Agreed. The pack as a unit looked very lightweight and when Powell ordered a more direct approach at half time, we were steamrollered. I like Sidlow but was very surprised he received the man of the match.
I saw enough in Gaskell's play to suggest he could prove an excellent signing.
I did think Diskin looked fitter and was decent in the first half.
If Ferguson is fit for Thursday that will be a bonus but we do need at least one new prop

I'm hoping that we are a lot fitter than we appeared today, just overdone the stamina work, not tapered down in time for the start of the season and will be strong at the end of the season. You've got to hope!

We need to pick up points before the injuries take their toll.

Some do not get it. There is no money.

I don't necessarily think we are unfit. It seems to me that with the lack of size we are having to work so much harder. That could be why we ran out of steam. I don't know how we afford it but a couple more props are definitely needed. Also Jarrod is a massive loss.

Adeybull can you advance on that?

Its a long season and I believe the club with its irons in the fire can and will develop.

but we have money to tie up Gale whom I just don't rate at all.

I don't know the full facts,but if Gale knew Sammut was going and used that to leverage a deal for himself,fans should be more than a little miffed.

I've never seen him do anything out of the ordinary.

I can understand the frustrations and the worry must be that Cas weren't anywhere near their A game today - we were very poor and the scoreline flatters to deceive.

However, from a Cas perspective I thought Bulls played a near-perfect (in terms of errors and penalties) game. There was the odd one but I don't think it was anywhere near as significant as Cas in the first half.

And that's where the problem lies for me - you had most of the first half ball and failed to take any advantage and badly lack some creative spark and some pace. The spine of the team has been decimated with the loss of Langley, L'Estrange and Sammut and don't think replacements are of any near comparison in terms of quality.

Fitness took its toll in the final quarter and as the steam went, the ability to tackle also seemed to disappear. Whilst I can understand the panic button being pressed already, I don't think you are far off as a unit. You just need to find some zip, finesse and XFactor to replace Sammut and you'll do OK.

That's from my perspective anyway.

I really don't see any fitness issue.

If your pack weighs half a tanker less than the opposition, you have to do a ton more tackling.

If you keep on and on giving the opposition the ball, on your own 10, on the zero tackle, you wil not only have to do a shedload more tackling, you'll be doing it repeat set after repeat set.

If you keep conceding stupid penalties, you will yet again be doing extra tackling.

If you can't get a repeat set when attacking, you will have yet more tackling to do.

We did all that, and so it just stands to reason why we ended up running out of steam. We don't need to be fitter. We need to be smarter and rspect possession, so that we don't have to do an extra 50% of the normal workload. That's why we all looked buggered.

I thought as already mentioned, Bradford had the best of it in the first half and perhaps into the 15 min spell of the second half. Decimated? not at all. There are clearly a lot of positives for the Bulls. As for Cas. I think they played there strengths and won. I would not be unhappy as a supporter. The negative is I think, Cas coming up against a powerful pack they would look a very different team. Congrats to Cas though

I thought you could see from early doors that, whilst the Bulls were a fair bit more creative ball in hand (including the brain farts...I think some of our guys tried too hard to try and compensate for light pack?) they were getting slowly ground down by a stronger and pretty workmanlike pack. Doing too much tackling, not helped by the brain farts. And Cas were making more yards at each PTB and were taking more stopping each time. This got worse in the second half, when Cas clearly realised they just had to keep wearing the Bulls down to grind out a result.

I said at the ground that had we had Carvell we could well have won that. It was only in the final quarter that we looked too tired, and Cas took advantage. Earlier on, THEY looked tired too. There was one occasion when nearly all their guys had hands on hips. But I think pack weight and too much unforced defending told in the end, and they just had to stick to the basics - as they did - to gain the spoils.

Olbison/Addy/Donaldson as second rows will not strike fear into any team,we had no attacking threat out wide, not to mention defence

Looks like FC sees it the same way most of us perceived it:

"We gave a few yardage errors," he said.

"I thought there was a time when we were ready to go, but came up with those errors and they scored and that knocked us down a bit.

"We got fatigued because we gave the ball over too often on the first and second plays.

"But I'm proud because I felt that we were fully committed - you can't fault the effort and that's what you want.

"Cas can play good football, but we have to keep our concentration more. We gave it back to them too cheaply in the second half."

Thought we competed on level terms for an hour but then no gas left in the tank of our forwards. Positive displays from Purcell and Gaskell and kear always puts a shift in. Think nas maybe needed more minutes on the pitch today as Donaldson and addy looked exhausted in last twenty mins. Suppose playing so many minutes is a bit new to them both and week on week that should improve as long as they don't get smashed up too much.
Not too disappointed and looking forward to Thursday ..... I have my tickets ...Coyb

Not good enough IMO we need to beat teams like Castleford/Wakefield/Widnes/London especially at home if we are to stay up (and yes I do realise it is the first game)

Of course they were committed. On the whole safe tackling.

They had to overcompensate because they (CAS) had a better pack on the day to deal with. I am not sure FC is seeing what I am.

Its ok having a will of the wisp in the team but I am rather a structure, discipline, ordered, calm and technique person. Plays and more plays over different areas of the field. Mistakes are made trying too hard.

Scruton, Diskin and Kearney players for me today.

Well, it goes without saying that if I win Euromillions, things will start looking up almost immediately! I'll buy the club, of course; buy Wakefield and turn them into a bowling alley, after the fantastic support some of their supporters have given us; repay Sir Steve O'Connor and everyone else who helped us in the Pledge to Survive; give the fans of clubs who HAVE supported us - Like Warrington and Leeds - free admission to Odsal and free beers to boot; get some real ales in so they'll want to come; put a bloody lid over the terrace; and recruit the best managers I can lay my hands on to run the club. And put up a statue to Sir Trevor just inside the gates.

But, absent that, I can just hope and pray that the current ownership waknerage is resolved soonest. And that whoever IS pulling the levers by the end of the month is able to put some funds in to enable us to strengthen the team and ensure our survival.

Here's a thought: if 5,000 Bulls fans each chucked in £50, we'd have £1/4m. Maybe we could do something useful with that?

Just wrote a long and very insightful review of the game

and then lost it somehow... so now I'm even more depressed... basics being that we lost it in forwards - surprise! Gaskell's tackling technique not good - he gave away their first try, think he'll be targetted, Odsal was depressing, especially because of the memories of previous seasons, oh and I blame employing Mcnamara for so long (bit more nuanced and complicated than that and includes Leeds and some egotistical dimwits, but that's the jist). They you have it, that's the condensed version... I'm retiring for the season, sort of...

Pleasantly surprised by Diskin today, he looked a lot fitter than he has in recent seasons. Purtell did a lot of good things but far from MOM for me. I don't mean this in a disparaging way because it really was a good performance form him but he stood out because of the low expectations we have of him now. That sounds harsher than I mean but I can't think of another way to put it.

Not much else to add, it's all been said. No lack of effort but we're too light.

Seems quite clear that the unequivocal support of the great and good sponsors on RAB has done wonders for Diskin...!

Know what you mean about Purtell. I said to several today (who will doubtless quote me on it should it prove to be a load of waknerage) that he could just be the dark horse of whom few expected much, who may just surprise us. I realy hope he does too, after all he has been through.

I'm sorry Adey, I have been a fan of Purtell all along but when he got that ball today off a loose Cas pass in the first half he should of gone all the way and scored.I don't think he offers a great deal, Luke George would of scored then

He must have reasoned he did not have the pace? And he did throw a few wally passes too, for sure, I'll acknowledge that. Must admit, I wondered what George would have done with that. He could have helped a fair bit today? We did seem a bit bereft of activities out wide today - that was where Cas looked vulnerable, I thought? But I still reckon Purtell may prove a lot more useful than many folk have assumed, and for the reason vbfg said: most folk had written him off, but I think he showed today he still has a fair bit to bring?

Hang on Rog mate, something is very wrong here?

We are debating RL things, not financial waknerage and other off-field crap?

This really will not do! These forums are for accountants and lawyers, not rugby league fans! Debating how guys performed on the park is totally irrelevant to the real matters at hand! How can we live with the shame?

Fireworks in broad daylight at 3pm and free hot chocolate. :-/.

Good luck for the season ahead, feel a little sorry for the (loyal) fans that back your team.

Yep, when the clubs skint what's the best thing to do? I know, go out and spend money we don't have on pointless fireworks which have zero effect!

Ever paused to wonder whether they're actually costing the club money? Given the amount of plugging about Mr Fireworks supplying these, perhaps not.