Fax sign Tigers prop Douglas on long term loan deal

Halifax have signed the Castleford prop Brandon Douglas on a season-long loan ahead of Sunday's Championship contest against Rochdale at the Shay (3.0).

Douglas, a 20 year old front rower who lives in Shelf, had been at Dewsbury on dual-registration and played against Fax in both the recent league fixtures between the two teams.

“Brandon lives locally and is well thought of at Castleford; they see him as a player for the future at Super League level,” said Marshall, who recently released another prop, Luke Ambler, from the remainder of his contract.

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“He has played against us twice recently and I thought he was probably Dewsbury’s best player at the Shay.

“I’ve had a good chat with Daryl Powell about him and all being well he’ll be with us until the end of the season.

“He’ll train with us on Thursday and Friday this week and we’ll assess whether we use him against Rochdale on Sunday.”

If Douglas does play against Hornets, he might not be the only front rower on debut, with Salford giant Daniel Murray and teammate Adam Walne also in the frame on dual-registration.

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“I’ve discussed a couple of Salford players with Ian (Watson) and we’ll probably take one of them,” said Marshall, who worked with Murray - who had an impressive loan spell at Bradford earlier in the year - at Warrington.

Marshall also hopes to have the outstanding Simon Grix back in harness for the first time since Good Friday, opening up a number of selection options at centre and back row.

“Simon’s close to playing and if he comes through a full week of training he’ll come back in,” said Marshall, who expects a determined challenge from Rochdale as Fax look to recover from their Cup loss at Featherstone 10 days ago.

“Rochdale have been close to a lot of teams without quite results, but they play a fast, expansive game and they can rattle teams.

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“Our discipline wasn’t good enough at Featherstone, which contributed to us making over 400 tackles.

“We defended very well, but you can’t spend that much time without the ball and expect to win.

“With that workload, you would probably expect the final scoreline to be bigger than it was.

“We need to get back on track on Sunday.”