Coaches on their way. Just had first stop at Tibshelf. 3 coaches & a minibus. The minibus got lost getting to Odsal which doesn't bode well and bus C has broken down and been replaced. Let's hope our luck improves

Here's to a good match. Enjoy the day Bullies!

Sorry if I'm being dim here, but what Bulls Text Service?

Its something they launched a few years back. dont know if they still promote it as havent seen it mentioned for a while. I get txts with squad news/signings etc couple of times a week.

I've. Come down for weekend and on way for day 2 and the big game at 2. Currenly on a st helens supporters coach as they're at same hotel. only allowed on on the condition we stuff the rhinos!!

Gutted for the team, they put a big effort in today and deserved to get something out of this match.

Plenty of reasons to remain hopeful for the season ahead though. I thought Whitehead was superb and Briggs showed that he is going to be a good signing for us. Diskin had another good game and caused plenty of problems for Leeds.

Potter will be disappointed by a few lapses of concentration and the silly offload by Lynch in the closing minutes. We should have been playing one man Rugby and kicking for a repeat set.

I thought the penalty try was dubious given that Ah Van was covering across. Raynor was sucked in far too easily for a player of his experience to give BJB the space to break away.

There is plenty more improvement in this side and Herbert to come back so I'm not too disheartened. But the amount of big games we seem to lose by video ref calls in big games just seems to keep on mounting.. surely we're due some benefit of doubt in our favour sometime soon?

I think all of our players did really well. I could say something good about every one of our players after that. Gutted we lost though.

Seemed to be out position for the first try aswell. Other parts of his game were good but defensively looked suspect.

Perhaps, but I thought the pass created that space rather than his positioning being poor. The last one he was sucked in, as an experienced winger he'll be disappointed. But for our 1st game there is plenty to be happy about, the result is gutting nevertheless.

Think if Langley hadn't got injured result would have gone our way. We visibly tired back end of both halves and extra man on bench could have proved the difference. To borrow a phrase plenty if positives to take from game IMO. Whitehead our MOM.

He was he over read on Delaney instead of holding position on BJB.

Maybe a case for him losing his place to ainscough next week, although I'm not sure that's an improvement defensively.

Might add some weight to the argument for Ainscough to be included. But I'd like to see him get a crack at Wigan on his debut, he'll be pumped up for a big game.
I hope Herbert is fit enough to play as well, his craft will be needed to overcome a very tight Wigan defence.

I'm looking forward to next week already though despite losing today, I couldn't say that too many times last season!

Raynor could've done a bit better in attack too but I thought both wingers could've taken the ball up more, especially when we had two players off injured who weren't coming back on. In that situation you need to share the work more.

Well. Disappointed that we gave away an 18 point lead.
But this is only the first competitive game for our new look side and, although we can't kill off a game yet, we showed a great deal of promise and, as the weeks go on, the team will get to know each other better and I'm sure that fall aways like today will be an exception rather than the norm.

The thing i was concered about most was the lads heads going down, Nobody expects us to beat a very good Wigan team next week and it could see us played 2, lost 2. I hope the lads take a lot out of todays game, and get ready to have a good crack at Wigan.

What a game to kick off the 2011 season. It had everything. It was a real shame that we couldn't hang on to the lead and see out the final 3 minutes.

Like most people have said there is a significant improvement from the team we were last year. It was nice to see a pitch-lengther from Ah Van. I can't remember the last time I saw a Bradford player score one of them.

Overall our effort was superb and we looked dead on our feet in the final 10 minutes. Losing Langley really killed us and it's obvious how much work he gets through when he is on the field.

One of the main points I wanted to make is the development of Elliot Whitehead. This kid is turning into a seriously talented player. He's been voted into the 'leadership team' by other members of squad in the build up to this season which shows that he has the respect of his peers as well as the plaudits from the Bradford fans. He took all 3 of his tries well today. He was unlucky not to go home with MOTM award. If he continues at this rate he will be a very hard man to hang on to in 2013 when his current deal expires.

I'm also really happy with Chev Walker and Matt Diskin. They both seem to have had a resurgence since joining us.

As for the referee I felt he had a decent game. It is hard to stomach but Raynor did obstruct Jones-Bishop which meant there was only going to be one outcome. The video ref calls for our disallowed tries were 50/50. I suppose it's all about interpretation.

Attacking wise we didn't really miss Herbert as much as I thought we would. Briggs created lots of chances and his kicking game was fairly spot on today (if you excuse the penalty not finding touch and the out on the full kick).

Having Herbert back next week for the Wigan game is probably a must if he's fit as I feel Royston looked a little lost today. Obviously it's a real step up for him and Briggs to the Super League but more is needed if he's to remain in the squad for Wigan.

The difference between the 2 teams at the end of the day was that we didn't capitalise on our chances and Leeds did. We had more then 4 chances to put the game to bed but lost a bit of composure and it eventually cost us the game.

Defensively I thought we were OK in the middle but our wingers had a tendancy of coming in too often which cost us in the final play of the game. I believe this will be addressed by Mick Potter in training. Lynch put in another good shift but he coughed up a bit of ball today, not usually like him. Hopefully it's just a bit of rust that will be shaken off as the season goes on.

Overall it was a brilliant performance and the effort and determination shown will put us in good stead for the rest of the season. As many have said we will continue to gel as the season goes on and I believe we will be in the mix this year without a doubt.

One emotion I didn't really feel last season was excitement for the next game. Despite todays defeat I'm really excited to see how we fair against the best team in the competion next week.

Bring on Wigan!

yeah im diasppointed with the referreing but its always the same and im gutted we los but the one thing im really happy about was how well the team played together i didnt feel like i was watching one man rugby they felt and looked like a team that had been together for much longer! im feeling very postive about this season i think we've made some good strong signings and cant wait for next sunday

Think I need to watch the game again before I comment otherwise I might come across as a complete tool who just blames Ganson (and Silverwood) for the regime change in Egypt, the floods in Australia and the giving of a penalty try at the end of a rugby game........

.........and at the end of it, that is all it was....

Still fuming though....

still struggling to see difference between ben jones bishop penalty try (which was correctly given imo) and the pull back on royston earlier. Other than that pleased with our performance in general. vast improvement over last year. just a bit unlucky with some of 50/50 calls and ran out of steam ( understandable given langley injury).

For 50 mins at least Michael

I'm just grateful Steve Ganson refereed it, these days if you're not careful any old attention seeking little herbert, with a desire to be in the limelight and a penchant for grand hand gestures and sprinting about dramatically could end up refereeing your match. Fortunately for us, Steve put his hand up and made sure that couldn't happen.

I really can't add anything more to what has already been said without the risk of a ban and further repercussions.

Grow up, eh?

Take a leaf out of BrisbaneRhino's and sgtwilko's book - no need to gloat.

It was a great game and Leeds had too much in the last 20 minutes. Just be glad you won - it could easily have gone our way and lets all hope we have 2 more cracking derbys this year. If they're all as good as todays then they will recapture the fire they've lost recently.