Halifax Panthers vs Sheffield Eagles
'The Digital Den' Matchday E-Programme -
Sponsored by Collett & Sons
"It's a proud moment for me and my family. There's been a lot of sacrifices made throughout my career and to get to 300 games, it's a great achievement for me to do it for Halifax, my hometown club."
Adam O'Brien
Halifax Panthers
Welcome to the Halifax Panthers e-programme. Today's game sees another huge challenge ahead in the Betfred Championship as we welcome Sheffield Eagles to our temporary Odsal Stadium home.
We'd like to welcome all the directors, staff, and officials from Sheffield to the game. It promises to be an entertaining and hard-fought Betfred Championship clash
Away from the field, I'm pleased to share that we will be announcing some special offers and exciting activities for our 'Halifax Homecoming' game against Widnes Vikings on 7th September. Keep your eyes on our official club channels next week for the big announcement. Just 28 days to go until we return HOME.
With just 5 regular season games to go, every single point, tackle and cheer is crucial in the race for the play offs. With your backing, we’re aiming to make it back into the Championship play offs after an exciting roller coaster of a year. Your support makes all the difference, and I encourage you to get behind the boys and help create the kind of atmosphere today to drive the lads on to what could be a crucial victory come the final day.
Enjoy the game, enjoy the E-Programme, and as always, Up the Panthers!
Damian Clayton MBE
CEO, Halifax Panthers
UP THE
PANTHERS
#BAWA
28 DAYS AND COUNTING...
Coaches Corner
KYLE EASTMOND on the final five, preparing for Sheffield, and the race for the play offs
Firstly, it was great to see Adam O'Brien hit his 300th career appearance milestone last week. It's unbelievable, and he deserves it doesn't he. Longevity in the game is a skill, looking after your body, living right, and it's great to see him get that. It's unfortunate we didn't get the full performance that milestone deserved but huge respect to OB for that, I'm sure he's done himself and his family proud.
We've got 5 games to go now, and game by game we've got to try and knock off each one as they come. But that's what we've been doing all season, it's exciting isn't it.
I think the players have done a really good job this year in terms of being competitive and being in most games, not every single game but most games. 99% of the games we've played in. So we always give ourselves a chance to go on and do well in games, you know.
I think the test for us is to just convert and knock some of these games over at the back end, it's exciting.
Having 3 of those games at home, in terms of advantage, I think we've shown this year, of course playing at home is nice but I think everybody can beat everybody in this league home or away.
So we just need to concentrate solely on what we do and how we can be best prepared for every game. And then the result will take care of itself, it's about what we do on the field really not where we play.
We've played at a really high intensity in our last 2 games, and I think we can replicate that. I think we've done that a lot this year, I think the main thing for us is to concentrate on some of the basics of our game and play for 80 minutes.
I think we compound errors a little too much and that puts us in a position where we hand over the momentum to the opposition. But other than that, we're always in the game. We need to learn how to play for longer periods, it's an 80 minute game for a reason so we're working hard on it. It's something that I think you can train but also it comes down to individual concentration, individual professionalism.
Couple that with tinkering with a few things that we can do in training, but it's not an overnight thing that. You've got to take some personal pride so that takes a little bit of time.
I think Sheffield are always going to be a tough team, aren't they. Everybody knows that. They've got some good experience there in the halves from last week, Craven's in there, he's a very good player who we've played against already this year when he was at Oldham. Aston was in there who is also a talented player, they've got some good players in the spine. Walker's got a wealth of experience and so has the likes of Butterworth as well, who's a great young player.
In and around that, there's enough good players as well, so listen. If you're not on your mettle, you'll get beat. You will do, they've got some good players, so we'll prepare this week as good as we can otherwise like I say, you'll come unstuck. They're a good side and we'll respect them.
This final five regular season block of games, it's so important for the fans to get behind the team. There's no doubt, they've not shown anything different all year, I think sometimes it's annoying that we can't quite get over the line for the fans every time.
What they add to us as a group is just unreal, staff and players, it means so much. I'm sure they'll be there today for us, like I said before, it's an exciting time of the season that we can all get excited about. We'll be ready to go out there and put on a good show for them.
Kyle Eastmond
Head Coach, Halifax Panthers
Player Profile
Quickfire Questions with Panthers star Charlie Graham
Rapid-fire Q&A
Q: How did you get started playing the game?
A: I got started at age 17 through an old friend at the time and luckily, her father was the ex-chairman of Hull FC. I was playing sevens at Rosslyn Park when Lee Radford and a scout came down to watch me, I then got a 2 week trial down at FC, thought I'd give it a go and converted from Union to Rugby League.
Q: What is your favourite thing about being a Rugby League player?
A: I think it varies. Just in general, rocking up to training and being with all your mates. And then come game day, playing with all your mates and people you want to play with and don't want to let down. I think that's the highlight of Rugby really, doing a hobby as a job.
Q: Who's had the biggest influence on your career so far?
A: I think being around some older icons at Hull, people like Mahe Fonua, Carlos Tuimavave, Josh Griffin, Marc Sneyd, all of those lot. Especially as a youngster coming through, not going through the academy ranks and just starting in reserves, there was a load of different people that I looked up to. Learning different techniques and styles of play from them, it helped me develop into a more mature version of myself really.
Q: Do you have any superstitions?
A: White monster before a game, always works! [laughs]
Q: Would you rather play in 32 degree heat or 2 degree sleet?
A: I'd rather play in 2 degrees if I'm being honest. If I'm playing in 32 degree heat, it makes me look far too unfit but at least in the cold, I can look a bit fitter than I am.
Q: Favourite Stadium(s) you've ever played in?
A: Stade Ernest Wallon in Toulouse is a good ground, the history behind it in both codes, I like that. A pitch that I did used to love playing on was West Wales in League One, that was a lovely maintained pitch. Then you get some ones that surprise you, Kingston Park one up in Newcastle, Rochdale, Doncaster and obviously here at The Shay as well. It's great to play in those types of stadiums.
Q: Best try you've scored?
A: I've scored too many if I'm being honest [laughs] It would probably be the full lengthers, one in particular was when my best mate passed away on 21st May, I got a hattrick that day against North Wales Crusaders for Keighley. They were all different kinds of tries but they meant more.
Q: Who was your Rugby Hero as a kid?
A: Kyle Eastmond! [laughs] No, I looked up to people like Johnny Wilkinson, Manu Tuilagi, Dan Carter, Sonny Bill Williams, all of those lot I looked up to. They were stars of the sport I grew up watching.
Q: What do you do for a day job when you're not playing Rugby League?
A: I am a professional sports coach. So I work in multiple schools delivering curriculum sessions to key stage 1 and key stage 2 kids. It kind of allows me to be myself, be young again, mess around, kick a ball around and have fun while getting paid for it. So yeah, that's why I went in to that job.
Q: Who's the best player you've played alongside or against?
A: That's a difficult one, to be honest. I've played alongside the likes of Cameron Redpath, who's a Scotland international and plays at Bath, Josh Hodge who's the Exeter Chiefs full back at the moment, and players like that. Those were the people that I got brought up playing with at school level that have gone on to a higher level in the game.
Q: What do you like to do to relax after a tough game or training session?
A: Tough game, get a kebab. Tough training session, get a kebab!
Q: What is your dream holiday destination?
A: Skiing. Switzerland, Geneva, France, anywhere you get the best of both worlds. Hot and cold, and beers!
Q: What's your Karaoke song?
A: Oh gosh, to be honest I don't have a clue! Probably 'Brown Eyed Girl' by Van Morrison if I had to pick one.
Q: What's at the very top of your bucket list?
A: Live happy and healthy, get to see my family grow. That's probably my main priority. Rugby wise, play Super League or play Premiership over in Rugby Union.
Q: What's your favourite cheat day meal?
A: A kebab! [laughs] Any takeaway is my cheat day meal.
Q: If you could switch lives with anybody in the world for a day, who would it be?
A: Tricky one. An actor probably, Shia LaBeouf or Adam Sandler. One of those.
Q: What's one thing you're unbeatable at?
A: Backflip burpees. Nobody is beating me at that!
Q: You find a crystal ball. What's one thing you'd like to know about the future?
A: See if I'm a millionaire or not.
Meet the Visitors
Introducing Sheffield Eagles
Founded in 1984, Sheffield Rugby League Football Club was formed by Gary Hetherington when after missing out on the York Wasps coaching job, he decided to form his own Rugby League club. Entering the second divison, the team would play their home fixtures out of the Owlerton Stadium in the city, a purpose built speedway and greyhound racing facility with a small sports field at its centre.
A competition was run in the Sheffield Star newspaper to find a name for the new club and "Sheffield Eagles" was the winner. Hetherington was both manager and player in the first season, building the team using experienced players from traditional areas.
He also began signing up promising young players including Daryl Powell, who joined from the Redhill amateur club in Castleford and went on to pull on the red and gold 312 times, and Mark Aston, who would go on to become the clubs record appearance maker and points scorer during an 18 year career in South Yorkshire.
The first ever Eagles league game was on 2 September 1984 when they beat Rochdale Hornets 29–10, but by November, the club was close to folding because of financial problems. Sheffield beat Wakefield Trinity to set up a John Player Special Trophy first round tie against Leeds Rhinos. This lucrative game generated enough cash to see out their first season in existence.
On the field, the club progressed steadily, improving their league position until in 1988/89, they finished third in the league table and made it to the Second Division Premiership final at Old Trafford. In the final they outplayed Swinton, beating them by 43–18 to gain promotion to the first division for the first time in their history.
In the wake of the Hillsborough disaster, stadium safety became a big issue in British sport and Owlerton was declared unfit to stage professional Rugby League.
The Eagles were forced to play their home games at seven different venues including Hillsborough itself, Bramall Lane, Recreation Ground in Chesterfield, Oakwell Stadium in Barnsley and Belle Vue in Wakefield.
They survived one season in the top flight but were then relegated. This was a temporary decline though as they immediately regained their place in the First Division, winning the Second Division title and Premiership. The Eagles slowly began establishing themselves as a top flight club.
Don Valley Stadium became home for the club in September 1990, it had been built for the 1991 World Student Games held in Sheffield, and hosted the Eagles until its closure and demolition in late 2013.
When the sport moved to Summer, Sheffield Eagles were included as one of the chosen top flight clubs and took part in the landmark first ever Super League fixture when they faced the newly formed Paris Saint-Germain at Stade Sebastien Charlety on 29 March 1996.
It was during this period in the late 90's that the club achieved their sole major honour in the sport. Under the tutorledge of head coach John Kear, Sheffield Eagles lifted the Challenge Cup trophy for the only time in their history after beating Wigan Warriors 17-8 in Rugby League's most famous upset at Wembley Stadium on 2nd May 1998. Mark Aston won the lance todd trophy with an inspired display as the Eagles tasted success at the highest level for the first time.
But this was the peak of the Sheffield Rugby League story. Just as the club seemed to be on the verge of its greatest period following the win in the cup final, things began to go wrong.
The expected increase in attendances did not happen and the team did not perform well, finishing close to the relegation zone only one year after the Wembley triumph.
Finances plummeted and it became apparent that the Eagles were not viable in their current state. Just a year after performing the greatest upset in Challenge Cup history, the Eagles announced that they were to fold at the end of the season should no investors come on board to save the club.
In late 1999, the RFL wanted to lower the number of clubs in Super League. One of the measures they put in place was the option for two clubs to merge for the sum of £1,000,000. Fearing this was the only way to keep Rugby League alive in Sheffield, the club accepted an offer from the RFL to merge with another struggling team, the Huddersfield Giants, making a new team Huddersfield-Sheffield Giants, who were scheduled to play games in both Sheffield and Huddersfield in Super League V.
The merged team did not last the season before reverting to the Huddersfield name. This was not accepted by Sheffield supporters, and so former player Mark Aston formed a new Eagles phoenix club, earning a place in the Northern Ford Premiership for the 2000 season, taking Bramley's vacated place following their resignation from the professional ranks.
A string of relegtions and promotions followed for the phoenix club, before finally establishing themselves as a Championship club from 2007 onwards after securing promotion with a 35-10 Grand Final victory over Swinton Lions.
Despite finding their feet in the second tier, the Eagles' stadium woes continued. In a bid to increase attendances, Sheffield left Don Valley in 2010 and moved to Bramall Lane where attendances rose to three times more than what they were at Don Valley. The Eagles returned to Don Valley midway through 2011 and stayed there until 2013, when they were forced to leave due to the stadium's closure ahead of demolition in 2014.
After being left homeless the club moved back to the city's greyhound track at Owlerton. Stints at Sheffield University's Sports Park and Doncaster's Keepmoat Stadium followed, as well as a season spent ground sharing with Wakefield Trinity.
A permanent home was finally secured in 2018 when the Eagles moved into the newly built Olympic Legacy Park, where they reside today.
On the field though, the early 2010's saw the Eagles enjoy a short spell of dominance. Head Coach Mark Aston led Sheffield to back to back Championship titles in 2012 and 2013, beating Featherstone Rovers and Batley Bulldogs respectively to become Champions two years running.
In Cup competitions, the South Yorkshire outfit finished runners up in the old Northern Rail Cup to Leigh Centurions in 2013 to miss out on a domestic double, before finally enjoying another Wembley triumph 21 years after their famous Challenge Cup victory.
The Eagles lifted the inaugural AB Sundecks 1895 Cup trophy in 2019 after beating Widnes Vikings 38-16. They would make the national stadium once more but finished runners up this time, ending up on the end of a 50-6 pasting at the hands of Wakefield Trinity in 2024.
2025 has been a tough season so far for Craig Lingard's men. With pre season hopes high at Olympic Legacy Park, the red and gold army have struggled under their new head coach.
Currently sitting 11th in the Betfred Championship table with only one win from their last nine games, they find themselves dangerously close to dropping into the League One 'Middle 8' play offs come the end of the current campaign. Defeat this afternoon will almost certainly condemn them to that fate.
They'll come to Odsal low on confidence but high in determination to put that right at the earliest opportunity. The Panthers will have to be on their guard to ensure Sheffield don't get revenge for Fax's opening day victory in South Yorkshire back in February.
Watch Out For...
Players who could change this match
ONES TO WATCH
Jack
Hansen
DOB: 12/1/1997
Position: Half Back
Number: 7
The Fax half back comes up against his former employers this afternoon, and will be keen to get one over his past teammates in this Round 21 clash.
After a recent spell out of the side through an injury sustained in last month's victory over Toulouse Olympique, the 28 year old is tasked with being the controlling presence needed to steer the Panthers around the paddock.
Following defeat at Bradford last Friday, Hansen and the boys will be fired up to put things right at the same venue.
With the race for the play offs reaching boiling point, it will be up to Hansen and half back partner Louis Jouffret to create the cutting edge to clip the Eagles' wings in West Yorkshire.
Cory
Aston
DOB: 1/3/1995
Position: Half Back
Number: 6
Another player facing his former team this afternoon is Eagles half back Cory Aston.
The 30 year old spent a single season at The Shay back in 2022, making 10 appearances before returning to his hometown club to play under his dad Mark.
Sheffield may have struggled so far this campaign under the stweardship of new head coach Craig Lingard, but like most former Fax half backs that come back to face us after pulling on the famous blue and white hoops, Aston will no doubt be desperate to ensure the Panthers know what they've been missing.
David Nofoaluma
DOB: 29/11/1993
Position: Full Back
Number: 23
Serbian International David Nofoaluma has enjoyed a flying start to his Halifax career.
Bringing a sturdy and calming presence to the full back role that was causing the Panthers issues earlier in the year, the 31 year old has had a big hand in our attack since joining midway through the 2025 season.
Fast, elusive, strong and always giving 100% in both attack and defence, Nofoaluma has threatened every time he's touched the ball, although maybe lacks the try scoring return his efforts deserve.
If he can find just enough space in the Eagles line, don't be surprised to see him return a kick the length of the Odsal field this afternoon. Sheffield will need to be on red alert and keep up their guard every time the Fax full back gets the ball.
MAGIC MOMENTS
This isn't the first time Fax have taken a home game with Sheffield on the road, just ask DAMIAN GIBSON
There's only three things that are certain in this life: death, taxes, and the Rugby Football League mucking about with the structure of the sport.
From Magic Weekend to Nines Tournaments, Super 8s to Licensing, and everything in between, the administrators are not short of an idea or two to spruce up the game.
Back in the late 20th century, the big wigs at Red Hall decided that we should spread the gospel of Rugby League as far and wide as possible (albeit decades before the ill fated Stobart fiasco), to showcase the talent across the elite level of the sport, introducing new supporters to the game of Rugby League. And as such, the Super League Roadshow was born.
League matches would be staged at such sporting outposts as Gateshead (Leeds Rhinos vs Salford Reds), Edinburgh (Bradford Bulls vs London Broncos), Swansea (St Helens vs Wigan Warriors), and Cardiff (Castleford Tigers vs Warrington Wolves). The RFL always had one eye on expansion, with two of the venues eventually hosting their own Rugby League teams in the years that followed.
Finally, Sixfields in Northampton was chosen to host Halifax Blue Sox vs Sheffield Eagles in Round 14 of Super League III on Friday 17th July 1998.
The Eagles came into the fixture on the back of a four game winning run, just 76 days after their famous Challenge Cup final victory over Wigan Warriors at Wembley. But they were coming up against a formidable Blue Sox outfit sitting third in the Super League table and enjoying their best season of the summer era, just one defeat in their last 8 games.
The starting teams that day - Blue Sox: Damian Gibson, John Bentley, Daio Powell, David Bouveng, Fereti Tuilagi, Chris Chester, Gavin Clinch, Karl Harrison, Martin Hall, Richard Marshall, Gary Mercer, Carl Gillespe, Martin Moana. Subs: Jamie Bloem, Paul Rowley, Des Clark and Kelvin Skerrett. Coach: John Pendlebury.
Eagles: Dave Watson, Lynton Stott, Willie Morganson, Keith Senior, Bright Sodje, Martin Wood, Gary Stephens, Paul Broadbent, Darren Turner, Steve Molloy, Paul Carr, Darren Shaw, Rod Doyle. Subs: Whetu Taewa, Waisale Sovatabua, Mark Aston, Dale Laughton. Coach: John Kear.
A crowd of 3087 turned up to see Halifax run out convincing 32-10 winners on the night with six different try scorers crossing for the men in blue and white. And Blue Sox full back Damian Gibson remembers that trip fondly all these years later.
"The game itself, I seem to remember Clinchy got injured or sin binned or something in the game and I ended up going into the halves. My role changed and I'd not exactly trained for it but that year, nothing got in the way of what we wanted to achieve. The machine just kept on rolling. We were such a close knit playing group, all the boys got on so well that we had that complete trust in what each other was doing in every game. It wasn't just in games, after training we'd all go golfing together or the lads would come round to our street and we'd have these mad table tennis tournaments. They were great days."
"Sheffield had some great players back then, we'd beaten them twice that season already but obviously they'd won the Challenge Cup that year as well. They had a good set of boys as well, people like Paul Broadbent, Johnny Lawless, Sovatabua, Aston in the halves, Nick Pinkney who I think once beat Martin Offiah in a race, they had a strong team. But I think that night we were just on fire ourselves and determined to keep our good run going."
The old adage of 'work hard, party hard' was definitely a big part of the culture at The Shay as Gibson remembered the night following the Sheffield game.
"I remember after the game, we were staying in a hotel down there and obviously we'd had a decent win against Sheffield so a few of the boys decided they'd earned a few drinks. I was leaving the next morning to join up with the Wales squad as I was about to make my international debut against England at Widnes later that next week so I wasn't having too many, but the rest of the boys made up for it."
"All the boys were partying and I was not wanting to have too much because I had that long journey to Wales the next morning.
"Nigel Wood was there, he was the chief executive at the time, and he said he'd opened up a bit of a tab for us so we could have a few free drinks. So we started getting stuck into that and enjoying the moment, because it was a very unusual game for us, everything was a bit different with us being on the road. We'd had a good win in front of the sky cameras so the boys were quite excited and it just had a bit of a different atmosphere around the group."
"So the boys were making the most of it. Anyway, Nigel after a few decided he was going to bed. I don't know who it was but one of the boys came up with the idea that we didn't want the free drinks to stop. So one of the boys went up to the bar and ordered a huge round for all of the players, and the staff asked if we were paying for it or if it was going on the room number given before. Whoever it was said just put that on 'my room' again, and that continued after the first successful round right into the small hours of the morning."
"You can imagine the size of the bill the boys racked up, plenty of drinks flowing and the mood was very merry as you'd expect. I was lucky I left early the next morning for Wales camp as I don't think he was too happy when he came to check out the next day! It was a good job we'd had a good win otherwise it could've gotten dangerous [laughs]."
Fax famously went on to finish third that season, losing out on a place in the inaugural Super League Grand Final due to defeats at Leeds Rhinos and St Helens. But it will always go down as a season to remember for all those involved.
"We all enjoyed each others company, I had some great mates in that team. Clinchy, Marty Moana, Des Clark, Gary Mercer, Kelvin, Carl Gillespie, Paul Rowley, so many great blokes in that team."
"That year was always one of the highlights of my career. Nobody expected us to do anything, we were sort of a thrown together side but I think we probably did ourselves a disservice by going out in the play off semi finals. Leeds and St Helens, two games we could have won and we just didn't hit our straps in either of those games. That was a shame because I think form wise, we were probably the strongest side that season. We just ran out of steam a little and let ourselves down a little bit at the end."
"On our day, we could beat anyone. I will always remember 1998 fondly on and off the pitch. They were great times."
"The Super League Roadshow was a great concept I feel. It was a good way to spread the word of our brilliant sport of Rugby League to a new audience, like we do with the magic weekend. I think they're really good spectacles and important for the growth of the game."
"It was a new experience for all of us, I think we could do so much more to keep building the audience and fan base for the sport. I'd like to see more events like that."
Halifax Panthers
Head Coach: Kyle Eastmond
TEAM
23. David Nofoaluma
2. Ben Tibbs
30. Dayon Sambou
4. Ben Crooks
3. Charlie Graham
6. James Woodburn-Hall
7. Jack Hansen
8. Brandon Douglas
9. Adam O'Brien
16. Ronan Dixon
12. Adam Tangata
19. Zack McComb
17. Will Calcott
Subs: 32. George Whitby, 20. Brad Graham, 15. Connor Davies, 13. Jacob Fairbank (18th Man 21. Alfie Johnson)
Sheffield Eagles
Head Coach: Craig Lingard
TEAM
26. Jack Walker
25. Jayden Billy
3. Kris Welham
5. Matty Dawson-Jones
29. Billy Walkley
6. Cory Aston
37. Danny Craven
8. Eddie Battye
14. Reiss Butterworth
16. Blake Broadbent
15. Evan Hodgson
24. Oli Roberts
18. Jack Bussey
Subs: 32. Harry Bowes, 13. Titus Gwaze, 1. Matty Marsh, 38. Marcus Green (18th Man 21. Ryan Millar)
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