Simon Grix: “A difficult place to play”

Fax got their 2023 Championship campaign off to a winning start by edging past Sheffield Eagles 26-18 at The Shay last Sunday, before Sean Long’s Fev side easily swept aside newly-promoted Keighley Cougars, 50-0, on Monday.

And Grix knows his men are in for a challenge when they visit the Millenium Stadium, kick off 4pm.

He said: “It is a difficult place to play, particularly when it is heavy under foot. But if you manage the pitch and control the ball, then you will give yourself an opportunity.

“But they are a big side and they have had a few good performances in pre-season. They are under new coaches in Sean and Leon (Pryce) who have got their idea of playing.

“It will be a bit different and it will be more expansive and they can use their bigger bodies probably in a better fashion. We will certainly need to be better in certain aspects than we were against Sheffield.

“In the second half (against Sheffield), we took two points and they scored immediately - that is an unwritten rule, you do not let that happen. That was a bit disappointing. Some of that comes down to concentration and a bit of fatigue.

“But if that performance on Sunday was a ten out of ten I’d be scratching my head as to where we would get our improvement. There is plenty to work on but lots of positives as well.”

With the season finally getting underway, Grix believes the level of competition in the league is stronger and insists teams, coaches and players will have a better understanding of their competitors' performances over the next few weeks.

“You get to six games in and the teams you thought were going to be great are not or vice versa,” he said. “I do think we have got a better level of competition across the board to be honest.

“But we will all have our problems along the way - form, injuries, pitches. Our pitch held up alright against Sheffield but that will be the last time you see it with grass on it for a little while!

“There are loads of factors as to why teams live up to their potential, or live up to the chat, but we will let the people who are paid to talk about that.

“We will just worry about getting our training right and then hopefully we will be somewhere near ready for the game at Fev.”