Steve Tyrer says Halifax need to improve discipline ahead of Featherstone clash

The Halifax centre feels that they have gave away too many “naughty” penalties in their opening three fixtures.

Richard Marshall’s side have endured a testing start to the campaign with an opening-day defeat at Widnes Vikings followed up with home wins against Leigh Centurions and Batley Bulldogs.

And things won’t get any easier for Halifax this weekend, as they travel to a Featherstone side who defeated Batley 42-14 in their only home game of the season.

“If you look at the league table, everybody has had a tough start because every team will give you something,” said Tyrer.

“It has been a physical start, Widnes was a really tough game, Leigh was a physical game and so was Batley.

“But our discipline at the minute just isn’t good enough.

“We are just giving away too many naughty penalties, ones that we need to learn from and get better from.

“We are letting teams get 40 to 50 yards up the field and we have just got to stop that.

“Teams are just building pressure, we are doing a lot of defending and when we get the ball our forwards are gassed.

“So the backs are having to do a lot more work and it is something that we have got to fix up and fix up quick.”

Halifax almost gave up an 18-0 half-time lead against the Bulldogs last weekend, with a second-half penalty goal from Tyrer separating the sides.

The 29-year-old admitted that Halifax were far from their best in the second 40 but insisted that the result was the most important factor.

He said: “Batley are a tough team, I know they have had a couple of losses but they are a very experienced Championship team.

“So, the result was probably more important than the performance.

“We blew them away in the first 10 or 15 minutes but then we gave too many penalties.

“And until we fix that up we are going to be doing a lot of defending and playing in a lot of close games.”

Tyrer reached a century of tries for Halifax in the clash against Batley with a score early in the first half.

The former St Helens player has returned those 100 tries in just 184 appearances since joining the club in 2012.

“I am made up with it, I didn’t know about until last week,” Tyrer admitted about his milestone with Halifax.

“I was talking about it with my kids and my partner before the game and they wanted me to do some sort of dance but that is not me.

“It is a try off a kick again, I think that is six or seven games in a row now that has happened, I am just waiting for my luck to run out a bit.

“I am delighted with it, I had a feeling I might have to wait a few weeks but to get that out of the way and have it, it is nice.”

He is now only one try away from 150 for his career, but he says that won’t be on his mind too much when Halifax face Featherstone on Sunday.

He added: “I will be glad to get it out of the way, because you are getting a little bit of attention but it is a collective effort, a team effort.

“As nice as it is, I will be glad to wait for another 50 tries until I get to 200.

“I just want to hopefully get that chalked off this week and then crack on.”