The thing was we were not playing great even when Keyes was fit and playing so like Tony says, I'm not really sure it can be used as too much of an excuse even though we have obviously missed him. Put Thurston in his prime in that team yesterday and we don't have much different of a result.

Looking at the clubs latest accounts on Companies House, maybe sacking Grix isnt viable.

I saw them last week when they were uploaded, not great reading.

Plenty of clubs struggling now though, Whitehaven have just sent out a link to a Go Fund Me to try and shore up their finances.

SG will not be sacked. The club don’t have the finances to 1) pay him off 2) employ some one on new contract. We still 6th in the league and the play offs and that sundecks silly competition

Yes, Fax lost over £300k for the year ended 30/11/2022 and are technically insolvent to the tune of £350k. But all RL clubs are struggling, Huddersfield, for example, were £16 million insolvent as at 30/11/21, obviously propped up by Mr Davy.

And worse to come, imo, if SKY reduce their support (they've already farmed some coverage to C4). I reckon SL will ultimately become part time again.

If it did go back to the same system before SL I’d enjoy that. All tens part time sportsmen playing on a Sunday.

1 of 2 things need to happen. Simon does the right thing and steps down as head coach which he is too stubborn to do or the board need to sack him. If he really cares about this club then he needs to put it first and resign the players are clearly not playing for him even the ones that were earlier in the season have gone off the boil. When he keeps saying in his post match interview that it is not a effort issue i can not believe what my ears are hearing did he not watch the second half yesterday the players gave up which is shameful for them and him and more importantly for the fans that have paid to watch that crap. How the board handle this will tell me all i need to know about their ambitions for this club and Richard Durgan going on the clubs facebook page and belittling fans who dare to question the coaches position does not fill me with much hope at all.

Exactly, faxlore. It's all parity. Rugby League hasn't got the infrastructure to support full time without SKY's support. The contract system hasn't helped, of course, but it's employment law! I remember the days when players didn't have a contract as such, they were registered with a club and were subject to a transfer fee when they moved on. It encouraged the smaller clubs to look for talent at a young age as transfer fees were their life blood. Hunslet, in particular, did rather well with the likes of Sonny Nicholl and Mike Jackson.

Ah yes, players only got paid if they played. And if I remember rightly Fax used to have very generous win bonuses (even linked to the margin of victory) but got a pittance if they lost, one such game we thrashed Hull KR by 70 (Preston, Austin and Watson ran riot) they had fat pay packets. And didn't Les Holliday have a deal where he got hundreds of quid if we won but nothing at all if we lost (even if he played)? I stand to be corrected of course, but it's what I remembered.

I just get the feeling RL will implode sooner rather than later. France can't even afford to host the World Cup, for heavens sake, when such a tournament is "supposed" to be a big money earner!

So a man who's got a contract for another year and a half, comes across as a decent bloke trying his hardest to turn things around, with a family to support should chuck in his main source of income, primarily because his players at the moment are letting him down.

Ilkley Fax, you say the players are letting the coach down, to that extent yes you are right, the other side of the coin is the coach letting the team down by not picking the best 17, as widely regarded by most, Maizen, Doro, Inman, should all be starters and would be in most peoples team, that in itself breeds ill feeling and does not take long to spread through the whole group.I don t know if Fax have open trading sessions for fans to watch, could give some insight as to what goes on, plus the assistant coach by every bodies admission is inexperienced, senior players possibly ignore his instructions, as for the head coach having an iron fist, those days are gone, 90% of the team don t respond to that type of coaching as is obvious at present. Sad days from what looked on paper as a promising season.

Haven't seen Fax this season. The rugby you were playing last season under Grix was very easy on the eye and everyone seemed to be on the same page. When did it start to go sour? What happened immediately before? ID the latter and you MIGHT have ID-ed the cause (and see the solution).

On the sub-topic of The Shay, enjoyed my visit last year. Tenner in as the match was on Prem Sports on a pretty cold evening. Non-segregated stand with no trouble - just like the old days. Can't recall the gate though it seemed a decent turnout under the circumstances. Nice ground for its age, though yes the corner needs closing. Not sure that a little man at pitchside 'angin' numbers on 'ooks will pass as a big screen for IMG purposes either but Bongser's mention of it in his after work, melting pot of a railway station pub (Leigh fans, Wigan fans, Salford fans, a KR fan and other occasionals) the following evening was met with incredulity and threats of a visit.

Spot on. The scoreboard is an embarrassment!