Grix says upcoming weekend off gives Panthers a chance to recharge their batteries ahead of the run-in

With the Panthers not traveling to Toulouse this weekend, the squad will have a chance to rest before taking on Widnes on August 22.

Scott Grix believes that winning against Newcastle was key with regards to maintaining momentum ahead of the five remaining fixtures.

He said: “We’ve had a bit of heads up that we might not be going to France for a little bit so we wanted to finish this block of games before the break unbeaten.

“For us to go nine in nine, going into the break is good. Going into a break after a loss, it’s a long couple of weeks to stew over.

“It will be nice to see what everyone else does next week while we have a little bit of a rest and then get some bodies back for an important period.”

Newcastle pushed the Panthers all the way after launching a second-half comeback.

Nevertheless, Grix was confident his side could use past experiences and hold out for the win.

He said: “I think that’s a really hard thing to do, especially from a half-backs point of view, to stick to the plan when it starts to get heated under pressure.

“But that being said, we’ve had a bit of practice at that, where we had a few close games. It puts us in good stead whenever we get a little bit under the pump that we know what the plan is, we know how to tick it off and it does make you feel a little bit better.

“Obviously we’d like to be up so we don’t get in that position. But I thought we handled it pretty well.”

Grix was also impressed with the improvement that Thunder have made over the course of the season. When the two teams met earlier in the year, Halifax ran out 32-0 winners.

He said: “They looked in a better spot. They looked like they were collectively a lot more in-sync with each other. They had a bit of adversity before the game with another half missing. They’re big bodies and they didn’t stop which made it really hard for us.”