Well the best team lost, but that's how it goes sometimes.

I just find it hard to believe that all the contentious video ref decisions went the way of Leeds. We only needed one to go our way and that would have been game won.

To cap it all they gave MOM to Jones-Bishop (he did have a good game), when the best player on the field was Elliot Whitehead by a mile.

Still there's a lot to look forward to for the Bulls fans, despite the disappointment of that result.

I cant belive Whitehead did'nt get the MoM. Best player on the field by a country mile.

He had the wrong colour shirt on though.

Gutted by the result but impressed by our performance.

Don't know who decides the MOM but they must have seen a different match to me. Whitehead seemed to be everywhere and was head and shoulders above anyone else on the pitch.

Wonder if Potter will give Ainscough a chance against Wigan? I'd be tempted, I can't see him having a bad game against his former club!

Absolutely spot on. I don't know what more he could have done to get MoM

But it doesn't fit the Sky TV script does it? I mean could Paul Cullen and Phil Clarke possibly have been any more pro-Leeds? Even when we were 28-10 up it was all about how Leeds could come back, how Leeds just needed to click into gear etc etc - barely a word of how much improved we were.

That hatred by the the colour commentators towards the Bulls is pathetic

Yeah, Phil Clarke loves us! I heard he sent Danny McGuire a Valentines card as well!

Brilliant display from a group of players that will only get better. Elliott Whitehead was easily the MOM. Cannot wait for next sunday to welcome the boys back to Odsal. The best team lost today, we know it and the end of season table will prove it

My thoughts... for what they're worth...

Firstly, after throwing away a lead like that lets hope their heads don't go down for the next 12 games! It was a very good performance considering the number of new players who are having to get to gel together. It was very promising.

However... Whilst the overall performance was OK there were a few too many mistakes and silly penalties given away at critical times and in key parts of the pitch which contributed in letting Leeds back into the game. Disappointing but also to be expected during the first game of the season.

Was the ref poor? I thought he was very happy to blow his whistle and penalise players for laying on for both sides when it was a marginal call. I think the difference was that the the critical calls all seemed to go in Leeds favour but I think that was more the video ref rather than Ganson, a few 50/50 calls seemed to go in Leeds favour when I thought the advantage should have gone to the Bulls as the attacking team - if we didn't have bad luck we wouldn't have any at all and it was that which I was cursing after the game. Let's also put things in perspective though - we were lucky Ah Van didn't get more than a ticking off for his high tackle on Burrow.

Sky are terrible. I started to lose signal due to the rain part way through to the game and I blame Stevo. I don't think the Bulls have ever really been portrayed in the same was as Leeds/Wigan/Saints no matter what we did on the pitch - despite outstanding success they will never class us as one of the marque teams. In the early days of SL we seen as an underdog punching above their weight on the pitch and one of the first clubs to embrace SL and the whole matchday experience off it. When we maintained that success it was as if we were somehow breaking the rules and they've never really made a secret of the fact that they'd prefer what they see as the big 3 to be their instead. It looks like they're more than happy to write us off before this season has started so lets hope we can prove them wrong.

Well played Bradford. Thought you were the best team by a long way. Leeds did the same to you as they did to us last year in Edinburgh.

A good performance from our lads considering there are 11 new signings, a new coach, we lost our first choice scrum half and our leading metre maker and tackler.

The game could've gone either way in the end and there was nothing between the two teams. Leeds may have had the edge in class in the end but on paper you'd expect that. On the field we showed we're a different prospect this year.

Just a question, why wasn't Ah Van sin binned for his head high tackle on Burrow? When an opposition player makes a break and you foul him your in the bin, they call it a Professional foul.

we all knew it woas going to happen. when ganson and silverwood got together what else could have happened.
just wondering if the rfl are going to turn round in the next few days and appologise for the wrong decisions but stay on the story of refs make mistakes all the time.
why we have the same refs in big games when other clubs have different ones i dont know.
think the rfl need to keep them two away from our games and see what happens

He sort of pulled out of the tackle at the last second. Had he hit him with a stiff arm it would've been an instant red. Having said that I've seen a lot less get a yellow card.

Nobody seemed to be particularly incensed on the Leeds side and Ah Van apologised to Burrow straightaway.

All this whinging about the refs is pathetic.

could ask the same question about quite a few leeds tackles which we didnt even get a penalty for.

Why, when he dropped the ball forward the recovered it, wasn't Webb penalised for a knock on near the Leeds line in the build up to a Leeds try?

It was a yellow, no doubt about it. If you illegally tackle a player when he is on the break it is at the very least a sin bin. But for the sake of the s posting on this thread lets forget about that shall we.

Whitehead for an oscar, he sold that interference penalty to Ganson, but lets forget about that one also because Leeds are nasty cheaters.

This^^^^



Well done to the guys and the coaching team.

fair call and i would agree. but a bulls player was clearly pushed back over the line for a goal line drop out and he was allowed to play the ball.
ganson is ganson, he wants to be the game.

all in all both sides have some optomism for the season ahead. i think you lot can look forward to a decent season on that display

A great performance by the Bulls which we could and should have won. I think two things contributed to our defeat..
Firstly we gave away too many penalties (Sibbitt and Diskin were guilty here)...
Secondly, Raynor kept coming inside instead of marking his opposite wingman. I think he gave away 3 tries by doing this. Leeds' inside men were well covered by other Bulls players, all Raynor had to do was to stay in front of the Leeds winger.
But all in all a very good performance.

Think you need to engage your brain pal. Raynor was the one who tried to cheat by halling back BJB. Silverwood and Ganson caught him out. If Raynor had not tried to cheat you might have one.

A fantastic display from Bradford and I think that you’ll only get better from here. If only you’d carried on from where you left off in the first half, then I think that this game would have been yours. Leeds once again seemed to be relying on individual superstardom displays and thankfully it worked off today. I certainly liked the look of Chev Walker.

All the best for the rest of the season!

Ok .. kicking off for my first post
This is what sorely miss about not being able to get to any games .. as an avid life long Northern/Bulls supporter of nearly 40 years, it never gets old watching or listening to a great game between 2 bitter rivals with the tries, the oohs, the ahs and controversies that always go hand in hand with our great game. Disappointed we lost but hey, it sounded like an excellent game (thanks to BCB radio which I'm happy I can get here in China).

Roll on this new season, should be an exciting one ... Good Luck COYB!

Briggs stripped the ball one on one. Webb then regathered, play on. It was the correct decision.

For a first competitive run out, considering we lost Herbert before the game, I'm pleased with the overall effort.
Losing Platt and Langley meant we were knackered come the final 15 and it was always going to be a struggle to turn Leeds over once they picked up a head of steam.
Just remember it's only a league game, I've seen enough today to be convinced that we'll win more games than we lose this season, hopefully we'll be in the top 8 come September and can give the playoffs a good go.

And stop moaning about the ref, damn near every decision was spot on today.