London Broncos v Halifax: Fax eager to end losing streak in Qualifiers

Halifax coach Richard Marshall admits his players' confidence has been 'knocked' but they are intent on avoiding two successive winless Qualifiers campaigns.
Brandon Moore of HalifaxBrandon Moore of Halifax
Brandon Moore of Halifax

They visit London Broncos tonight looking to put a dent in their Championship rivals’ promotion hopes.

Despite being competitive, part-timers Halifax have lost all six games so far in the end-of-season competition having also failed to pick up a victory in 2017.

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Undoubtedly, this campaign has been a triumph for the West Yorkshire club who finished joint-second of the regular season with full-time sides Toulouse and London.

But Marshall – whose side beat Broncos at The Shay earlier this year – said: “We want to go down there and get the job done.

“I think the players’ confidence has taken a knock over the last six weeks and while we can’t move up the table we do not want to finish on zero points.

“We’ve improved this year – we made the four against really tough opposition, we’ve developed more young players – and we’d like to be able to confirm that with a win in this phase of the competition.

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“We’ve been in with a chance at points against Toronto, Widnes, Leeds and Hull KR and if we can take the best aspects of those and combine them we’ll be in with a shout.”

Meanwhile, Marshall was stunned that Halifax hooker Brandon Moore did not win the Championship Young Player of the Year award on Tuesday.

He was beaten by dual-registered St Helens centre Matty Costello, who made 17 appearances for Sheffield Eagles and has played six times for Saints’ first team this year.

The other nominee was Leeds Rhinos’ Harry Newman, who has also played with Featherstone.

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Marshall said: “I feel strongly about that; I think Brandon should have won. He’s been in our top three performers all season, probably in our top two in the Qualifiers and maybe the top 10 in the Championship overall, regardless of age.

“I’ve nothing against any young player, but Costello and Newman are both contracted Super League players.”