Halifax happy with ‘underused’ dual reg partnership wtih Hull KR
Halifax coach Richard Marshall feels that his club might have underused their dual registration partnership with Hull KR this season.
Fax are set to travel to east Hull to face Rovers this weekend, and Marshall is relatively happy with the way the relationship worked out over the course of 2015.
“When we discussed the dual reg partnership at the start of the season, I had a chat with Chris Chester, I know Chris very well,” he explained to Love Rugby League.
“I said that there was a reality that we might be playing each, and we discussed that, and we’re fine.
“It’s had its pluses and it’s had its minuses as well.
“I don’t think we’ve utilised it enough. We had Connor Robinson, who we’ve now signed, he went off contract so we snapped him up – great kid.
“Jordan Cox had one game for us.
“So, unlike other teams in our division, we’ve not abused it. We’ve utilised it, in effect, when we’ve needed to.
“We haven’t got a reserve grade, and we haven’t got an academy.
“We get three or four injuries, and we’re down to our last 20 players.
“So fingers crossed that we stay injury-free.”
Halifax have also avoided the rush of new signings that other clubs have made heading into the Super 8s section of the season.
Marshall feels that some kind of soccer-style transfer window deadline day frenzy will soon come to rugby league, albeit on a more lowkey level.
“That January transfer window in soccer is manic,” he added.
“It gets more attention than the actual end of the season.
“I’m not a great soccer fan, but I find even I watch it to find who’s going where.
“I think that happened on a smaller extent [in rugby league].
“It could go to that.”
Whether or not a deadline day frenzy comes into our game, Marshall and Halifax are unlikely to be drawn into it too much.
The club at the moment has other priorities, as it looks to build some strong fundamentals for a proper crack at Super League.
“We’re building for the future,” Marshall said.
“We could have gone and got six players, we know that we’re going to get a bit more money next year.
“But we’re not going to do that. We’re going to invest in the infrastructure, the office, the admin, the reserve grade – they’re the things I think we need before we can push on.”