A lot has changed since Halifax last beat St Helens.
You have to go all the way back to 1998, when Halifax were at the peak of their powers as far as the Super League era goes.
Fax finished third in Super League that year, eventually losing in the play-offs to their opponents at the weekend.
However, it’s not hard to see why John Pendlebury’s side were at the height of the competition given some of the stars in this team!
1 Jamie Bloem – After a spell as a referee, Bloem is now coaching Greetland All Rounders alongside another former Fax player, Andy Hobson.
2 Fereti Tuilagi – One of Fax’s favourite players ever, the man known as ‘Freddie’ is now the CEO of Rugby League Samoa. He’s also an after-dinner speaker.
3 Damian Gibson – After spending some time coaching, ‘Gibbo’ is now a personal trainer and recently was the lead trainer for the Home Run Project, which saw people associated with homelessness complete the Great North Run. He also works as a pundit for BBC Radio Leeds.
4 David Bouveng – The Aussie centre is back down under these days and keeping a low profile, but is fondly remembered among Fax fans.
5 Daio Powell – The former Welsh international hasn’t been heard of much since ending his career with Keighley in 2001.
6 Chris Chester – It wasn’t hard to track down this man. At the time he was a very talented, up and coming halfback. Nowadays, he’s the head coach of Wakefield Trinity.
7 Gavin Clinch – Few will forget ‘Clinch The Pinch’ who was the master of the one-on-one ball steal. He’s now working in the sport back in Australia and was influential in his former club signing Mitch Cahalane and Adam Tangata many years ago.
8 Karl Harrison – Rhino is the most recent inductee in Fax’s hall of fame. After going on to coach the club, along with spells at Salford and Batley, he is now a player agent.
9 Paul Rowley – Another popular member of the squad who went into coaching. Rowley is currently out of the game after coaching Toronto Wolfpack but can be heard summarising for the BBC.
10 Kelvin Skerrett – A love to hate figure during his playing days, Skerrett was never far from trouble. You’ll have all seen the now-infamous “I can’t speyk” clip featuring Mick Morgan’s commentary. The man who provided the forearm smash? Skerrett.
11 Gary Mercer – Another former favourite, Mercer went on to coach the club before a spell at Oldham too. After a brief spell coaching rugby union side, Yorkshire Carnegie, he is now coaching in Scotland.
12 Des Clark – Made a big impact in his two years at Halifax before returning to Australia. Nowadays, he owns his own concrete pumping company in his home country.
13 Martin Moana – Hugely influential in Fax’s success back in 1998, he continued to play until the end of 2009. Today, he works for Sky Sports as part of their production team.
Subs:
14 Martin Pearson – The cunning halfback was better known as ‘Pee Wee’. The former Wales international still lives in West Yorkshire and works in the food industry.
15 Richard Marshall – Yes, as in the former Halifax coach Richard Marshall… who will take on his former club as St Helens assistant on Saturday!
16 Carl Gillespie – After retirement, Gillespie went on to coach local rugby union side Heath, while away from the game, he went to work in the fire service.
17 Oli Marns – The winger still lives in Halifax and has a law degree!
