Since we played them at Spotland, Halifax seem to have got their unconvincing Championship challenge back on track, though gifting Workington their NINTH bonus point of the season in an 18-10 win last week suggests that they flatter to deceive.
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| A baaa-d view at Halifax: but we are not sheep. |
Having come back from a 10-nil deficit (including a try within a minute) 'Fax eventually scrambled home. Coach Karl Harrison blamed the previous game against Leigh and an escalating injury list for his side's low-key performance.
Speaking in the Halifax Courier this week, he said:
“We were down to the bare bones in terms of players; they were the 17 we had fit and Adam Robinson was 18th man after 12 weeks out. We’ve got a lot of busted players; it turned out that Gareth Potts played 55 minutes at Leigh with a broken ankle. Paul Mennell is probably the closest to coming back for Sunday, but we’ll have to assess things this week.
One player who looks increasingly likely to miss the cut is second-rower Dane Manning, Charged with a Grade E shoulder charge and Grade D striking offence from the Leigh game. A call of guilty on both counts could see him staring down the barrel of a 12 week suspension. But Harrison is convinced of his innocence: "
“I’ve watched it from different angles," he said, "some of which are more conclusive than others… it’s clearly not a shoulder charge, it’s a pushing motion to the chest… we’ve got a solicitor involved…" Right.
However it plays out, Hornets need to find a performance that lifts confidence. As Workington have shown, you might lose a lot, but losing well can pay dividends. Having effectively grabbed three wins' worth of points from losing, Town are a walking embodiment of why performances more than results pay off at this level.
We've often said here that, when the chips are down, good teams find a way to win. But if we can't do that, we need to find a way to lose well.
See you at the Shay on Sunday - even though it's one of our least favourirte grounds for away supporters. In typical dumb-ass Yorkshire fashion, Halifax like to corral fans behind the posts where you can see feck-all. Given that we don't want act in such a sheeplike fashion, we'll (hopefully) be in the main stand. Let's try and get together, make some noise and get behind Tol and the lads.
CONTROVERSIAL REFEREEING APPOINTMENT FOR SUNDAY
We've just seen this:
And we remember this:
So we'd ask this:
How is it possible that a referee who used to play for Halifax and still lives in Halifax can officiate a game involving Halifax - at the Shay? Some mistake surely?
RFL Match Preview
Halifax coach Karl Harrison is forced into making at least one change to his starting line-up after second-row forward Dane Manning was given a 10-match ban earlier this week.
Manning was found guilty of grade E intentional striking and grade D sustained punching, and received five-match suspensions for each offence.
The news comes as a further blow to Harrison, whose side is already struggling with injuries. Gareth Potts (broken ankle) is the latest to be sidelined.
Harrison said: “We’ve so many people out at the moment, but that’s rugby league and that’s why you’ve got a squad.”
In contrast Rochdale Hornets coach Ian Talbot has reported a “clean bill of health, other than our long-term injuries” ahead of Sunday’s Kingstone Press Championship clash.
Talbot has called for his team to increase their concentration for the trip to the Shay.
Talbot said: “At the minute we’re making far too many errors with and without the ball, and we’re getting punished for them.
