A team that seemed to have difficulty finding touch with penalties, bombed a try in ridiculous circumstances at 16-0, played 20 minutes with 12 men, who lost a key player after 6 minutes and who let us in to the game due to indiscipline?

The whole story tells more of the truth.

Don't need to be a detective. Just need to know you for the sad depressive that you are on here. Nothing constructive to add, but dead eager to get out there and bayonet the wounded, and tell the world how jolly well right you were if only the grown-ups would listen.

Find it hard to disagree with any of that analysis - although I am happy to acknowledge that there are others on here far better qualified than me to discuss the technical analysis of the game.

I wonder if the influence of Orford and the other NRL recruits may in turn be of positive influence on Macca in his coaching approach? You'd have to assume that Beaver and Orford in particular would help him with back-up and support and input that, given the very tight shoestring we gave to operate on, he is clearly desperate for?

Guess though that it wasn't the coach who dropped all the ball or made all the other silly but ultimately fatal errors on the park, and you hope and expect these will be ironed out as the team gel more?

Nothing much to add to what's already been said here. My three main observations:

1. Flat line - we really need to learn about running from deep, space creates uncertainty in defenders. Too many balls to the flanks go to players who are immediately tackled and momentum is lost.

2. Speed at the ruck - we didn't seem to be on the front foot at any stage at the play of the ball. Although Huddersfield did a good job of slowing us down (the grapple tackle technique needs some serious attention from the RFL in my opinion, it is life threatening. Wrestling skills should not be part of our game).

3. Backing up - there's still a lot of one man rugby going on. Watching the differences in the two sides Huddersfield consistenly had runners looking for the offload and that made them dangerous. Five up the jumper is not effective, particuarly when we haven't got a massively dominating pack anymore.

On the plus side, I thought there were some really encouraging signs and I hope that the positivity going into the season is maintained. I still feel there is an immense amount of potential in the side.

On thing struck me, again sadly - saw far too much of what we saw last season: markers not getting set quickly enough at the ptb, and they 10 yards or more down the park before a hand is laid on them. Easy yards for them.

Right..This is my view of last nights defeat..

The half back partnership of Orford and Kearney clearly is going to need time to gel, our forwards are not on the same wave length as Ox yet especially his short ball passing which went to ground a lot..Kearney does look like he will be a dangerous attacking force when he understands his role and link up play..

I was dissapointed with L e'strange and Hall, but again can't be too critical until they have played more games..

Reardon, certainly an eye for the try line but was way out of position for 2 of theirs..

Infact we were awful defending around the ruck and if we don't tighten this area Saints will have a field day nezt week!

On a positive note i thought Sheriffe had a good game and made some good yards running the ball back, for me it was a toss up between him and Langley for MOM..

As everyone has picked the bones about us on the game there is little more to say except that if we had played like that last year we would have won a few more games, maybe we were all expecting more form the team in the first game. The next few games will tell if it is going to be a good year for us so lets wait and see.

By the way if any of you were watching the sky coverage of the game and the Angela Powers bit at the start about the bulls last season the shot of frustrated Bulls supporter in the stands IS ME

FAME AT LAST

SEE YOU ALL NEXT WEEK

One thing that annoyed me about the Sky coverage was that they didn't pick up on the forward pass/offside leading to Hudds' 1st try. Then again, neither did the ref.

We need impact off the bench. Too many plodder forwards for me.

To be fair,from what I have seen of them,(mostly on the telly admitted) Hudds have a great defence.They are going to be hard to break down.As a neutral I thought they deserved the win.But it is only one game after all.A long way to go yet.

We lose one match, our first competitive game with a new set of playmakers and the usual suspect/s are on spouting their usual crap.

I really do wonder for the sanity of some on here.

It is something I highlighted way back before a ball was even kicked. I am sure McNamara is also aware of it, he conceded at the fans forum that in an ideal world he'd like a few more players added to the squad.

With the quota as it is and our budget extremely tight it is difficult to see where that player will come from. Perhaps young Burgess will get a taste this year but I expect they are a year or two off for regular footy.

Think you might need to narrow it down a little more than that

Aye, you would think that the coach would be addressing this issue eh?

Stop talking crap BB. You had a go at me three games into the 2008 season, three games into the 2009 season and now one game into the 2010 season. The same old problems persist and are not being addressed.

You have called for more time for long enough now. How much more do you need?

Isn't that what you just did?

Why did McNamara keep Heath L'Estrange on the pitch for 50 minutes last night. L'Estrange did'nt seem to have the best of nights last night, but iam sure he will be a quality addition to the squad. Heath is only used to playing 30 minutes a game in the NRL, and i think Macca should of brought Godwin on after half an hour, as we was never on the front foot.

Couple of other things, Sheriffe looked a totally different player last night, he looked a lot quicker, and Worrincy was shocking and got more game time than Donaldson.

Welcome back daddy pig!

I hope as the season progresses Donaldson and Whitehead get more game time than Worrincy. The man's defence is appalling with no sign of improvement. Whilst aware of his try scoring ability of the bench his all round game is nowhere near good enough for a team with solid aspirations.

I'm afraid it is you who is talking crap. You have a single agenda on here and come slithering back everytime we lose a match. You must lead a pretty miserable life following the Bulls because judging from your posts you find no enjoyment at watching them. So do yourself a favour and find yourself a new hobby, it cannot be good for your health. Sport is meant to be enjoyable, what did you enjoy about last night?

Worrincy had a bad game. That's something he can't afford to do given we've Donaldson, Whitehead and Olbison sat in the wings. Hopefully one of these young lads will get a shot at saints

Irrespective of your own frequently voiced opinion of the setup, do you really think that an entirely new 6,7,9 should click in match 1? Revolution was called for in these areas, this is what we've got, it's got to be given time.

How exactly would you do things differently because it does look as though you were desperate to complain regardless of what happened in the first game?


Personally I thought that Orford looked decent, L'Estrange should have been rotated more frequently and that Kearney is not a 6 and I'd rather see him at fullback, partly because I've always had concerns over Halley's size and predictability, particularly with a bit of second season syndrome layed on.

Agree wholeheartedly.


I thought we saw what a big player Orford will be for us with a little bit more understanding between him and the team. His passes will only be good ones if players hit them at the right time and are in the right positions. I wonder if you're perhaps being a little harsh on Kearney, or have you seen more of him than some before his Bulls career? I thought in pre season he showed he would go well at 6 although his short kicking has been pretty hit and miss so far.

I think it's far too early to judge the new halfbacks. If we get our attacking line stood deeper and employ some dummy runners and give the playmakers more than one option we should look better. Whether this will happen we'll have to see, but it's clear what the problem is so McNamara will know what needs addressing.

As for other players I think there will be some pressure on Worrincy and Halley. Neither did very well last night IMO and there's plenty of competition for backrow spots. I would bring in Whitehead for the Saints match. Even if he doesn't really solve our lack of penetration in the backrow he's a more competent defender.

I think considering our half back pairing is Brand new we did ok last night. We definately had posession to win the match, we definately had the field position to win the match (thanks in part to the penalty count the reasons for that are a different argument), we had the movement to win the match and we had the chances to win it. We just lacked the fluidity and awareness that come with gametime.

I'm reasonably confident that we'll do better this year than we did last year.