IT’S been a winter of turmoil at Halifax, whose well-publicised financial difficulties saw them hit with another winding-up order from HMRC.
The club have had to cut their cloth since revealing the scale of their debt and appealing for urgent help, and as such expectations are fairly low as focus turns back onto the field.
Left-field coach appointment Kyle Eastmond will have his work cut out with a squad of just 20 players at the time of writing.
Departures like Joe Keyes and Matty Gee, who have both moved to neighbours Bradford, won’t help a team that was in real relegation danger for much of last season under Huddersfield-bound Liam Finn.
Of five new faces, four were poached from relegated sides – Ronan Dixon, Brad Graham, Owen Restall (all Dewsbury) and Owen McCarron (Whitehaven) – alongside halfback Jack Hansen from Sheffield.
Survival, in more ways than one, will be the aim of the game this season.
Watch out for… The coaching style of Kyle Eastmond in his first such role. He brings a rich bank of experience, as both player and coach, from across both codes of rugby, although his only 13-a-side involvement since 2011 came with two appearances for Leeds and a short spell as a mentor of young players at Warrington. Eastmond has promised to entertain but his team is an exciting unknown for now.
Squad: 1 Louis Jouffret, 2 Ben Tibbs, 3 Charlie Graham, 4 Ben Crooks, 5 James Saltonstall, 6 James Woodburn-Hall, 7 Jack Hansen, 8 Brandon Douglas, 9 Adam O’Brien, 10 Joe Hird, 11 Owen McCarron, 12 Adam Tangata, 13 Jacob Fairbank, 14 Tom Inman, 15 Connor Davies, 16 Ronan Dixon, 17 Will Calicot, 18 Owen Restall, 19 Zack McComb, 20 Brad Graham.
Rugby League World predicts: 9th
First published in Rugby League World magazine, Issue 505 (February 2025)
