‘It can’t happen again’ - Mark Moxon ‘glad’ for week off as Batley Bulldogs prepare to ‘get back to being us’ after Halifax Panthers thrashing

The Bulldogs were thrashed 50-6 at The Shay for back-to-back Championship defeats as Fax continued their impressive 100 per cent start.

However, there are no league games this coming weekend due to the 1895 Cup, with Moxon hopeful some of his key first team players could return for the trip to London Broncos on Saturday, April 12.

He said: “We didn’t perform well. We didn’t play as well as we could have, and should have, done. They’re running hot, playing well and playing with lots of confidence. We're trying to put the best team out that we can but we’re finding it difficult.

“Things went well for them, they got a couple of tries from kicks which gave them a healthy start and a leg up, they built confidence on the back of that and we went into our shells and didn’t show the fighting spirit that we are used to from a Batley team.

“It wasn’t a Batley performance and it can’t happen again. We’re a team that prides ourselves on giving 100 per cent and staying together and being cohesive as a group and we weren't that.

“There were parts of the game where we were pulled apart and where we fell apart. That hasn’t happened many times during my time at Batley and I don’t want it to happen many times again.”

On the mini-break, Moxon said:

“It’s been difficult all year with the injuries we have had. We have got six or seven starters missing at the moment. We are patching the team up and patching players up.

“It is going to be difficult and we are going to have to ride this storm and hopefully we can get a few players back for our next game and we can start putting things right from there.

“When you get beat, you want to get straight back onto the horse and straight back out there and try and put things right. There’s an old saying that the good thing in rugby league is you only have to wait seven days to put it right.

“But, at the moment, we need as much time as we can to get some bodies back. I am certainly glad for the week off this week. Even though the players will want to put right what went wrong at Halifax, I am sure they are desperate for a week off as well.

“They want some of their mates back. They want some of their team-mates back alongside so we can get back to being us.”