Halifax Panthers enjoy ‘elite’ training weekend at Loughborough University

The trip, to end Fax’s second week of pre-season, aimed to “signal” the club’s “intent” in their preparations for 2024.

New CEO Damian Clayton, who joined Liam Finn and the squad for the two-day visit to Leicestershire, said:

“The intent was to take them down there into an elite, high performance environment and signal our intent right from the off with Liam, as well as an opportunity for him to get his messages across.

“They went down Saturday morning and came back Sunday afternoon and they had three field sessions. Speaking to Liam on Sunday morning, after the last session, he said with this group of players, in comparison to his last job (at Dewsbury Rams), he is at a stage now where it would have taken him eight months to get there with his previous team.

“He is going to be a different brand to Simon (Grix). He has lots of experience internationally and he played the game at the highest level. I think the Panthers supporters, and the whole club, can really look forward to a little bit of a different brand and the sharpening up of a few areas.

“It is a fresh coach to lead those players this season.”

And these training sessions are all building to Fax’s highly-anticipated festive clash with Bradford Bulls at Odsal on Christmas Eve.

“They are looking forward to getting on the field of play as a cohesive group,” Clayton revealed. “They are young professional players who just want to be out on the park and getting stuck into the opposition and proving their worth.

“We are looking forward to the Bulls encounter. Hopefully we can take a good spectator base to do it justice.”

On how he is finding his role as CEO at The Shay, Clayton added: “It’s been full on. I am still transitioning out of the Royal Air Force having served 36 years. It is very exciting. We have got lots of real impactful initiatives at the club going on that are ready to launch. It is keeping me very busy.

“The potential of what is here and the heritage of this club, we are still seen as a big player in rugby football league and I am privileged to be CEO at this stage of the club’s journey to take it forward.”