That was during the early to mid-1990's, before the advent of full-time rugby league, when the working week was to routinely train Tuesday and Thursday nights and do Sunday game preparation on Saturday mornings.
So at around 9.30am on Saturdays, Thrum Hall would echo to the usual banter then the clattering sound of studs going down the corridor and outside onto the pitch.
It wasn't always a long session.
Roger Millward in particular always liked to say you were far better off having 30 minutes of quality preparation then calling it a day as opposed to dragging it out and seeing things deteriorate.
Anyway, a group of senior players got into the habit of bringing their sons with them and depositing said lads in the kit room with Uncle Stan whilst they went about their business.
In this gang you could normally find Lloyd Bentley, Ryan Fieldhouse and, later on, Zak Schuster and Bryan Tuilagi.
Plus a youngster called Ross Divorty.
Strange, because most people's recollections are that the latter showed little inclination to play with a rugby ball yet there he was last Sunday, turning out for York City Knights against his dad Gary's old club….
There wasn't much chance of attracting Divorty jnr to Halifax during his time as a schools international despite the fact that Paul Dixon, a close family friend, was Football Director at Fax at the time, as the lad basically had a choice of going full time at Hull or Leeds.
Divorty senior arrived at Thrum Hall in a hectic weekend in August 1992 when his lad was just two.
The club had re-established itself in the First Division the previous season and expectations were high, but there was a conspicuous lack of transfer activity.
With Millward and Football Director Robert Atkinson both in Australia following the Lions tour – and having as their number one priority signing Featherstone scrum half Deryck Fox - the only forms signed were by Siddal juniors Johnny Lawless and Richard Smith. Another was rejected by a youthful Graham Holroyd…..
Halifax were due to play Bradford in mid-August and suddenly things sprang into action.
Paul Bishop turned up on the Friday afternoon to sign a couple of days after Fox had decided to sign for Northern.
He was reluctant to leave St Helens but Mike McLennan told him bluntly that he had no future at Knowsley Road so we saw the start of an interesting couple of seasons round the base of the scrum.
And, two hours before the kick-off with Bradford, Divorty and John Bentley turned up for talks.
Director Mike Ellis obviously said all the right things because the contracts were soon drawn up and signed with the players being introduced on the pitch shortly before the game.
The strange thing about the deal was that Leeds were paid £100,000 for the pair with Seamus McCallion also moving to Headingley but no-one could give a precise valuation of either player.
Divorty was consistent for over three years before moving to Hull and, although a specialist loose forward in the days when such animals existed, he also turned out at stand-off and fullback in various injury crises.