Better than bottom place

After going down 52-24 at Halifax, Stankevitch reflected: "We might have finished bottom but we are not the worst team in the league as we have shown in the nine weeks I have been here.

"It was a disappointing display, to be honest, after we had played so well against Dewsbury last week, but I think it was one game too many for a lot of the players at the end of a long, hard season.

"Another important factor was that Halifax knew they would finish third if they beat us so we knew that they would come out all guns blazing and that is what they did.

"Even so we were still in with a chance of a bonus point at half-time, and, with second-bottom Rochdale losing against Castleford, that would have been enough to climb off the bottom.

"But we gave Graham Holroyd far too much room to play in the second half and everyone knows what a good player he is when that happens.

"It was pleasing to score 24 points away to a team like Halifax, but it was disappointing to concede so many points.

"Defence has been a problem for us all season and improving on that aspect of our game next season will be a priority during pre-season training.

The club have signed Widnes Under-21s stand-off Paul Crook.