Hahaha



This made me laugh. Love a good Phoenix Nights reference!

Lingard has overseen a Batley side that is gritty, full of endeavour, hard to beat and greater than the sum of its parts. The problem with that is that John Kear also oversaw a Batley side that was gritty, full of endeavour, hard to beat and greater than the sum of its parts.

For me richard Marshall got a raw deal at fax after all he had done achieving over 3 years. The S alford decision for me came too soon( have the improved this year ? ) . I think marshall could inspire both the Bulls team and reignite the crowds as well. He is a very good communicator at numerous levels .

Any statisticians know what the record is for the time taken from sacking a coach to appointing a new head coach? Let’s hope Nige is better at picking coaches than owners.

Gone very quiet hasn't it? In fact there's been very little in the way of anything coming out of the club really. No wonder traffic has dried up on here. Poor do.

I received an email survey asking why everyone had stopped coming. Does that count?

Just checked and I've had one too. I've sent them my two penneth.

4 wins from 6 games under Mark Dunning. Unless they know there would be a backlash (would there be?) I can’t see passed Dunning getting the job unless we have a big name lined up.

If Dunning can get improved performances and results then he's definitely got a chance. We're not made of money so may struggle to attract a big name but then again the last two coaches were very big names so who knows?

It's an important appointment as we all know with rumours of a re-structure being in the mix. We need someone that can get the side playing well but can also attract good quality players. Dunning may not have the reputation to do that last part.

It's pathetic isn't it

Kear left on April 26th - almost TWO MONTHS ago. Ample time to conduct 'a thorough process' or whatever phrase they trotted out

It's impossible to avoid the conclusion that it's all a cost-saving exercise - so either do the honest thing and appoint Dunning (which surely we all now expect) or produce a coach from what we were told was a large field of suitable candidates.

I don’t know why everyone gets so hung up, if they’d have rushed and given it to first applicant to get their CV on Nigel’s desk we’d have complained. It seems obvious to me, they are taking their time to hopefully get it right, safe in the knowledge Dunning can do a sufficient job in a season were everyone is playing for the privilege of getting hammered in RD 1 of the play offs.

I love your optimism, are you new to this club?



I’m all for taking a moment to consider all options but at the end of the day they’re picking a RL head coach. I’m at a loss why that process cannot be done in around 5-6 weeks given the very small pool of talent the club can pick from. You’d think they might want to send some good news out at some point?

It could be the Coach they want isn't available yet, although I can't see Mick Potter leaving Cronulla just yet!

The email suggest they don't understand how they've come to the situation re-crowds, which similarly suggests they're in the process of making a huge decision with massive budget implications with no real grip on the situation. Hard to make numbers add up when you don't know what they are anymore. With a new coach and some wins would crowds come back? Or is it the case that sans some credible project for promotion this is what it looks like.

Michael Potter is the Canterbury Bulldogs Interim Coach till the end of the season & has been in charge for the last 4 Games

Potter was the best coach we've had since Nobby IMO. Shame it ended how it did because he'd recruited well and we were becoming a top 8 team again.

It wasn't that long ago that we were a top 2 side in the championship. I'd like to see us aim to be one again. Finishing 7th or 8th isn't good enough by a long way. As has been said before we should aim to be the "best of the rest". The downward spiral since the away game at York last season needs to be stopped. Dunning's done ok so far. The win versus Sheffield shows we're making progress but I want to see consistency before I'd give him the job.

Would fans come back if we played better rugby and were a top 4 side? Some would I reckon but the longer it takes the fewer would return as people develop other habits. What we need to do is attract new supporters.

I don't think it's getting hung up.

Rugby League is a small world - anyone remotely qualified would have known the vacancy had occurred within 24 hours of Kear leaving. One week would be ample time for people to submit CVs with another couple of weeks to shortlist and interview.

It could easily have been done within a month with no 'rush'

If the candidate is not available until the end of the season then make an announcement to that effect and appoint Dunning until then.

It's not rocket science

Instead we get poor quality announcements from the club, when we hear anything at all. Then they wonder why crowds are falling?

GC stating interviews next week with 7 candidates. Not sure if they’ve allowed 1 per day or it’s just coincidence!! Perhaps we might hear something in the next few weeks then!! Unless it’s a 2 stage interview process!

I think if we end up with a top end coach people won't care how long it's taken. If we end up with Dunning, and I've been pleasantly surprised how well we've been playing under him, it does smack a little of us stalling to hope he came through to give him the job. It shouldn't have taken 6 weeks to keep the application process open, as PaulWalker said, RL is a very small world, should have been 10 days tops before interviews. I'm not against Dunning getting the job as I've liked how we've played under him. But when Wood talked about keeping the application process open as some high level candidates from abroad are applying, it just places mistrust in the club. If it really is the case some hifh calibre coaches have applied, then my preference would be appoint them and Dunning continue his apprenticeship under them with a promise of being given the gig next.

Couldnt have written my own thoughts any better than this.


The club as a whole is a laughing stock. The owner is a laughing stock and things like this just add to it.

I think the big concern for me about the length of time this is taking to appoint a coach is that we are supposedly heading into the most crucial season the club have had (arguably ever), and we are missing the boat on potential recruitment opportunities.

Any new coach is surely going to want to have a say in the squad for next year, yet here we are with deals that can be done and yet we are still sat around wondering who that is going to be.

MD seems to have a good reputation within the club and the squad but I don't honestly think even he thinks he is in with a shot of being given the role FT. So the question mark is do the club genuinely have high calibre candidates interested as they have stated, who are capable of coaching in the championship with a limited budget?

I personally can't see it.

Two months post kear leaving and we still haven’t interviewed yet… I don’t think anyone can really say that getting hung up or rushing it.

The impact has been reduced by Dunning racking up 4 wins from 6 but can you imagine if that hadn’t happened. We would be so relaxed?

I don’t expect to be the first to know but as season ticket holders and expected to pay into bull builder, friends of the young bulls, squad builder etc you would hope the club would try a bit harder and not just write off the season.

If so, I wish they would have told us and we could have kept our money in our pockets

No one is expected to pay in to Bullbuilder. We are completely independent to the club and were set up so people could volutarily donate to us with all proceeds going towards funding and supporting youth development.

I cant speak for the other organisations but certainly no one associated with Bullbuilder places any expectation on anyone to sign up to be a member or donate.

If the interviews are next Tuesday it will be exactly NINE WEEKS to the day since Kear left.

Yet people keep telling us how we shouldn't "rush things"

I assume we paid Kear's contract up. So in effect, we are still paying for him.

So I can understand Nigel's desire to take the cheap option which is to let the guy already on the payroll do the job.

I'm expecting Dunning until the end of the season, then a new coach for 2022. The problem with that scenario, as has been noted, is the 2022 recruitment.