Oldham are pushing fev at the big fellas, Swinton having a go at Dewsbury, there's no easy beats this season.

We've definitely taken major steps backwards since the middle 8s and have a much weaker team. Where did the cash go? Other clubs that gain lower attendances have recruited well whereas we don't appear to have recruited at all - we needed more than the two or three that came in!

Think we're gonna be battling away at the bottom but hope not - thank god Bradford have the -12 it might be closer!

I hate making posts like this, this early in the season and perhaps shouldn't have, but I don't feel we've moved since the disastrous end to last season. Any thoughts fellow Fax fans?

Bradford lost to Rochdale definitely no easy teams this year. Except maybe us

I've said in previous posts we'll be fighting relegation. Our recruitment has been poor. It seems pretty obvious the club has very little money.

Season Ticket sales decline year on year.
Not a good time to be a Fax fan

So where did the cash go? Paying off Abbott? Paying off debts? Maybe we wouldn't have had a club if we hadn't made middles 8s!

Shouldn't speculate but it seems Abbott took his bat and ball home when he didn't get the shay....

All the clubs in the championship, bar Sheffield and Bradford, have strengthened their squads. What has happened?

Morgan Punchards dad is not best pleased on Fax's Facebook page....

I asked these questions about Finance and recruitment in November and I was told on a number of forums "our board know what they are doing" and "our recruit will be fine". There were even people suggesting my prediction of a top six Finnish being beyond us as "rubbish" and worse words!

We get no answers and we will now get a big appeal to get behind Fax against Sheffield. Well I will support the team, but I think fans need an explanation of what "living within our means" really looks like and where the heck funds have been spent.

2nd game in and we seem to have already lost that enthusiasm that we said was missing last year but were told we had found again in the close season. Blown away by half time and if we are honest that should have happened last week as well.

I'm also not sure what we plan in training. And we just seem to go through the same motions on the field regardless of who we play. We clearly didn't have a plan for the conditions and we don't seem to watch the opposition and try to either attack their weaknesses or nullify their threats.

Just to put in perspective we have just played the top two part time teams from last year. One we haven't beaten at home since 2008 in a league fixture and another who beat Leigh in their first game at home last season.
The middle 8's of 2015/16 season has long gone-we need to move on and concentrate on getting out of the hole we are currently in.
Confidence is massive in sport and I can't remember the last time Fax won a game (inc trial games) The coaching staff and players will be feeling that more than anyone.
Time to roll our sleeves up and start planning for the Sheffield game.20+ games left yet.
Plenty time to put things right.

That was one of the most inept and gutless performances that I have seen from a Fax team in years. Not much more to say really.

That was the worst £17 I've ever spent, frozen to the bones watching one of the most dire performances I've seen in many a year. I really thought we would be nilled. On a side issue that was a dreadful performance by the match officials. No sour grapes and had no bearing on the match, I don't think we could have done anything with the two 40/20's that was waved away. Jeeze it's going to be a long season....

We seemed to be intent on playing "safe" one-man rugby and build pressure... seems a good idea and that's what Batley did... problem is, we kept on making mistakes and giving penalties away regardless.

There were probably two very well matched teams out there today, but we got it horribly wrong.

Said before that we would struggle this season. Batley won't be a patch on last years team this season. Our player recruitment for the past 2 seasons has been shocking with many not even lasting the season.

Can someone tell me why we have given a contract to Mammone and not a trial like London did. Surely you give a player you've not seen play or train a trial before signing them up and having to fork out for expenses like accommodation.

Also a few players have come back unfit and it's obvious which is affecting their performance. How can a coach not notice and just let it carry on.

Moore went missing today big style, our forwards got owned again and our discipline was shocking.

Lose 1 of the next 2 games and we are in for a bum clenching season. Theres just no creativity or attack.

Jonno made a difference when he came on. Scott will always struggle on a pitch like that nowadays, but Gaz was pretty anonymous today. A really quiet game from Adam? I thought Wilkinson distributed the ball fairly quickly, but did not much else. Batley wanted it more than us, and the celebration when Manu scored reminded me of how Fax used to be in 2015.

Tbh though, the course that our season will go can't be measured by one performance on a dire day on a muddy field in Batley. If we're still on zero points in 7 days then the alarm bells will really be ringing though.

Btw, it really annoys me when we get a penalty and we seem to think that there's some advantage kicking to touch as quickly as possible. Especially on a day like today, every yard matters, and a measured kick rather than a hurried hack is surely better? We only gained a couple of yards forward for one of our penalties today.

The whole situation is just embarrassing. Those that bury their heads in the sand will say we had a few players out. It goes much, much deeper than that. Everything we do is on the cheap. It has been since we recruited Faz. Half hearted Halifax with absolutely no ambition. The Club's owners seem to be happy with just plodding along like an old gentleman's club and everything is fine. The DR deal is shameful and the repercussions of it are already starting to show. As said previously, I hate to post this stuff but I just can't see where we go from here. Oh, for a David Brooke again. Ambition wise at least.

The class of 2017, where do we start.

We were 2nd best in every department today. Aggression, size, discipline, skill levels, decision making, effort.
Batley wanted it more, bullied us up front and executed far better.

No less than 100% effort, discipline and bravery will do, were not good enough to play any other way.

Positives, we kicked ok in the second half.