Halifax v Batley preview: Bulldogs head coach praises ‘flying Fax’ as Eastmond warns against ‘complacency’

Fax made it four wins out of four at the start of the 2025 Championship season with a splendid 38-12 victory over Featherstone Rovers at The Shay last weekend.

The Panthers are the only side in the league with a 100 per cent record, but Eastmond insists his side can’t “take their eyes off the ball,” as they look to make it five out of five against Batley.

Eastmond told the club’s media team: “This is a tough comp. If we don’t turn up or we take our eye off the ball in this league then you will get beat by anybody. That’s the way I see it.

“There won’t be any complacency from our end and we will make sure that we respect everybody, that we prepare and we try to win every game.

“Our strength is that we stick together, we buy into what we’re doing and, at the moment, it is working out for us. The challenge is, can you do that every single week? And that is what the best teams do.

“They can repeat that every training session, every game. That is what we’ll be trying to do.”

The Bulldogs enter the game at The Shay having lost for the first time in the Championship at home to York last weekend.

And head coach Mark Moxon was full of praise for the job Eastmond has done at Fax at the start of 2025.

Moxon told the Courier: “They are absolutely flying. It’s going to be a really tough challenge. Kyle has done a good job and they are certainly playing with some confidence and they have clearly got some cohesion.

“People may not have been expecting them to start the way they have but they have got a good group of players and the core has been there a long time.

“He is getting the best out of them at the moment. Confidence breeds confidence and winning breeds winning. They are certainly in that rut at the moment and it will be difficult to get them out of it.”