T’Other Side: Halifax

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.