Grix admits Fax were ‘soundly beaten’ by rampant Rovers

Fax, however, were unable to build on their opening day win at home to Sheffield Eagles, as Sean Long’s men proved too strong in what was largely a one-sided contest, despite two tries apiece for Lachlan Walmsley and James Woodburn-Hall.

Asked what his thoughts were in the aftermath of the 46-22 defeat at the Millennium Stadium, Grix said:

“Soundly beaten, too little, too late. There are positives within but I think you have just got to give yourself the best chance possible and that is by looking after the things that you are in control of against teams such as Featherstone.

“Our completions were poor and when we did complete our possessions were just poor at the start of the game. We didn’t challenge them enough. The end of the game was how I wanted the beginning of the game to look where we were moving the ball around and stretching them.

“They are a really big team and a quality team and if you try to lump it out through the middle, which is easy to fall into, then you are going to come out second best.

“We decided with the team selection to try and play like that, what you saw at the end of the game and really challenge them and move them around and get some metres through the legs laterally, as well as up and down the pitch.

“So it’s a mixed bag of a performance. But, realistically, and no disrespect to Sheffield last week, we were a mixed bag last week and we got away with it. You’re not getting away with it in these games. We just need to be a bit tougher.”

Kevin Larroyer and Jacob Fairbank were promoted from the bench from the Sheffield win while Ryan King, who signed from Whitehaven on a two-year deal, made his debut, as Grix tweaked his line-up.

On his team selection, the head coach revealed:

“I brought Ryan King in as I didn’t think Will (Maher) was the right horse for this course, and moved Matty Gee to the bench with Fairbank and Larroyer to start. The idea behind that was we were never going to match them for size, so let’s just try and compete. Let’s compete on the physical element but on the other side of the ball, I put my trust in three older heads to get the plan done.

“Unfortunately, Bob (Jacob Fairbank) got cleaned up early doors through putting his head on the wrong side and we lose a bit of that. Losing Bobby early didn’t help us, off with concussion, and didn’t help the plan we wanted to do.

“But we just didn’t get into it. That was the thought behind it, getting Kingy in for a start and having a mobile team as opposed to having a failing attempt to meet them in size. That was the idea and it looked alright at the end of the game, but in the key parts of the game that mattered it didn’t.

“But I’ve got no complaints. There are teams who will come here this year and they will be on heavier scorelines than that I’d imagine.”

Praising Featherstone, Grix added:

“I did watch a bit of it (Fev’s televised victory over Keighley). I thought they were in second gear which is a scary prospect for us all I suppose who are not in their league at the moment.

“But, at the end of the day, all of us are trying to bridge the gap. They have done a great job here at Featherstone for a long time in terms of owning their own ground and making money, which is then transferred to pitch.

“The difference between the teams is probably a little bit of effort and attitude at times but a lot of it is probably because of the calibre of player they’ve got, a bit better than us and when they play like a collective they are a strong force.

“And if you give them all the possession and field position like they had then it is a tough ask for anyone. We just need to make sure that we learn a lesson from it. We talk about it every time we play against them, do our bit, play our way, give yourself a chance - but we have yet to give ourselves that chance.

“That’s the frustrating thing for me - we can talk about believing and talk about coming here and playing brave. But you can talk about it until you are blue in the face. You have actually got to come and do it. I am disappointed we didn’t have enough about us to make sure we got our bit done.

“I don’t want to harp on too much about when I played but when I was here we got a couple of good wins here. That was probably just before Fev started to invest a bit more and getting away.

“It is a really good place to play and there is always a good atmosphere. It is always a tough game regardless of the scoreline.

“But it’s round two, the toys aren’t going out of the pram. We will have a good look at it, an honest look at it, review it, and try our best to fix what we can in a week where we have three hours on our feet - it’s not a lot to fix all of the problems but we will focus on a couple of things and move forward.”