But when offloading say Fielden we not only saved his wage but got a big cash sum straight into the bank, and that, presumably (cash flow) is why we suddenly became a selling club?

except we havent been selling weve been releasing players for no fee (les) or undisclosed fees(hape). Although we have got the harris case out of the way which might go some way to explaining why we seem to have reduced wage bill by more than incoming players are perceived to be on.

Dont know ask Hull

Agreed. All those injuries we got and Michael Platt managed to stay relatively injury free and available for selection.

It never rains but

Agree. McBanana needs to enforce more discipline in players eating habits when not at the club - Nero and Slomona have both gained too much weight for my liking - too many orgies

Big is not baeutiful - we need our players to be lean and hungry. McBanana might enjoy seeing Solomona's curves in the dressing room but this could be having an impact on morale

Nero should be more professional than that.

Yes but the coach should inspire his players to a more professional approach in life.

Take Solomona - a known shirker of hard graft according to Frank Endacots book - kept trim at Wakefield, has now run to fat at Bradford. The Same Applies To Nero



McBanana is the common denominator in both declines

Maybe he's learnt how to beat the top sides and win away games but is just keeping his light under a bushel.

Tops!

[url=http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/sportbulls/sportbullsheadlines/3691350.Macca_bemoans_fine_line_between_success_and_failure/Link: Macca bemoans fine line between success and failure[/url

Blah Blah Blah. He is still moaning and looking for excuses.

Perhaps he should be quizzed about the record he had versus the three sides left in the competition.

Which incidentally is......

Versus Saints. Lost by 6 in one game, and by 38 in another.

V Leeds, Lost by 42, by 14, by 16 and by 10.

V Wigan, Lost by 14, and by 16. (ok we won one against them)

Hardly a "fine line" is it? Tarting up the negatives and trying to put positive spin on it is laughable.

Apart from the Headingley game, we were in with a shout in all of those eight games you list. 'Fine line' is not as laughable as you make out. If we'd have beaten Catalans at Odsal in the league rather than the cup, we'd have only have need one win from those five we lost by a score or less to come third.

Yes, but if my auntie had balls she would have been my uncle.

There are TOO MANY "ifs" coming out of Odsal recently. Dealing with facts would be a far better idea.

Why not say....

IF we beat Wakefield, a team that we are better than then .........
IF we beat Huddersfield, a team that we are better than then .......
IF we could take more points from the better sides (something that the mighty Castleford managed) then .......

TOO MANY "ifs", TOO MUCH blame put on officials and bad decisions, NOT ENOUGH responsibility being taken for a poor poor season. If Mr McNamara actually held his hands up now and again and admitted he has made plenty of mistakes then I guess there would be a bit more sympathy for him. Sadly he seems to think everyone is at fault except for him.

Agree. It was the same last year - what if the points hadn't been deducted, what if Tansey's try had been disallowed etc etc.

The bottom line is that Bradford have been way off the pace and McNamara must shoulder some of the blame if you are paying up to a full salary cap on wages.

Every team has had woeful injuries this season - including Saints and Leeds. IF Leeds hadn't lost Toopi for most of the season, they could be arguably have finished in top spot and maybe even in the GF now (given the blatant weakness on that side of the field), but the bottom line is that Saints have had the better of us for most of the season, so it is a pretty irrelevant position to take.

Well P!stake you can't be faulted for your ridiculous negativity all season!

Ridiculous negativity? Where was I wrong then?

You weren't wrong. I think you get a lot of stick on here because there was a lot of optimism about the team at the start of the season and people don't like being reminded that they have been wrong. That, and the fact that they don't like being reminded of how bad things are.

It is one thing McNamara pointing out the positives - this needs to be done for the team to build on their strengths this year, but it is another thing implying that Bradford 'weren't far off', which has been blatantly not the case all season.

I think Bulls weren't close to Saints or Leeds, but they were closer than fifth place suggests: unfortunate not to finish third or fourth in the competition ladder. And McNamara is pinpointing a reason why they did not. In games that finished with the sides separated by a score or less Bulls took two points from a possible twelve, and that does not include close games such as Catalans (h), Quins (a) and Leeds (a) where late scores widened the margin of victory. For comparison, Wigan took eleven points from a possible eighteen in six-point-or-less games. "This year Bulls either won by a distance or didn't win at all" is a useful observation.

I also think that your example of 2007 as 'excuses' made for poor performance is a weak one given that Ganson/Klein and the points deduction were both off-field cock ups beyond the control of the Bulls' playing and coaching staff that resulted in the side being four league points worse off, six points against their rivals for second Leeds, than their onfield performance merited. That meant missing out on second, quite a big deal.

There is a balance to be struck between 'shoulda woulda coulda' and 'no excuses - we were s**t': neither extreme is very useful. McNamara's point is a valid one, especially given that he does not attribute the narrow defeats to pure misfortune...


This isn't something he's hoping comes right, rather something he's saying he'll work to put right. Big difference.

Yep. It usefully shows that we fail under pressure.

I think I've demonstrated that's pretty much what he's done. Bring on the sympathy...


... if I'm honest, that could have been a little more sympathetic.

I don't actually think you did TBH. Still, this skirting round the issues is kinda making me think that you are actually writing Mr McNamara's press releases.



He notes a need to improve mentally, but seems to omit tactically, physically (from a fitness point of view) and finally the need to improve on the recruitment side of things.

Not so much writing his press releases as encouraging people to read them and think about them before responding.



Let's have a look at what you require apologies (?) from him regarding:


He's not going to go into detail as to what went wrong last year and how he's going to do it differently in 2009 in the press.


Martin Clawson is very well-regarded. I think fitness problems have come from not controlling the PTB and so being run ragged round there.


He's done this tacitly by signing and attempting to sign new players. If you're looking for a statement along the lines of 'OK, the lot that I signed last year were crap, no offence Paul, Chris, etc', you'll wait a long time.

Cool. That is fine. He can do his talking in private. I will happily highlight his failings in public.





Now you see, this I find odd. Plenty of people on here have said the same thing in regards to fitness and if he is so good at what he does, why does this issue keep getting raised? How is Solomona still so bloody fat?

Maybe those "costly narrow defeats" might well have been caused with the fact that we always seem to look a shot side after 60 minutes and certainly seem to struggle to perform for the whole 80 minutes?

If this is being caused by not controlling the PTB, I will take that as a tactical failing of the coach, if not, it is a failing of the conditioner IMO.

Too many orgies





Next!

Seriously though a player with a poor attitude to training according to previous coaches (Endacott) although Shane McNally managed to get the best out of him why not McBanaana