Well that could have been a lot worse.

As soon as the squads were announced it was obvious it was going to be damage limitation for the Bulls today. We had more then enough to match them in the pack but Langleys absence meant we had to pass out the workload he gets through. I noticed Elima spend some time off the pitch today which didn't really help proceedings. I thought we got off to a decent start but the class of Wigan came through eventually. The scoreline was fairly flattering for them in my opinion.

It was always going to be an uphill struggle losing Briggs and Herbert midweek. I was reluctant for Potter to put Sykes back in the halves as he must have seen how poor he was last season. I agree with Ewwenorfolk we must have Southernwood in the squad next week. Kearney put in a decent stint and could have been helped out a little more by Ah Van, L'Estrange & Whitehead. Diskin also put in a decent shift but we couldn't open up the wel drilled Wigan defence.

The referee calls were a bit dodgy but our discipline is getting a bit worrying. I felt if our 2 disallowed tries would have stood the result may have been a bit closer.

Fielden had a solid game and we couldn't stop his offloading which killed us. Instead of putting 'big shots' on the opposition I wish our defence would focus on wrapping the ball up. As for Wigans defence, I can't make my mind up. It felt like they were persistently lying on in the tackle and wrestling in the tackle but it seems no officials are blowing for it. Interesting debate.

The only positive from today was the 15,000+ attendance. It was fantastic to see so many fans back supporting the Bulls. Hopefully todays performance won't put them off and they'll be back on March 6th for our home game against Wakefield.

I'm still full of optimism for the rest of the season. We must remember we were missing 3 key players facing the best team in the League.

Bring on the Crusaders!

Mate, we've had McNamara for 4 years before this.

Where is Bullseye? Didn't he absolutely, positively guarantee Sykes wouldn't play at stand off again, ahem



Though to be fair he wasn't the poorest out there today.

Still enthused about the season, but Potter needs to have another look at our starting 17 - If our only fit scrum half is Southernood so be it, he has to play, and let's get some pace in the side!

By about 8 to 12 points i reckon...............

Who was then? Bentham?

Not the best today, no one can argue with that. Thought Lynch and Kearney went ok. Olbison ran in hard when he came on. We're in need of a centre, a prop and a half back. Mystified why Addy didn't play. Walker tackled hard but he's best used in the 2nd row. I thought the officials were a joke today, not seeing blatant things and then seeing things a lot less obvious.

Briggs was a 50/50 chance of playing om Wednesday so I;m taking all the info with a pinch of salt from now on.

He may have aggravated it in training, plus they couldn't be certain until he had a scan.

I won't believe Briggs is playing until I see him on the pitch. Whenever that may be.

Indeed. Plus you don't have to be 100% fit to play. Scruton was carrying a ankle injury into todays game but managed to put in a sterling performance

By Wednesday they will have had the scan done.

Well can't be bothered to read all the other posts but I will say it was great to see a big crowd at Odsal, shame the weather wasn't better. We do have the Buzz going again.
Well we were always going to struggle without a recognised half back, but no Loose forward was always going to make it worse. Nothing creative for most of the game from us, just straight up the middle ito a strong Wigan defense. There's no point in having fast wingers if we can't get the ball to them in open space. Addy should have played and I would have gone with Southerwood. Yes he might not be ready physically but we are only talking about a few games which would do him no real harm if protected.
Whitehead was the standout again for me and Walker is a monster. Olbison looked the part when he came on. Disco and Le'Strange always looked lively. We need to step it up for the next 2 games or we will be back to where we were 2010 and the Buzz will wear off pretty quickly. Good to see the Team come out and applaud the crowd and equally good to see a lot of the Fans stay back to applaud the Team at the end of the game.
Come on Potter time to work the magic......

Really disappointed today but I suppose it was to be expected playing the champions with a side with loads of new players and no recognised half backs. Wigan's defence was awesome today and we asked very few questions of it. I thought Kearrney worked his fingers o the bone but in terms of creativity he was essentially on his own, although Diskin gave a spark when he came on.
In terms of selection I'm not sure about Hargreaves at LF. I would have liked to have seen Addy there to ffer more creativity and hi short kicking game.
I'm hoping we can Herbert back next week and I hope Addy makes the 17 to make up for no Briggs. We were a totally different team to the Cardiff one today but hopefully we'll have more spark against Crusaders.

Every time we came up with an error Wigan ruthlessly profited from the mistake. We had no shape in attack and when Wigan where expansive passing through their back line we seemed all at sea.
How Addy didn't get a game today is beyond me and in many ways I feel for Sykes as he's constantly been asked to play a role he simply cant do. I no the seasons young but I think we would have struggled to beat any team in this competition today with such a disjointed performance.
I'm pleased that some of the player contracts are only for a year because I'm willing to commit now that Sibbitt is very much the journey man that I believed him to be.

First of all i'd like to say well done to your fans today it was great to see a packed Odsal again! Was chatting to a few blokes at the end, really decent lads and they wished us well for the season, always enjoy going to Bradford (even though i almost froze to death!)

With regards to the match I dont think you should worry too much. Your not going to win the league again yet but I think your a shoe in for the playoffs. I was really impressed with Briggs last week and with him back in your side in a few weeks I think you'll score alot more than 10 points. Just need to sort your defence out really, it was very poor although I dont think many teams would have been able to stop Sam Tomkins today.

Thought Ah Van was poor today, and he was poor last week also. You'd be better off with Ainscough on the wing. He's a better defender, and thats saying something!

My first thoughts after the game today was that we've just played the best side in the league. Wigan are a very well drilled side that's had a lot of stability. Sure they push things to the limit with the wrestles and the grapples but why shouldn't they? On the other side of the coin we were the victim of our own errors today.

Every time we coughed the ball up in our own half they scored. When we had the ball in their half our lack of halfbacks meant we were never going to be as clinical. Even if we had Briggs and Herbert I doubt we'd have looked as slick as Wigan as these things take time to gell together.

As for Sykes we got what we could've expected. He's no halfback but he does his best. We've two halfbacks out so there's not much else we could've done. From what I've seen of Southernwood he's not ready yet. As for Addy I would've had him in the 17 to give us a bit more mobility but he'll get his chance.

Although we got a bit stuffed today I remain optimistic. The side is a work in progress and we're already doing it tough without both halfbacks and arguably our best forward. When we get a first choice team out we'll go ok. Meanwhile lets keep the faith.

Some well reasoned comments so far, some utter ridiculous.

I think the score line was a little unfair on us by the end, the last 15 minutes in each half saw us leak some points which was a little disappointing.

Summing up for me:
- Lacked direction & cutting edge due to having no half backs out there.
- Some poor decisions in defence
- No lack of effort though
- A very effective and efficient Wigan side (they do seem to have adopted a very ugly style though that borders on foul play much of the time)
- Some poor calls from the ref and liners - I'd like to see that first try again…I'm almost certain everyone was on side.

Excellent crowd and atmosphere toady…..the buzz was certainly back.
I hope folk stick with them though - that'll be one of (if not the) best teams to show up at Odsal this season.

That said, we need to learn the lessons from the last two week and put it into practice next week. A win on the board should really kick start the confidence.
Two wins from the next two should be talked up internally and is a pretty achievable goal I'd say?

Having watched the match I am more disappointed in the referring and poor linesman, I believe the first Bradford try was Not knocked forward as we were in line with the ball and the linesman who Bentham spoke to was 20mts away and not in line!!
Also one of the Pie’s tries was a very doggy looking forward pass, with Bentham only seeming to penalise the Bulls and not Wigan for laying on and slowing the game down with such poor decisions it’s a wonder the team keep going for so long without losing all hope. Wigan were far the better team with us struggling to penetrate their solid defence and getting the ball out wide on a number of occlusions.
Bring on the Crusaders kos they are going to get hammered.

The first Bradford try was not ruled out for being knocked forward. It was ruled out for Elima been offside from the kick hence why it was a penalty not a hand over.

Pretty much sums it up for me. Poor performance granted but what do people expect with no halves playing. Plenty to work on but we can only improve. Addy in for Sykes for me as a must.
Excellent crowd and atmosphere toady…..the buzz was certainly back.

i enjoyed my first trip to odsal for a while, I'll definitely be back!

I thought wigan bull summed it up good for me. It was frustrating though to see Kearney running his knackers off but with no runners to play off him. If we cut out Wigan's phase one, there was always a phase 2 (and probably a phase 3).

the defense wasn't great, too much going for the big hit instead of working as a unit.

I was wondering what Royston's role in the team was supposed to be today? IMO, Kearney should have stayed at 6 with Royston staying at full back but Kearney seemed to be in both places.

Potter likes using Kearney at FB so he can return the ball from kicks and also to reduce his defensive workload

We were told when Ah Van and Royston signed they could play stand off. Personally I'd have gone with Diskin or L'Estrange at scrum half so there were other options which whilst not ideal were nevertheless, options. To start a new era in front of 15000 fans with Sykes at 6, perhaps the most tangible symbol of the utter failure of the previous season, is nothing short of bizarre. He could have picked Kopczak at 6 and the crowd wouldn't have deflated as quickly. I couldn't believe it at the time and I'm still astonished now. This isn't a criticism of Sykes who was being asked to do something every Bradford supporter knows he cannot do.

Great to see you get a good crowd today. It would be nice to see you pushing on... the league needs a strong Bradford and as many big clubs as possible.
It depends on which side of the fence you sit with the wrestling. If you look at NRL the wrestle is a big part of the game and by most it's encouraged. Fast one out scooting rugby does not make for an entertaining game, infact thats why the NRL has gone away from that style. You see teams with one hooker(Mickey Mac going that way for us) or halfbacks playing in the acting half role, also halfs are playing fullback more (Sam T today) all to help unlock tighter defences. We need to encourage skillful play going back to scooting rugby wont do that. We are lucky at Wigan to have a coach who is up to date with such plays and any one who thinks Bradford or any ther SL teams do not practice slowing the completed tackle (not play the ball) is deluded!! A subtle difference between slowing the completed tackle legal, slowing the play the ball ilegal and should be penalised.We are just doing it better at the moment.
I watched some of the best constructed (coached) rugby last season at Wigan and I've seen some good teams in the last thirty odd years!! If we are to compete at a national level we need to follow NRL. If we are to win at national level we need to see a young British coach come in and not follow the NRL but superceed it! The scoot would be going backwards and most teams would employ it with a fast play the ball not much skill in that! the rugby thats played in OZ beats that style of play and so it's outdated.
Hope you can build on the crowds and see some improvement on the field, all the best for the year.

Think the score today was a bit harsh IMO. Wigan didn't play great (although putting 44 points on someone when not playing brilliant will do

) and at times Bradford played well, however for the majority you seemed... mediocre (No offence).

Both teams can take positives and negatives out of the game though. However I agree with the majority, Sykes is no number 6. Fair play to him for giving it 100%, but he was well out of his depth.