The Blues Ox

Dam I was feeling that we had put together a better team than last year that could compete with this years top 2 but looks like I'm going to be way out and looks like we have slipped well and truly in to the pack.

Ex- Fax player, remember us getting 3 French youngsters who all went on to do pretty well for themselves, Anselme been one of them. I think he was also the only one of the 3 that actually played a first team game as well. In other news as rumoured, Fax have signed Jake Maizen. Happy with that signing from what I have seen of him and in a position we were light in. Certainly looking like an improvement on last years team.

Bradford still rumoured to have a few more players due in to help with their promotion push.

You just made out like you were annoyed at Huddersfield or thought they had a choice in the matter. I'm sorry if I took it that way and it wasn't your intention.

How do the Giants stop something like that from happening? The lad obviously wants to test himself in the best league in the world and will likely be paid a lot more at the same time.

I presume you must be talking to the Sheffield fans as I don't know a single Fax fan who celebrated the signing of Aston. Its a cool story though.

Thats a funny take. Ive seen him in every game for Fax this season and although I would say that the early season games on poor pitches really did not suit him, Im not seeing many games where I thought he struggled physically and if anything he seems willing to carry the ball up in bad field position more than he probably has to and again does not get noticably dominated. In defense nothing has really stood out this season where Ive thought maybe he is a bit of a weak link especially when he has spent a lot of the season defending the same side as our other apparent weak link in Joe Keyes. Attack wise his talent speaks for itself averaging more tries per game than any player in the championship that played a reasonable amount of games. As a Fax fan thought Im just happy we have someone who is probably the most exciting winger to watch since going back to our Preston & Bentley days.

I can't imagine Fev have brought him in as a first choice half. I'm a little bit surprised by this but he reminds me of a Connor Robinson type player, the talent is obviously there and has been from a young age, at least enough where a SL club want to hang on to him just incase he has a breakout but its more than likely he will bounce around Championship clubs for a couple of seasons before becoming a decent league 1 half back. Personally I just don't think he is up to the physicality of playing Championship rugby week in week out. As a local lad I really hope he proves me wrong just as long as its not against us.

Surprised at this by Fev but he has one of the best to learn from so you never know.

It seems it has been reported wrong in multiple places as the RFL said that the breaches took place over a period between 2007-2011.

This so much. Fax don't make a penny from the ground, have no money man, and our crowds are average at best yet we still are able to compete at the top end of the Championship year on year despite those handicaps so although it would be nice to see more people through the gate, its actually our sponsorship deals that allow us to be competitive.

Barrow were punished for breaches that happened from 2007-2011.

Whats the story behind this then? Not heard that before. The RFL found them guilty of cheating at the time, did this get reversed?

Eribe Doro announced at Fax. Happy with this signing and been impressed by him every time I have seen him play.

Funny you mention that but I have a Salford manual on my computer from 2000, not much in the way of plays in it but it gives a good idea about culture and nutrition etc.

Watching SL this season I can only presume that the RFL sends a generic play book out to each team at the start of the season and then all each team has to do is rename everything in it.

He obviously wanted some security so can't really blame him but I just wonder how close he is to what Fax offered him and what he wanted. He is a good signing for Sheffield but as a Fax fan its a shame he has left and I don't think his agent helped him with negotiations. Getting him to break off negotiations with Fax and wait till the end of the season gave him no chance of staying which ultimatley is what Gwaze wanted. In the mean time it looks like Fax went out and signed Doro who I think has the potential to be a lot better than Gwaze. Fax announced Ben Forster from Rochdale, I don't know much about him but he speaks well and sounds keen and I assume he is a little bit of a project player similar to Ben Tibbs.

Agree, he was one our better forwards last season so for me its a real shame he backed himself in to a corner with his contract negotiations although Im pleased for him that he got a 3 year deal as he was obviously looking for that security and most teams are not going to be giving out that length of deal to a prop. As for Sheffields other signings, 2017 called and want their players back.

Watching him every week I think he has been our best player over the season by a long distance. He is not really the type of player that I would say you pay money to watch, for me I pay to watch Jouffret and JWH as they can produce that bit of magic, but at this level Keyes does everything you expect from a half back and probably does it better than most of the other players that play that position. Im trying to think of a comparable half back partnership from the past and the one that springs to mind is Long/Martyn(Obviously gulf in class allowing) but Long able to produce the magic but its really Martyn that is running the show. Keyes does that role very well.

I imagine it will just be same again for us next season with JWH at FB, Jouffret/Keyes in the halves and Moore/Wood at 9 with Inman able to fill in for injuries. I really enjoyed the rugby we played last season so Im hoping for the same again next year. I think the replacements we are making are improvments but we have said that before. In Maher, Doro, and King adds a bit of size compared to this year but there are rumors that Arundel won't be at Fax next year which leaves us 2 centres short. With Tibbs emergence last season maybe he takes one of those spots but I imagine we are on the lookout for a good centre but Im not sure there are too many on the market but maybe an ex Leigh player may be looked at for one of those spots.

No I mean JWH. Aston was always going to move on after struggling to break the Keyes, Jouffret, JWH trio.

Im hoping this is not true, he's been really good for us this season and a key part in us playing some exciting rugby.

Will Maher confirmed to Fax. Happy with this signing didn't think he looked out of place at SL level and looks to have bulked up a bit since his last stint with us and will add some much needed size to our pack. Corey Aston confirmed leaving to take up an opportunity elsewhere. He did well for us whenever he played and never let us down but unfortunatley for him he was behind some really good players.

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A look in for what?