Swinton will be tough. They won't feel secure in their position in the league at all, and they are tough as nails. They ran a lot of teams close in defeat last year.

I hate to put this in quite these terms cos it's the kind of thing that leads to us being accused of arrogance. It's still kinda true though. We're a bigger club when we don't exist than some teams still in Super League. We'd be a scalp for any Championship side if we were in League One. We'd be a scalp for a lot of Super League sides if we were in League One. Events haven't scrubbed that away yet. Much diminished, but that's still there. You only have to look at the cast of thousands who would try and convince you otherwise to know how true it is.

Whatever empathy there was is over. They're all gunning for us.

Got no idea how many points you'll need to stay up this season but I think the strength in depth of the Championship is stronger than its ever been

The only advantage the Bulls have is that their playing systems will evolve rapidly over the next few months, which won't phase the full time Clubs so much but the pt's will hopefully be at a disadvantage, Disko probably had some thoughts about our systems till Rohan left and Toovs took over, I suspect it will be a lot more substance over style in play till some decent playmakers either appear from within or more likely brought in during the season!
Its going to be a bit like the last few weeks of the 95 season and start of the SL era in 96 with the Team changing personnel every week but at lower level in quality this time round. I will predict some silly losses and surprising wins will still be part of the Bulls ethos!
While it's expected to be a roller coaster ride on the pitch, I hope to see some sensible business decisions off it and not all of them will be enjoyable, but it's still a business and needs to be run properly but not ignoring supporters wishes outright!

Sky bet aren't taking any bets on the championship at the moment for anything!!

I can't even begin to try to predict the outcome of this season's games until I know what our team is? Only Leon has been confirmed. Until I see a competitive squad on paper then I'm assuming that we'll lose every game.

Now this makes sense

Yeah, that would help better estimate our odds.

As I said on another thread, we've got at least 6 new names to add to the team so let's wait for that and see if any white knights come charging in to save us from a relegation scrap

With the players who have not left and will presumably resign we will not win games. The current group of players hardly offers a pack of forwards. I'm hoping that new, quality players will come in, I hope that is why Toovey signed up. So if we keep the current crop and don't add significantly we will struggle in every game. I remember Swinton pushing us all the way in the tin pot shield last year in a side including Chisholm, O'Brien Welham and Moss

I think the thing that could stand us in a bit better stead is the fact we have Championship hardened players nto SL prima donnas who expect to walk over part time teams. From the list, Campbell, Mendeika, Roche, Magrin, Foster, Macani all played extensive games in this league. A couple of ours will have had a good couple of years to adapt plus Phil Joseph is a rough and ready player. A lot of the time in this league for clubs in our position (meaning staving off relegation) its about the fight, if what has been said about Toovey is true that players will run through brick walls for him I think a few of our current squad will be more equipped than our previous to deal with the fight thats going to be needed

If we beat KR first up I'll give you the shirt off my back

We can beat anybody, but we need to have see consistent results and not just one offs. That will be up to the coaching staff to get that out of them.

Who would have thought Oldham would have turned KR over, Dews over us, Toulouse and Leigh.

I do think people have to come down from the euphoria of actually having a club, and inject a bit of realism into our plight.

When Leon was on the RHP show the other night he said that this was by far the worst pre-season he'd had in 20 years, in fact it had been like having 'no pre season'. His assessment was that 'we are miles off' - by which I took to mean that the fitness levels, skills, set moves, conditioning etc were way, way short of where we'd expect to be at this point.

Some people seem to be expecting us to run HKR close and then start winning against Rochdale the following week. I just don't see that happening. I think HKR will - and, frankly, should - absolutely annihilate us, and I expect us to lose to Rochdale and Swinton in the games that follow.

Rochdale are a well-drilled unit who will have that early season fervour of a newly promoted team. They'll target the game at Odsal as a mini Cup Final, from their viewpoint, and I fully expect them to play out of their skins against 'former WCC winners the Bradford Bulls'. By contrast we have lost almost all of our better players, and any new players will need time to gel.

I hope that, should we still be on -12 after four of five games, people won't panic or - even worse - start turning on the team. It's going to take time. I expect Toovey to pull it round as the season progresses, but it won't happen in three or four weeks.

Agree with this, especially the bold bit bear in mind they went to Tolouse and won to get promoted, Tolouse had to have a second bite of the cherry

I agree with all that. People surely need to get their head around the unpalatable truth that as it stands we are probably as good as relegated. If we put the 150-0 loss at rovers behind us and nick a win against Rochdale then we can perhaps start to entertain a vague hope.

Added to that they have made some very shrewd signings for this level. On Swinton, if any of the lower clubs can challenge what you would now expect to be a top 5(KR,London,Batley,Fev, and Fax) I would expect it to be Swinton.

Edit: Probably should have said top 6 with Toulouse but it all depends if they can match their home form or somewhere near when away.

Definitely, with how Sheffield are recruiting this has to be the strongest the championship has ever been, with Totronto to come up next year too only going to get tougher

6-8 good signings will make a big difference. All new players will at least be fit as they will have been training elswhere.
We don't need big names. Look at when we got such as Pitts. A hand full of that quality + good coaching and great motivation and we should be able to put out a decent 17.
Expect relegation but cheer every win is my attitude.
I too think we need to get to within 5 points of 10th by the end of 23 rounds.
Then do a Wakey and bring in 2-3 quality players and win 4-5 of the play-offs.
We do have a chance and who knows, it could end up being a very interesting season.

150-0 come on, it wont be that one-way will it.

I thought it'd be nearer 148-2

I'm not sure if the Challenge Cup run has been factored in. Historically the Semi Final and Final has affected our performances and we could easily lose a couple the weeks before and after we paly those matches.

I've got to agree with those sentiments. I couldn't get to Hudders yesterday but by all accounts the players, staff and supporters did a magnificent job in the circumstances. I can't wait to go down Lawkholme Lane next Sunday to see how we tackle the Puddycats. That might give us a better idea of the road ahead of us.

Whilst I agree that Leon knows a damn site more about pro rugby than me it needs to be borne in mind that I don't think he has ever experienced life in the Championship so may not be upto speed with standards in a PT league.

Agree with this. 3-4 years ago it would have been a walk in the park for a FT team in the Champ. Different ball game now. It's hell of a lot more competitive nowadays!

Don't get me wrong, I know how hard a task we have in front of us. I was just suggesting that whilst this is Leon's worst pre-season he hasn't experienced CH football before and that most of the teams we will be fighting for survival with will not be full time. (Although at this stage I don't know how many of our players are. Come to think of it I don't even know WHO most of our players are.)

I know how hard it will be too, huge season ahead of us in terms of how our future looks. Yeah it's his worst but even so 3-4 years ago he could have had the worst pre-season ever but with a FT team it still would have been easy. But this year will be so difficult due to the reason you suggested. Survival. And we are bang smack in the middle of that :/

It amounts to pretty much the same thing, but in my view, managing to somehow remain solvent and surviving into a second year, given what we have lost already and the handicaps we play the season under, is all I'm looking for. Bonuses graciously accepted.

Still don't understand why we are on -12 points though. My understanding is that that is for pre-packs, buyouts, and phoenixes. Not for brand new entrants. The RFL decreed ANY new Bradford club WOULD have to play in the Championship but that given our non-existent state with a week to go to kickoff is surely a decree that was already worth MUCH more than -12 points.

Now the new team in the new club under the new management has to take pastings all season and suffer at the gates and financially to a sorry tune, whilst madly scrambling to get staff, sponsors, shirts, all the infrastructure, before the regrouping in C1 - where any sane person would agree we should be - can begin.


But, looking on the bright side, at least the RFL is paying our rent, mainainance and VAT deposit so we must still be their favourites.