a sub.

Fax error on the admin side of things seems to be the jist of it costing us a sub.