Well I still think we will



depending what happens at Cas lol

But the only team we will possibly go above will be Catalans,

With their last 3 fixtures being Leeds, Wigan & Warrington and with us only being behind on PD by 59,

it is still very do-able

Would also be good if it did happen that way just to laugh at Mr. Whitehead lol

COYB !!!

It still proved impossible to persuade my missus that we wanted Leeds to win.

Hopefullly the mindset of the players will be to just finish the season strongly and try and go out on 3 victories. Desperately unlucky to not beat Catalan last week but perhaps we're just those few players short this year to get through some of those tough matches. I expect we'll look back at the end of the year and see those points dropped versus Widnes and one or two other results as very costly.

Still for me, on the whole we have competed better than I expected we would with such a light squad. I'm optimistic about what FC can do with a much stronger squad next year if recruitment continues at a similiar quality.

I posted this in another thread but I think it is relevant here.... (posted before the 2 Hull teams played Friday night btw)

ON TOPIC: I think DG has a good point, it would be a big push for us to make the playoffs now but it is still possible! Looking at the table after the loss to Catalans I noticed we are 4 points behind both Hull teams and 6 behind Catalans. These are the only teams we could catch....

We would need a few favours from other teams to make the 8 and you would expect both Hull teams to win atleast 1 maybe 2 of their last 3 games but then you look at Catalans which I think is where we have our chance... Catalans have 26 points with only +11 PD but they have an awful run in of Wigan (H), Leeds (A) and Warrington (H) I think their is a decent chance they could lose all 3...

But we would have a massive job of our own to do starting sunday against Cas! with 20 points and -48 PD could we beat Cas London and the Giants and sneak into the playoffs on PD??

Unlikely? maybe, Impossible? not yet

COYB!!

Problem is, the league may be over for Leeds, Wigan and Warrington and they might not play like we know they can (look at last night). The cats do have a tough run in, but the other squads might start looking at resting bodies for the finals. I'm hoping there's still a chance, but I'm not at all confident.

Well, many took the P out of my spreadsheet but hhere we are almost finished, and it was pretty much bob on, in that the main thing it picked out was that our main contender for the 8 was not the Hull clubs, but Saints.

Unfortunately, and however it came about, we handed the major advantage to Saints when we lost to Catalans, and as I posted then, this meant we basically shot ourselves in the foot and couldn't do it. Without unexpected help from others.

So near and yet so far. The table predicts as follows (alpha order)

Hudds 42
Warrington 41
Wigan 41
Leeds 35
Hull KR 30
Hull FC 28
St. Helens 27
Bradford 26
Catalans 26
Wakefield 25
Widnes 22
Castleford 16
Salford ** 11
London 9

but of course our PD is over 50 worse than Catalans so in fact we are behind them, and we would miss out by points difference.

As things stand, but we'd need to be winning and the Cats to be losing, so that might change - indeed would have to change.

Well it was still a possibility but as someone pointed out and as our luck would have it Catalans are beating Wigan pretty comfortably by the score update I just saw...

I am not one of those people that believes the conspiracy theories and that big slump of form has ultimately cost of a place in the playoffs but with Leeds losing last night and Wigan losing now, both which you would reasonably expect to win on any day, you do start to think why does our luck suck so damn much

There's always next year, the mid season slump cost us dear and our lack of being able to close games out when we should be putting teams under the kosh, and scoring more tries we just sit back then we get beat.

Cant blame the teams higher up the league resting players or not taking games seriously (dont know if thats true just speculating) its our own fault:

21-21 vs widnes should have seen that game out 1pt
28-32 vs widnes same again we where in control and we let it go 2pts
22-23 vs catalan 18-4 up 9/10 of the teams would have put that game to bed 2pts
26-20 vs wigan didnt see the game but heard some on the radio think we fell asleep and they scored 2 tries in 2 mins that killed us 2pts
And maybe vs saints couple of errors cost us dear in that game so call it 8pts extra we should have had with more composure.

But on the whole not a bad season provided we finish 9th - havent ruled out a catastrophic collapse by Hull fc or Hull kr - but i think we are done now, take some pride in these last games and lets just have some fun and lets all go out on a high and show the rest us Bulls will be back next year even stronger.

Dont buy into the small squad excuse pretty sure there are other teams in the league with squads as small as our, think it was the sequence of fixtures and the mid season injury pile up that took its final toll.

It's definitely over now. Every single result has gone against us with KR, FC and Catalan winning this weekend.

Hard lines Bradford. We must do better next year.

Definitely. Been a frustrating year. We've performed well, n fact there hasn't been really too many games where we've been very poor. No one can question our attitude, but the thing that has cost us this year is not having that ability or intelligence to close games down. Mainly falls on the half backs shoulders does this responsibility so i expect better from them next year.

Could be a crunch year for Gale next year IMO, it will be his third with us and another year of games where he shows nice touches, and then others where he fails to control won't cut it IMO. He has shown glimpses again this year of what he's capable of, but we can't have 3 years of that. Hope we kicks on next year.

The additions of Carvell and Ferguson will definitely improve us, Gaskell will provide more competition and George will provide much needed speed. Plus our young players such as Roberts, Mellor, Naughton and Wood will be another year old and much more ready for SL than this year.

Top 8 should be achievable next year.

Well the best we can do is match last year's finish and end 9th. If we can do it with more points than last year then we can call that an improvement.

I think our lack of squad depth, something that's been addressed well so far in the recruitment for next year, has seen us suffer defeats where we should have had victory.

I've been saying all year that this season was just for Cummins to get used to being the head guy. He's had some good results and, at times, had the team playing some exciting and entertaining rugby. If we can build on that next year then I think a return to play-off rugby is on the cards for Bradford

IMO next season will be the hardest yet, the top 8 will be stronger, couple that to the fact salford will be a lot stronger and cas/wakey and widnes will be desperate to avoid the drop as we will.

We cannot afford any slip ups, where it is "well, we played well for 60mins but we didnt have enough to win the games" if we have that mentality we could be relegated we have to fight for every point, if we are winning we cant sit back we have to go for the kill and show no mercy, we also need to wise up at the PTB, rush the play like hudds, wigan and wire do and cut out needless penalties.

Like has been said if Gale dosent show leadership and picks the wrong ball which costs us he needs to be dropped, in favour of addy (who has been more consistent i think) or gaskell, who i think maybe an unknown, same goes for sammut.

On paper we are looking stronger but we still have some players OOC who have not been signed up, hopefully this is being addressed but if its not i fear we could be in for another long season.

I do think cutting down to 12 teams is a mistake, lots of players could be put on the scrap heap so to speak, would rather see 14 teams with P&R.

Agree that next year will be the hardest yet as teams generally improve, which to my mind is testimony to how well the current system has worked, and yes, obviously there have been ups and downs along the way but I don't see any compelling reason to return to the old, failed system, of P&R. In fairness, I'd say that 12 would probably be the number of clubs which we could 'service' with sufficient SL quality players from our own devices, given the current difficulty of the old standby of recruiting from Australia.

Looking at the clubs at the bottom [ie under the play-off spots, we should be stronger and have more balanced squad as Franny has had time to recruit properly this time round, so whereas I'm disappointed, but not really surprised at us being ninth this time round [assumptions, eh! Love to be wrong I'd definitely be a bit disappointed if we didn't do better next year.

Without knowing the ins and outs at either Cas or Wakey [though Cas seem set to lose Chase it's hard to think how they'll do. Cas to improve, maybe, under Powell and Wakey to plough on as normal, I'd guess, but who knows?

Widnes constantly look to be improving but then fall back and for whatever reason just don't seem to be cutting it and I wonder how long Denis Betts is going to keep getting the nod, maybe a new coach would turn them round...

London look to be the in biggest danger of missing the cut at the end of next season as I can't see them improving anything like sufficiently - but will the RFL bite the bullet and let them drop out of SL, whatever position they finish? There has been no mention of any 'immunities' but the RFL are well able to make decisions on the hoof..

And, of course Salford which is, for me, the great unknown. I'm sure they'll improve; with Nobby as coach and seemingly unlimited funds, how could they not? but maybe next season will prove to be a bit too soon for them. They are the big imponderable for 2014.

Shall I lock it now?

I don't actually think Salford will be that much of a force next year. Not unless they actually manage to sign some players of note. I mean, yeah, they're making big noises about signing players yet no-one seems that keen to put their name in the hat.

That's not to be dismissive of Meli and Morley, however I don't think I'm wrong in saying their best days are behind them, for example Morley has only had 13 appearances all season and he's hardly going to be on peanuts.

Unfortunately MOS 2011 is joining them. They'll be better, but I'm with you, I don't think they'll be that good, don't think they'll make the 8.

bloody pessimists

Once the long hard look in the mirror is dealt with, I think priority number one is to drop/rest anyone carrying a knock, irrespective of whether we're short in that position, blood young kids, [uand anyone that needs an operation have it done ASAP[/u. Nevermind leaving it until season end, do the necessary splicing and dicing and have everyone fit and raring to go for tackle practice come November. At the moment I'd probably only exempt our two stand out players in Kear and Scruton; Kear because he'll be playing for Wales (Lulia too for Cook Islands but he's leaving) and Scruton as he has a real chance for playing for England IMO. Platt and Evans I don't think will make the Ireland and Wales squads respectively.

However you to dress it up, last year we would have made the play-offs barring a points deduction. This season we won't make it, and didn't get one.

Therefore, not an improvement at all.

I think that would be a sensible idea.

True, but you need to remember what kind of squad FC inherited and how little time he had to secure some new faces. Elliott leaving mid-season didn't help either. I know those all sound like excuses, but they are legitimate reasons imo.
At the start of the season pretty much every poster on these forums highlighted how small our pack looked after losing Kopczak, Burgess and Hargreaves and replacing them with Sidlow and Evans. We all said that we would struggle against teams with decent packs, and that when the injuries came about we would be stretched to our limits.
This is exactly what happened.

In all honesty, with a bigger squad I think we would have made the eight.
Our signings for next season (so far) seem to be filling the holes that are most obvious - Carvell and Ferguson are great additions.
I'm still a bit weary about our backs - particularly the centres - but let's just see who else FC is bringing in before forming an opinion on 2014.

Usual bollox. last season we did not finish the season. And that was having (so the argument goes) overspent money on the team; which money the new broom has been compelled to underspend. We would have folded, and all results been expunged. It was only due to OK Bulls taking over that we completed our fixtures.

This season, we will finish the season without going tits. To me, that is a whole lot better than where we were this time last year, under Mr. Gilfoyle.

Fair points FA; the big picture is far more than just what happens on the field, though I guess Eddie won't be on his own in looking chiefly at the results.

One thing, we've demonstrated that we can still finish 9th on haqlf the money.

Now we need to do it again. 9th would actually do next season when you think what's at stake.