Fresh Fax ready for Sheffield
Halifax coach Richard Marshall belives that a tough start against Sheffield Eagles can give his side’s Championship Shield campaign some initial momentum.
Fax welcome the Eagles to The Shay with Marshall hoping that his team can pick up some silverware at the end of the season.
They will have to do without loose forward Jacob Fairbank, who is absent with damaged medial ligaments.
“We did have some time off last week with a view to freshening up for this game and obviously the next journey in the Championship,” he said.
“It’s one that we’re looking forward to. We weren’t happy where we finished up but we’ve got to make the best of it now, as every other team has to in the competition.
“Obviously there are still some good teams in the competition. It would be great to get to the final. To pick up some silverware would be fantastic for the club – it would soften the blow of not making the top four certainly.
“We’ve got a tough start to this campaign against Sheffield but we’d probably prefer it that way to get some momentum.
“We’ve got points which we’ve accrued through the season due to the good work of the players but we don’t want to rely on that, we want to kick on now and start the Shield with the right attitude and mindset.”
Sheffield coach Mark Aston feels that his team have started to generate some much needed confidence in recent weeks.
“It’s always good to get a bit of time away and freshen the boys up,” he said.
“We’ve come back into training this week with a lot more purpose. We’ve got a bit of confidence, a bit of belief out of our last performances and hopefully we can push on now and put some of the wrongs right.
“It’s a big game. Between us, Halifax and Bradford people would probably expect a couple of them to get through to the final. It’s a big task and it’s at their ground. They’ll be as disappointed as us that they didn’t achieve the top four.
“We can’t look back, we’ve got to look forward and focus on the next nine weeks to get something out of the season. Halifax will be disappointed and will be trying to put it right on Sunday.”