Grix: Our players will get chance to stake their claim
HALIFAX COACH Simon Grix will give his own players the chance to impress in the opening round of the Championship, regardless of the club’s new dual-registration agreement with neighbours Huddersfield.
Fax have tied up a unique three-way deal with the Giants and League 1 Hunslet, which will see the Super League, Championship and League 1 sides swap players on a weekto-week basis and field a jointly run reserve side, featuring developing talent from all three clubs.
The dual-registration link with the Giants will be Fax’s fourth after deals with Hull KR, Salford and Castleford.
The success of those arrangements is open to debate, with the Tigers’ 2019 injury crisis effectively wrecked any chances of consistent reinforcements as Grix’s side toiled through a disappointing season.
“There’s always a Marmite reaction to dual reg, but I hope this will be a win for all three clubs,” said Grix, who confirmed that some of the Giants reserve players were already training with Fax.
“I accept that Simon (Woolford) at the Giants will have his priorities and Gary (Thornton) at Hunslet accepts I have mine, but I’m optimistic we can build those relationships and make this a success.
“I know Andy Kelly at Huddersfield
very well and he’s as straight as they come and Luke Robinson’s over there, who obviously has Halifax connections.
“I’m also looking forward to getting to know Simon better and seeing how he does things.
“Huddersfield have good numbers in their first team squad, maybe 35 players this year, and only 17 of those can play Super League each week, which may mean some of those who aren’t playing being available to us.
“Barring injuries though, the side we start with in round one will be made up of our players.
“They’ve done the hard yards together through pre-season and they’ll get first crack.
“From that point on, what happens is very much down to them and how they perform.”
The reserve team will run out under the Giants branding, as dictated by RFL rules, but is expected to feature pooled talent when the season kicks off in February.
Reserve grade games are likely to take place at the Shay and the South Leeds Stadium as well as in Huddersfield under the three year deal, which will be ‘jointly reviewed’ at the end of 2020. Fax, forced to scrap their second-string set up in the autumn because of rising costs, had been actively searching for a workable alternative since then.
“It allows us to keep that pathway open for young players,” said Grix.“It also means those players who would otherwise be sat down at the weekend will be playing.”
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