Yes mate.

The East stand and South East quadrant are closed. I believe the East stand is only open to members of the media as this is where the press facilities are situated.

Confirmed that via club and RFL Leigh are approaching 4000 sales

The 'official' attendance at this sort of event is meaningless

There'll probably be about 8,000 people in the ground when we kick off against Leigh, but when the earlier games are being played the ground will be almost empty. Yet the RFL will say how much of a success it was with a 'crowd' of 10K...

As for Sunday, I expect to see banks of empty seats. Seriously, will there be more than 2 or 3 thousand there on the Sunday?

Bulls had sold 1800/1900 6 days ago and had sold most at that point.(figures from RFL) If Leigh say they had sold 1799 6 days ago as an example I doubt they have sold 2201 since then.

Leigh have sold out the North Stand (2,500) and have now started taking the last few North West Stand (800) tickets.

Bradford have the South Stand (3,100) and West Stand (3,800).

The West Stand balcony holds (1100) and has limited availability.

It's all sounding very promising.

I reckon 5500 max combined. All this we have sold so many and they have sold so many is a load of crap

West Stand is mixed. Both Leigh and Bradford (and everyone else) have tickets for that stand for those who prefer to watch from the sides rather than behind the sticks.

So definitely no Gaskell for this match, which is a shame but not unexpected.
It also sounds like those rumours were true about Drinkwater having an offer from us but choosing to join Leigh instead. Slightly concerning I suppose, but if he looked at the league table and recent results then I guess his decision makes perfect sense.

Regardless of what failed Tipsters say, I would be amazed if Leigh didn't offer a better financial package too. They have a bigger budget thanks to Uncle Derek after all.

That's not to say he wouldn't have gone anyway even if the finances were the same, I'm sure he would.

Really????

I wonder who we'll go with at 6 & 7 this week then from the options of one Half that can't tackle a dinner, a Loose Forward, a Centre and a Second Rower. Or perhaps we'll try someone else there instead. Sidlow maybe?

I'd go with Thomas and Addy in the halves. They did score 19 unanswered points against Sheffield on Friday.

Thomas also missed about 19 tackles.

However I would concur they are the least poor option.

God I miss the days when we actually had 3 halfbacks in the squad so it wasn't an issue if one was injured.

I'm pretty certain they were in a position to offer more money...

Thomas and Addy would seem to be the least worst option.

But how often was Thomas left completely isolated by Blythe been out of position and leaving him 1 on 1 against Menzie Yere (who has sat many decent defenders on their backside)

The defensive side can be fixed by getting some decent defenders along side him. Attacking wise i think Thomas has actually played the best at HB out of anyone (including Gaskell) Hopefully he will get more confident with a run of games. He took control as the game went on against Sheffield and he became more confident. In fact it's the first time i've seen game management this year. l also thought Addy had his best game for a while.

Surely it'll be Purtell and Welham in the centres? Or is Purtell injured? I've been away...

I was stood not very far away when Thomas dropped off easy tackles. And not just on units like Yere. He's a defensive liability, but on the flip side can be a dangerous attacking threat if he's in form.

He's far from ideal IMO, but he is the only real option until a mystery signing happens, which looks like being some time never.




He's been missing last few games through injury.

Any chance of Purtell being back for Saturday?

I agree Blythe is a terrible defender. Actually a fit JP Baille would be a decent option in his proper position. Whatever's happened to him?

Don't think Purtell will be back for Saturday.

It's times like these when you realise just how unbalanced our squad is. No fullback until we made a panic buy, who surprised nobody by being terrible. We now play a winger there instead. No 7 at all to speak of, and only two recognised centres before we're forced to play someone like Blythe there, who at times looks like he's never played the sport before in his life he's that bad.

Mathers back in the squad



Clough out with a knock

Lucas Walshaw, Adam O’Brien, Dale Ferguson, Kurt Haggerty, Mitch Clark, Steve Crossley, Danny Addy, Richie Mathers, Joe Lumb, Jay Pitts, Kris Welham, Oscar Thomas, Danny Williams, James Clare, Tom Olbison, Adam Sidlow, Alex Mellor, Omari Caro, Matty Blythe.

Considering Leighs pack is massive, it's a big gamble going with 3 props.

For me:

Clare
Caro
Welham
Walshaw (he's played there before)
Williams
Addy
Thomas
Sidlow
O'brien
Crossley
Olbison
Ferguson
Pitts
Lumb
Clark
Haggerty
Mellor

Very lightweight pack. Need to throw the ball out wide as much as possible

One of Haggerty, Olby or Fergie will spend some of the 80 minutes at prop judging by that squad.

Agree. So it's imperative that we have two dynamic and specialist halves to get the ball out there.

Oh.

seems strongest lineup. as hamsterchops said would expect one of olbison,ferguson or haggerty to fill in at prop. With walker and fleming both out on loan, kavanagh injured and lauaki seemingly totally out of picture not sure what else we can do. Wouldnt be surprised to see mathers at FB and clare at . I'd maybe be tempted to try melor at ahead of Walshaw. Has Walshaw been playing at all this season or has he been injured? would have thought he was too old for u19s so surely his match fitness must be a concern.

Who is this Lucas Walshaw chap?