And the Halifax coach proved as good as his word yesterday as his injury-ravaged squad homed in on the summit of National League One with a blistering annihilation of Batley on a balmy May afternoon.
Try doubles from Shad Royston and the flying Greenwoods - Miles and Lee - left the Bulldogs, who have already won at Whitehaven in 2008, clutching at shadows.
Fax took the field knowing they needed to batter the Bulldogs by a clear 55 points to leapfrog red hot favourites Salford and take over at the top of the table.
A glance at the teams before kick off - and a peek at the battery of talent sat in the dugout - suggested that was the longest of long shots.
With Paul Southern, Mike Ratu, Danny Heaton, Mick Govin and Sean Penkywicz, all out injured, the sceptics would have argued that Fax were surely going to lack the necessary firepower against their fifth-placed foes.
Apparently not.
While that's a handy quintet of absentees by anyone's standards, with the loss of Govin and Penkywicz leaving Fax with one specialist half back in Graham Holroyd and former Conference amateur Janan Billings doing 80 solo minutes at number nine, Calland's players responded superbly.
Some St Helens-esque deception with the teamsheet kept Fax's final selection secret until the game kicked off: Miles Greenwood was named at half back but played full back; Holroyd was pencilled in at stand off but slotted in at scrum half; Paul Smith was listed as the loose forward but lined up at stand off; and Shad Royston, listed as the full back, packed down at the back of the scrum.
Confusing? Slightly. Effective? Mightily.
Greenwood built on his dashing cameo at Leigh last weekend; Holroyd tormented the Bulldogs with his full arsenal of attacking tricks and kicks; Smith was inventive with the ball and smothering without it; and Royston's brace took his scoring tally to 17 - just three short of the 20 tries he plundered last year with four months of the season remaining.
There were plenty of performances to admire elsewhere too, with David Larder and David Wrench providing the industry in the front row, James Haley enjoying another near-faultless afternoon in the centre, and 20-year-old homegrown back rower Andy Bowman finally getting, and taking, a first team opportunity.
The upshot was that Fax hit one half of their target on the scoreboard, producing some scintillating attacking play in the process, with only the 14 points they conceded at the other end keeping the City Reds at the head of proceedings.
That was enough to irk Calland, but in the cold light of day, and even allowing for the quality of the opposition, the former Bradford and England back will surely recognise a performance a level above some of the chaos served up over the last couple of months.
For all the disruption, it was clear from the first minute, when Paul Smith rampaged away down the left, that Fax were hot and Batley were not.
It took seven minutes to break the deadlock, Lee Greenwood, prefered to Andy Smith on the left flank, finishing with typical style after great hands from Smith and Jon Goddard had engineered the opening.
Holroyd converted for a 6-0 lead, but it was Batley who defied the momentum of the afternoon to score next, Scott Childs taking Danny Maun's basketball style pass to cross in the corner.
Kevin King's conversion attempt drifted harmlessly wide, before Holroyd homed in mercilessly on Childs with a succession of towering, spiralling kicks.
It was from the winger's first knock on that Fax's veteran stand off sent Miles Greenwood cruising through to score Fax's second try.
And when Holroyd repeated the play a couple of minutes later, Haley, jet-heeled in similar situations at Hilton Park a week ago and just as good yesterday, who soared above the defence, plucked the ball out of the air and sent prop Dana Wilson rampaging over under the posts.
Holroyd inevitably added both conversions for an 18-4 lead, which was briefly reduced to 18-8 when Bolu Fagoborun capped a rare Batley break in the right corner.
It was Fax who had the last word before the interval though, Royston scoring after Holroyd's boot and Haley's leap created yet another chance.
At 24-8, Batley probably expected for Fax to opt for consolidation early in the second half. What they got was a daring short kick off, taken by, you guessed it, Haley, and a try within a minute of the restart, Miles Greenwood slipping over from Holroyd's delicate pass.
That was game over at 28-8, and by the 51st-minute, with visiting full back Ian Preece in the sin bin for attempting to delay a restart, Fax led 38-8, with Royston finishing brilliantly from another Holroyd chip and Damian Gibson capping some dazzling improvisation, finally taking Lee Patterson's pass to score in the corner.
The Bulldogs bit back briefly through King, but it was Fax who finished in real style, Bowman powering in 12 minutes from time, Larder storming in from half way after selling the kind of dummy that props really aren't meant to throw, and Lee Greenwood exchanging passes with Wrench on a spectacular length of the field dash.

MATCH FACTS
Halifax: Shad Royston; Lee Patterson, Jon Goddard, James Haley, Lee Greenwood; Graham Holroyd, Miles Greenwood; David Wrench, Janan Billings, David Larder, Richard Varkulis, Damian Ball, Paul Smith.
Subs: Damian Gibson, Andy Bowman, Dana Wilson, Frank Watene.
Tries: Royston (2), Lee Greenwood (2), Miles Greenwood (2), Larder, Gibson, Bowman
Goals: Holroyd (7)

Batley: Ian Preece; Scott Childs, Kevin King, Danny Maun, Bolu Fagborun; Mark Toohey, Adam Mitchell; Luke Stenchion, Kris Lythe, Anthony Henderson, Kevin Crouthers, Tim Spears, Craig Farrell. Subs: Ash Lindsay, Saquib Murtza, Stephen Brook, Jon Simpson.
Tries: Childs, Fagborun, King
Goal: Mitchell
Sin bin: Preece, 46, professional foul

Referee: Gareth Hewer (Whitehaven)

Attendance: 2,086

STARMAN
Someone once said that white men can't jump.
They obviously haven't seen James Haley recently.
Halifax's young centre has been steadily getting back to his best over the last month after a nightmare 2007, and was outstanding against the Bulldogs in attack and defence.
It is Haley's pogo-like leap that has caught the eye over the last fortnight though, with the ex-Ovenden junior emerging as the number one target for Graham Holroyd's pinpoint kicking game.
Haley is not the tallest of players, but his athleticism saw him play a significant role in four of Fax's seven tries yesterday.
It's not quite Fax's answer to the Melbourne and Australia tandem of Cooper Cronk and Israel Folau, but it's not a bad imitation.
While Haley takes three points in the season-long Star Man competition, Holroyd was hot on his heels to claim the two.
There was plenty of pressure on Fax's lynchpin yesterday, but he responded with class and composure, creating five of his side's nine touchdowns.
His kicking game was in particularly good order, with Batley withdrawing his number one target - wingman Scott Childs - early in the second half, presumably so he could get himself fitted for a hard hat before the return bout at Mount Pleasant later in the year.
The final point goes to Paul Smith, who has been just about Fax's best player over the last month.
Operating at stand off, Smith used the ball intelligently and produced the kind of defensive effort that went a long way towards shutting down Batley's right side attack.

PLAYER POINTS
James Haley 13, Paul Smith 11, Graham Holroyd 10, Sean Penkywicz 9, Craig Kopczak 8, Andy Smith 8, Lee Patterson 7, Shad Royston 5, Paul Southern 4, Jon Goddard 4, Mike Ratu 3, Dana Wilson 3, Dave Larder 3, Frank Watene 2, Andy Gorski 2, Mick Govin 2, Janan Billings 1, Miles Greenwood 1

YOU SAY
well fax cant knock that at all what a great performance ! Dave larder's face when he went over was a picture ! ackers

great performance holroyd larder haley outstandin we can win this league grebo

great rugby fax Holroyd was brill blunder

great game fax holroyd superb kicking game but cant tackle nige

STAT ATTACK
Halifax
First half
Completions: 17/20
Penalties: 2
Second half
Completions: 12/17
Penalties: 0

Batley
First half
Completions: 14/17
Penalties: 3
Second half
Completions: 10/15
Penalties: 2