And the signed contracts were piling up in the outgoing post tray for despatch to RFL headquarters.

Lest we forget, Halifax had been relegated from Super League only a matter of weeks earlier.

Players had left of course.

Lads like Ryan Clayton, Stuart Donlan, Neil Harmon, Andy Hobson and Johnny Lawless would all need replacing for a variety of reasons for a first season in National League One.

Recruitment had started the previous month in October 2003 when Phil Cantillon and Jamie Bloem both signed.

But it was in the middle of November that the trickle of signings became a flood as Tony Anderson and football manager (later to be director) Paul Dixon spent hours on the phone and watching agent supplied dvds.

Plot night saw Alan Hadcroft arrive from Leigh which was a bit of a coup.

The centre had been one of the league's most consistent players but was a trifle frustrated with life at his hometown club. Strangely enough (considering the way that he been shown the door himself in 1998) his best mate Craig Dean gave the club a good reference.

No one could accuse "Haddy" of not being dedicated to the cause and at one stage he moved across the Pennines and installed himself in a flat in Boothtown, but a shoulder problem would eventually dog him.

The club then announced that Chris Morley had signed from Oldham and that Mark Moxon had arrived to try and fill that problematic number seven shirt.

"TA" had actually wanted him seven years previously. "Mocko" had been 15 at the time and playing for the Wakefield Schools team but he opted to sign for Huddersfield instead.

And there was Pat Weisner.

Like Hadcroft he had spent 2003 at Hilton Park but had surprisingly been released by the Centurions.

Anderson had been interested in Weisner 12 months previously when he had first come over from Australia and Gavin Clinch had given back word on his decision to stay at the Shay.

Halifax were suffering from a distinct credibility problem Down Under at the time though thanks the controversy surrounding the futures of Brett Goldspink, Robbie Beckett and Colum Halpenny.

But where was Weisner?

The Leigh club professed to have no contact numbers for him although he was still believed to be in the town.

With the help of, among others, Evening Courier rugby league writer James Roberts, he was eventually tracked down and signed before going back home on holiday.

And in the next two days David Bates, Jon Roper and Richard Smith had all agreed to sign contracts as well.

This frenetic activity meant that there were some bodies in the gym other than Academy ones when pre-season training started the following week!