At least it's [currently forecast to be dry for the match itself, so let's hope that's the case. Sopping pitch won't help the game though, that is for sure.

Other than Matty Blythe we are probably able to field our strongest team today, providing Williams, Purtell, Mullaney and Luaki are actually fit to play - I haven't included Siejka in that calculation. We need to be making a big effort in defence and the attack can take care of itself.
Looking out of my windows there is a lot of water stood in the fields and it is still raining heavily. There is no sign of that changing. It could look a bit like Wembley in 68 by kickoff. Should we not win well I will become a little more concerned over our future prospects.

Local forecast still saying to dry up around midday and the sky certainly looks a bit lighter than it did earlier, here around 3 miles from Odsal, in [not so sunny Tyersal. Definitely down to the odd spot now though.

Not sure I'd include lauaki in our strongest lineup on his performances so far TBH.
I'd take scrappy win today with an improvement in defence. think pitch conditions are going to be a big factor and should keep score down.

Well the weather has certainly turned. Blue skies and sunshine. Very rare for a home game at Odsal

Defense looking better. Not sure why addy is kicking now shaws on the pitch. Anyone know why mulaney went off? Assume he's tweaked injury again

Certainly a big improvement in terms of the defence.

Still not a full 80 minute performance as we did switch off at times. But definitely a better day at the office for the Bulls

Very happy with that.

A great performance from the team to put right the wrongs at Doncaster. A shame about the two late scores for them but I think everyone would've taken that score. To beat one of our closest rivals so comprehensively can only be a good thing. I thought the pack were completely dominant. Fleming has his best game IMO, I think as soon as any other props are fit we should drop Lauaki though. He was our weakest prop by some distance and the only forward who didn't make ground after the initial collision. All the other forwards were immense. Also great to have a goalkicking alternative to Shaw, who knew Addy could kick like that?

Much better defence today, I would say satisfactory, the communication is happening and the team knew what to do and carried it out. Sheffield were frustrated, which is a good sign that we were delivering on the pitch. Well done the Bulls .Ferguson looks awesome !! There No.10 and 22 were good for them.

Some very classy tries today. Uaisele and Williams in the first half, and Henry in the second were all great scores.
It's a shame that we lost Mullaney but Shaw did well as back up. Addy's kicking accuracy certainly gives us an option if Shaw isn't on the pitch.
As others have already mentioned, Lauaki won't be anywhere near our 17 once Crossley/Davies/Tahraoui are back fit.
Great to see Ferguson now firing on all cylinders - played the full 80, ran his blood to water and bagged some well deserved tries along the way.

Adam Henry had his best game in a Bulls shirt today. I was worried when I saw he was up against Yere, but he had Menzie in his pocket the whole game and looked a real threat with the ball. His work for both the Uaisele try and his own was very good indeed.

As for Sheffield, the wheels kind of fell off when Brambani went off injured. Nice to see Langley keeping up his tradition of never passing the ball.

Definitely a bit of an eye opener in terms of showing our capability. Just wonder if they can turn it on again next week in the frozen wastes of West Cumbria. Still not a full 80 minutes but I don't think we needed to......maybe totalled a good 65. I'm sure there must be improvement in Luaki so maybe he's being nurtured slowly to be ready when it matters. I'm really pleased with how much better the backs looked today and Matty B will just add to that.

I was thinking about people like Blythe on the way home today. Who would make way for him? Henry and Uaisele looked really good down our right hand side today, Jimmy might not want to disrupt that partnership. And then Purtell on the other side scored one try and set Williams up with a great flick pass, so it would be harsh to drop him too.
We also have plenty of second rowers so I can't see him getting a look in there either.
A nice headache for Jimmy to have, I suppose.

Marc Green just tweeted this shot of what the pitch was like at 9am

Wow, good job by the ground staff to get the pitch in a playable condition.

Good display today. 3 mistakes in the first 5 minutes had me worried but the forwards were far too strong for Sheffield. Only Lauaki disappointed.
Particularly impressed with Henry's much improved performance . And watching Clough today made me realise what a good signing he has been. Never flashy but consistently does the hard graft.
Only jarring note was seeing two political posters on the billboards outside the ground. I trust they were fly posted and not sanctioned. The last thing we need is the club to be seen favouring one party.

Eagles not so cock sure of themselves now

Amazed the pitch held up as well as it did.

Amazing that there were just a few 'splashy' patches when you look at that photo above

Back to the game itself, and it would have to be pretty close to our best performance of the season (alongside the Featherstone game) and the perfect retort to the (deserved) criticism after last week. Totally dominant for pretty much all the game, based off a dominant pack performance.

I don't whether Sheffield were just poor today, or we never let them play - or some of both? But, either way, we looked a definite class above. If they are the third best team in the league, then I don't think we need worry about finishing in the top two

The only downside was Mullaney limping off again.

I thought we closed down their options well and made them look ordinary. I have not been that impressed with Ephalami Which is a bit unfair. He is not getting game time. If its fitness then their is a problem, he should be smashing it by now. Some banging tries and the Bulls looked like they were enjoying it as a team at last.

Very pleased with this result and performance. Was looking to see some improvement in defence and we got that today. Especially since their 2nd try resulted from a pass so far forward it was ridiculous, but that's the standard of officiating at this level unfortunately.

I watched Lauaki quite closely today given some of the criticism he receives. Ball in hand he doesn't seem to make enough ground once he makes contact with the defenders. He did however chased hard in defence and draws in plenty of defenders when used as a dummy runner. Not sure why he is getting so few minutes, he certainly didn't seem impressed when he came off after about 8 mins of the 2nd half.

I'm still hopeful he will find his feet and bring some value to the team but I'm not sure he will live up the 'wrecking ball' hype that he has been saddled with.

I would push Addey to put in extra time with his goal kicking as it would be a big bonus if he could turn into a regular kicker. When Baile and Blythe are fully fit Jimmy may leave Shaw out as his defence isn't great. It will be a tough decision when all are fit.
I thought Henry was very good today and starting to show why he came highly recommended.
Can't wait to see Davis and Lauaki fully fit. We could have a pack capable of taking on those bottom SL teams.

I now don't expect to see us go for another half back. Addey did OK today and the weeks are now passing before we get Seika back - about 5-6 games now? Once he is back we will effectively have Seika, Gaskell, Malloney and Addey available as halves.

Best performance of the season today for me. Sheffield are no mugs and I was expecting this to be a close game. I thought we made them look very ordinary. They really struggled to get out of their half. Seemed to want to drag is into a bitkf a scrap, but unlike the Leigh game I thought we concentrated on playing rugby.


Ferguson was immense (where are his knockers now?) Olbison was also outstanding.

Great game today.

Wasn't at the Fev game so can't compare but that was the best all round performance I've seen this year. I had a suspicion given the weather that Sheffield could keep us pinned in the boggy final twenty under the Coral Stand that always cuts up in wet weather just like Halifax did in the first half of that game, particularly when we were due to be playing out of that end in the second half.

Ferguson and Clough were outstanding. Hard to fault anyone in the pack today, though while I agree that Lauaki draws 'em in on his runs without the ball (I think we scored two in the first half passing behind him) I'm not sure what else he does. I don't want to come across as too critical but some of his side steps in previous games have covered more lateral yardage than his runs with the ball have taken us forward.

That could have been a real banana skin today and I'm feeling uncharacteristically positive.

Cough has been good all year, my man of season so far. We were good today, I'm looking forward to an 80 minute performance, we'll give someone a hell of a tonking, lets hope it's Leigh