‘We bought into what we needed as a team’ - Simon Grix pleased with Halifax Panthers’ 'building' in thrashing of Newcastle Thunder

The Panthers’ 42-0 hammering at the hands of the Bulldogs last weekend will go down as the side’s lowest point of the 2023 campaign to date. But, thanks to two tries apiece from Lachlan Walmsley and Matty Gee, as well as efforts from Ben Crooks, Dan Murray, Zac McComb, Ben Kavanagh and Brandon Moore, Grix’s men were able to produce a much-needed win to keep their play-off push on track.

Grix said: “I wasn’t happy with all of the game, and we started the second half poorly, but, in the first half, we bought into what we needed as a team, which is build, build, build.

“We kicked well and we got a bit of joy kicking to the corner. We need to learn how to build a game. We have got players who can do flash stuff but when the flash stuff isn’t coming off you need to learn how to build and we built quite well today.

“There were a lot of positives throughout but Newcastle are at the bottom for a reason, without meaning to be disrespectful, but if we hadn't done anything other than put a score on them today then I am sure there would have been more questions. We did that bit.

“I am happy with the building element of our game and hopefully that is something we can take with us moving forward.”

Although Newcastle scored two quick tries at the start of the second half, Fax had produced three rapid scores themselves in an eight-minute spell at the end of the first half - including a stunning pass from Ben Crooks to Lachlan Walmsley for his 29th try of the season - which put them in the ascendancy. And after licking their wounds from the Thunders’ thunderous start to the second half, five further Fax tries put the icing on the cake.

“We probably earnt the right to do that little flash bit (Crooks pass to Walmsley) because we had spent enough time building the game,” Grix revealed. “Crooksy was really good. I think he has been a really good addition for us. He is experienced and the more we get into games and build them, the more we will see his qualities come out.

“That was a good bit of skill. And there was quite a lot of it across the board and we scored some alright tries. The building bit is the most pleasing thing for me.”

He added: “I thought we earnt them (the tries at the end of the first half). We built, completed and played at the right end of the field. Their tries were disappointing - kicked tries, ricochet-typed stuff going on in the middle. You can prevent them which is the disappointing bit.

“We got a zero put on us last week and it felt pretty awful. It would have been nice to put one on Newcastle but we lost that within the first few minutes of the second half which was disappointing.

“I thought it took us about 15 minutes to recover from that. We were a bit all over the shop from there. But we found a way, got in the groove a little bit, put them under pressure and they got a sin bin which opened it up a little bit more, and fatigue, in the end, had its say. We have been on the end of that say quite often to be fair, especially last week. So for us to be in the ascendancy at the end was good.

“We are capable of doing that but from where we’ve been seven days ago, everyone thinks it is the end of the world. It just shows how fast it can change in rugby league, and in sport. I remember a famous coach saying, ‘what are you going to do next week?’ It only took us seven days to be that bad, hopefully it will only be seven days to get better.”

Grix admitted there was “adversity” before the game as James Woodburn-Hall, who was due to start at scrum-half, with Brandon Pickersgill at full-back, exited the warm-up with a concerning back issue. His injury, however, allowed Tom Inman to produce a man of the match performance.

“There was a little bit of adversity pre-game when Woodburn-Hall went down but Tom Inman, who wasn’t going to play, was chucked in and did a really good job for us,” Grux said.

“Every one of them wants to play every week and none of them take it particularly well when they don’t play, as you can imagine. But he trained fine knowing he wasn’t playing and to jump in and do that job was really good. He showed some energy and I thought he was pretty good and pretty solid. He defended okay as well.

“I am happy for Tom because he’s a young kid and, like all the others, wants to play every week. He’s got three other players - Kyle Wood, Brandon Moore and Adam O’Brien - in the mix who are tough bodies around him to be competing against. It is not going to go his way every week.

“But he has been pretty good at understanding that. There is a lot of impatience in youth but he showed a lot of maturity today and some good character too. He has turned around from getting the news on Friday, and told you’re not playing, and put in 80 minutes and a decent shift. He put a good job in for the team today.”

On Woodburn-Hall’s injury and Pickersgill performance, Grix said:

“Woody’s back has been locking up, on and off, for about a week and half and he’s just twisted in the warm up and it locked right up. Despite the doc’s and the physio’s best efforts, it’s just one of those where when it goes, it goes and you can’t really do much but rest. We’ll look after him.

“The bloke that stepped in for him at full-back had a really good game. Pickers has found minutes hard to come by because, for me, Woodburn-Hall is, arguably, the best full-back in the league and I have got a lot of trust in Woody hence why he’s kept going when there might be a thought we should be changing stuff when we haven’t been getting the results.

“But he’s been patient and shown a great attitude and I thought he played well today. There were some good signs. He has improved a hell of a lot since coming to us and I am really happy for Pickers.”