T’Other Side: Halifax
Head Coach: Richard Marshall
Now
into his third year as coach at Halifax, after a widely acknowledged highly
successful first year but last year did not go quite so well.
His playing career started at Halifax where he spent six
seasons. When he left Fax he had spells at Huddersfield-Sheffield Giants,
London Broncos, Leigh Centurions and Swinton, retiring in 2007. He played two games for Ireland in the 2003
European Nations Cup. Richard’s playing position was prop or second row.
Captain: Scott Murrell
Scott Murrell is without doubt the real controlling force on the
pitch for Halifax. He clearly commands huge respect from the other Halifax
players. He started his career with Leeds Rhinos but made his first team debut
for London Broncos in 2004 whilst on loan from Leeds. In 2006 he moved to Hull
Kingston Rovers who were, at that time, in National League One. After securing
promotion to the Super League at the end of that season he remained with Hull
KR for a further 6 seasons before signing for Halifax in 2013. In 2010 he made
an appearance off the bench for England.
UP FRONT
Halifax have a powerful set of forwards. Ryan Boyle brings a great deal of Super League experience to the
pack having played with Castleford and Salford from 2005 to 2016 before coming
on loan to Halifax in May last year and then signing for them for 2017. He has
also played for England U18 and Ireland. Mitch
Cahalane is an Australian who came up through the Penrith Panthers system.
He joined Halifax in 2015 and has been an ever present on the starting team so
far this season. A third, rather younger, prop who more often starts on the
bench is Elliot Morris who made his
first grade debut last year.
Ed Barber is a regular in the side, usually
in the second row but sometimes at centre. Before joining Fax in 2015 he had
played for Dewsbury and Swinton. In 2011 he played for Western Suburbs Magpies
in Australia. First choice hooker is Ben
Kaye, well known to Fev fans. Ben started at Leeds and played for England
U18s in 2007. Michael Sio joined
Halifax on loan from Wakefield in early July. Most often he plays in the second
row or at loose forward but in the last match he deputised for Scott Murrell at
stand-off. He has played six times for Samoa.
IN THE HALVES
Usually partnering Scott Murrell (see above) in the halves is Ben Johnston. He wears #1, the original
plan presumably being for him to play at fullback. However, Will Sharp has
taken over the fullback position and Ben regularly playing at scrum-half. He
began his career at Castleford and also played for York and Dewsbury before
joining Fax last year. Halifax also have Morgan
Punchard, an exciting 18 year old, who joined them from Lock Lane ARL to
play in their reserve side. An indication of the benefits that Fax have accrued
by continuing to run a reserve team. Punchard also plays at hooker.
AT THE BACK
This season, former Fev favourite Will Sharp has been the regular fullback. He is Nigerian born and
started his career with Harlequins RL before joining Fev. He has twice made
representative appearances for Cumbria. Steve
Tyrer is the leading try scorer with 17 and has also taken all 145 goal kicks so far this year,
kicking 108 and giving him 284 points. Winger, Rob Worrincy is one of those players who can be absolutely
brilliant but is also prone to making some pretty awful errors, a number of
which have been to the benefit of Fev over the years. He is yet another who
began with Castleford and since then he played for Sheffield, Halifax, back to
Sheffield and returned to Halifax this season.
Ben Heaton began his career with Oldham in
2009. After three seasons he moved to Halifax and has been at Fax ever since
apart from a short loan spell with Batley in 2014. Playing either at centre or
on the wing he is a prolific try scorer. In the first two rounds of the
qualifiers he scored all 6 of Halifax’ tries! Second highest try scorer this
year with 14 is winger James Saltonstall.
He is a product of the Warrington academy but never played in their first team.
He went to York on loan in 2014 and joined Halifax in 2015. Whilst at
Warrington he played for the England Academy and has since played
internationally for Italy. James
Woodburn-Hall usually plays in the three-quarters but has made occasional
appearances at stand-off. He is a Londoner and started at the Broncos. Before
joining Halifax in 2016 he also played for London Skolars and Hemel Stags.
The
Fev connection
In the Fax squad are two players who have played
for Rovers. Ben Kaye was a very
popular hooker for three years. Will
Sharp was a great favourite during his time with Fev from 2013 to 2015. He
scored many crucial tries including the last minute ones against Sheffield
which took Fev into the play-offs in 2013 and the one which beat Batley in 2015
when Fev snatched victory by scoring 22 points in the last six minutes!
In the Rovers squad are three players who have
played at Halifax. Richard Moore was
there in 2015 and 2016 and Anthony
Thackeray in 2012 and 2013. Sam Brooks began his career at Halifax in 2014,
joining then from the Wigan academy.
Fev Players: Representative Honours (Age Group Teams)
