Totally agree & it should have been done 2 seasons ago

Let's not beat about the bush. We now suddenly love you. Madly and deeply. You're our second favourite team.

Pretty much agree.

Last season I was a little unsure on Potter, but I think he's done a good job this season in particular. We've played a good brand of rugby and have been competing at the top. I know we competed well last year, but we had an initial great start and tailed off badly at the end and relied on Eastmond to get us to the Final. This made me question whether Potter's effect was taking charge after the Anderson era. This year has put that to bed really. He's really brought the game of likes of Graham, Roby, Clough, Eastmond, Wheeler (I could go on) to a new level and has got the team playing well together.

I think one of his downsides is his ability to motivate players, which has seen our form against the weaker teams deteriorate this season. Unfortunately his 'style' hasn't gone down well with some fans and anything but perfection was deemed failure.

The expectations at Bradford aren't the same as at Saints currently though, so I think he's a good appointment for the Bulls and the fans won't get on his back so much.

Very excited for next season.

I reckon Potter is a good choice - he has brought the youngsters on well at Saints and blooded them without it being too detrimental on performance.

Hopefully we'll see more of Wardle, Addy, Southernwood etc and see Whitehead Donno & Olbison progress even more.

Glad to see the expected announcement was indeed Potter! I think the Bulls should be congratulated for securing a good quality coach with a proven record in SL. He knows the league, he knows the club (even if things have changed a little) and I think he suits Bradford. If Potter arrives and quietly goes about improving performances then he'll do for me. A gobe in the mould of Millward we can do without.

Great news. Now let's hope some of the stay aways come back and give the new Coach and more importantly the club their support.

Under Potter this season we have played some brilliant rugby league and some horrendous rugby league. We have been middling sometimes too. But we have lacked consistency since about a third of the way through last season and while some of that has been down to two consecutive seasons of very high injury lists (coincidental?), it hasn't all been about that because some of our best performances have been when we have had youngsters playing in place of our first choice players.

I would agree with Blobby in that our motivation has been very up and down, as has our overall fitness (ie we look knackered way too early in matches these days). Whether that is Potter or fitness regime generally or something else I don't know but I'm hoping that changes with the new leader, whoever he may be.

Hopefully Potter has learned from his time at Saints and the Bulls will benefit from that. Certainly the young guys have reported back very positively about Potter and his ability to motivate and integrate [ithem[/i into the first team, which was his remit. It sounds like that might be at least part of his remit for you guys too.

It's his lack of style I think that means he's never really fitted in at Saints. I'm pretty glad to see the back of him and quite a few other Saints fans are too , some on our forum defend him to the hilt (and become condesending and try to marginalise all who disagree with them)but for the majority of his time I've simply not been impressed. One thing I will say is I have been impressed with over his 2 years is his willingness to use young players ...
Potter seems to have divided opinion a fair bit among Saints fans but at the end of the day he will be judged like all coaches at big teams on what we do or dont win

FWIW I think he might feel a little more at home at Bradford given his past and approach to the game and I'm sure he'll do a better job than McBanana

GL to him at the Bulls

I think most coaches would have struggled to keep Saints at their pinnacle at the time he took over. They were bound to suffer some decline as their stars aged and their younger players such as Graham & Roby were given contracts that reflected their growing status and ability. His style of coaching and play also probably wasnt well suited to them.

But he did a good job at Catalans and he's probably more suited to building a team from a relatively low level rather than keeping a team at the top.

Cant say I was that excited when he was first mentioned for the job but I'm becoming gradually happier with his appointment.

Any chance he could bring Leon back with him???????

Wishful think i know but..........

I'd rather he brought James Graham or Kyle Eastmond.

Would settle for any of the 3!

It would be nice but pretty unlikely I reckon. Unless Leon was unhappy I just cannot see it happening. I haven't seen anything to suggest he wants out at Saints. If he had any burning desire to return to Bradford, I reckon he may have returned by now.

I know but we can always hope

I don't think Anderson would've fared any better with this set of players. Anderson was lucky to have a peak Cunningham, Long and Wellens along with Jamie Lyon, Cayless, Paul Anderson etc who were great signings for the club.

Potter hasn't had those luxuries and has had to build a team around young players with barely any signings made.

For me, he's done well with the resources available to him.

leon we could bring back

but what about sykes ??? 3 years and we want him to play 6 cause he cannot play centre

How do you know that Potter won't move him back to the centres? Or use him for cover?


Its highly unlikely that we'll sign Leon anyway, but if he was available and wanted to come back, then Sykes wouldn't be any sort of competition for Leon at 6

sykes no competition but then where do you play him ? plenty of cover in the cetres...platt nero crookes wardle
true though very very unlikley that we get leon

You Bulls have been suffering for a few years now,I see no end to it with Potter's appointment.In his two years as coach of Saints he has served some of the most uninspiring rugby I have seen in over 35 years of watching them.It has got to the stage where I can not be bothered to drive the 25 miles up the East Lancs to home games eg today when I will be watching my son playing cricket instead

And yet you're 3rd in the table and have scored more points than every other side bar Wigan and Wire. I dread to think what the Saints fans will do when they really do hit a bad spell. I think most other fans in SL would swap places with your 3rd in the table uninspiring St Helens team.

I think perhaps the reason that a lot of Saints fans have blown it way out of proportion is partly due to the success that Wigan are enjoying right now. After quite a few years of mocking the Wigan club, they now look primed for some success themselves in the not too distant future.

Loads of Saints fans are behaving just like loads of our fairweather fans did (and do).

Your forum is looking rather like ours did as soon as we stopped winning trophies.

TBF that occured even before we stopped winning trophies. the 2005 campaign brought plenty of whinging and calls for Noble to be sacked on this forum.

Remarkable that a team so limited (no plan B, remember that one?) ever won a game, let alone a treble.

TBF when we won the treble we didn't actually require a Plan B. What used to amuse me is that when we scored 40-50 points in a game it was due to the fact we had buillied out opponents into submission with boring one out rugby and relied purely on brute strenghtbut whenever anyone else did put up similar scores it wa due to their expansive play.

Granted our main strenght was that we had a huge pack and our backs weren't much smallerand we used to dominate the forward battle more often than not, however there was far more to those bulls sides than the five drives and a kick one out rugby merchants with which they were often portrayed.

To understand the problems at Saints you'd need to understand the style of play more. People make excuses and say Anderson wouldnt have done better etc etc but I disagree, I think we have alot of talented players (with natural style) who have won games despite Potter rather than because of him.

Bulls were anything but five drives and a kick. We moved the ball as good as anybody and it was a common thing to see Les, Leon, Robbie and Withers go in from distance or on the end of a slick passing movement.
People that claimed Bulls were one up merchants were watching something completley different.