This is a GREAT discussion, no really.

I thought the topic was Chris Bridges forearm smash ( as it would be called in wrestling terms ) on Jeffries.

Anyway, as you say, as the season wears on and our injured players come back and those that have just come back get up to match sharpness so we have a fully up to speed pack and set of backs, the pitch dries out so players such as Sammut and our two NRL centres who are used to dry conditions all can show their running skills, and a much changed squad and in particular new half backs and those NRL centres (who still havent played together yet) finally has time to gel, yes, we are looking forward to being a better team. Did Warrington suddenly start winning trophies overnight? So yes you are being patronising, because this team has played nowhere near its best yet.

If our early 2000 sides were the blueprint, you're still some way off getting there.

You haven't even won SL yet, whereas we had a treble winning team. We might have fallen from a great height, but it was from a height that you aren't close to reaching yet.

Ahh, bless there little cotton socks, one hub cap and they think they are the greatest team ever to grace super league, let's deal with facts here, saints Have proven to be the best team in super league closely followed by Leeds then us an Wigan, wire have a long way to go before they can be mentioned in the same breath as those four teams

You can't argue with Bradford's record, they have won those trophies and their fans have enjoyed those good times.

But I would rather be where we are now. I am sure back in 1997 if messageboards were around then you could have got some Wigan fans saying LOL look at these Bulls fans thinking their team is special, what have you won, nothing, just got to two major finals and bottled it, come back when you have won everything like Wigan. But I bet the Bradford fans enjoyed the following years more than Wigan fans did.

Bradford at the moment are miles away from winning trophies, however much they try to do down where Warrington are now, their fans would love the Bulls to be where Warrington are top of the league playing the rugby we do. Whether we win as many trophies as Bradford did between 1997-2005 who knows but we have got more chance of winning things in the upcoming years than Bradford do.

The danger for Bradford fans now is that the fairly recent happy memories will have nothing more added to them, so will just start to slip further back, as it has for the Widnes fans who have been having to cling to their 1980s glories for two barren decades now.

Having watched it again, it's a bad challenge. He has no intention of going for the ball, regardless of what some blinkered Wire fans think they see. Awful. I would be shocked with anything less than 2 matches.

Has the incident actually been placed on report?

No. Not as far as I know.
Does it matter?

Don't let common sense stand in the way of their Liverpool-style reminiscing, Sally.....As you say, while we are nowhere near acheiving what they did just yet, its highly apparent that they and us are heading in slightly different directions at present.

But as long as you have memories of 10 years ago, then what does that matter?...

Well unless it was put on report or the RFL call him in the conjecture is pretty pointless.

Although I confess to not reading every post on these boards, I would venture to suggest that not a single Wire fan has claimed that the current team is [ithe greatest team ever to grace super league[/i. We have a long way to go to match Saints, Bulls or Leeds in their records. However, snide and unfounded comments about the salary cap tend to show that some other fans won't even give Wire credit if and when we do win an SL title.

That's my point really. You can be called in without being put on report. I imagine he would be called in, but who knows?

Hi asgardian. To summarise the thread: five pages is all about the topic,Bridge leading with his elbow into a tackle, then s**ta made the comment that it did not matter if Bridge was banned as you have a line of players just as good that all would walk into the Bradford team. thats when the p***ing contest started, and it was a Wolves fan that started it. We accept that the good days are past, what we want to see is an improvement from where we have been the last couple of seasons. I admire the way Warrington play, any RL fan would as the stats speak for themselves. So back to topic.

In 20 years, will you have happy memories of 10 years ago? Everything is cyclical, you do know that don't you? You need to make the most of your time at the top. We did. Leeds are. Saints did. You lot are not.

We are better than last year. So therefore are on the way up. (even if only slightly) There is only one thing you can do to improve on last year. Its possible, but unlikely I would think.

No, apparently, he didn't. He used his arm to try and dislodge the ball. He didn't even clench his fist or anything. He is not so bright though so he got the ball mixed up with Jeffries throat.

Understood. However, one comment from one fan can't be turned into an assertion that Wire fans in general are claiming world domination by their team.

So Bridge then, is he up before the beak this week or not?

Yes we are, we've won two Challenge Cups and a minor premiership so far and we've only been a side of contenders for a couple of years since Tony Smith came. In 2009 we were still behind Bradford, you were 9th, we were 10th.

Remember Bradford's long climb to success did not deliver all the goods quickly. 1996 - got to Wembley and lost. 1997 - got to Wembley and lost, but topped the league. 1998 - knocked out in the playoffs. 1999 - topped the league and lost the Grand Final. 2000 - won Challenge Cup but faded in the playoffs again. So the first five seasons of Bullmania yielded two trophies, which is what we have got so far.

Then you lost the Challenge Cup final in 2001 and everyone was saying the Bulls were the great chokers, that was all the talk in the build up to the 2001 Grand Final, will the Bulls bottle it again?

Bradford won that Grand Final but lost the next one after Chris Joynt's flop, so at the end of 2002, after 7 years of Bradford being a top side, the record was one league title, one Grand Final win, one Challenge Cup win - with two Challenge Cup final losses, two Grand Final losses and two disappointing playoff exits.

Even a great side like Bradford didn't have everything easy winning everything every season, they were called bottlers for many years before going on to their very best days under Noble.

Dunno. I imagine given the fuss Sky made of the 'tackle' he'll have been cited by someone. Especially given the cosy relationship between Bradford and the RFL. AND Darth/El Presidente will no doubt stick his oar in to stop Bridge playing against Leeds next week. The Yorkshire mafia that run the game just won't stand for it



Does Bridge have a past reputation for this sort of thing, going back to his Bradford days? He seems to be an aggressive player who plays a bit too close to the line. No doubt he'll be wanting to keep his nose clean in the future.

Going off topic, looking at the two centres at Wire's disposal I was thinking that it was a real shame that those two aren't at Bradford. Ditto Myler and Ratchford with Salford, and to a lesser extent Carvell and Morley with Leeds etc. Looking at their squad reminds me of Leeds in the 1990s. Perhaps this is a reason why they've not yet made (let alone won) that elusive GF - Saints, Wigan, Leeds and Bradford all had a lot more homegrown players in pivotal players during their glory years.

We won a championship quite early on in that batch of success though, and had done so before we'd even lost a league game that season. The only other game we lost that year was the cup final. Anyone can call us what they like after that. Win a championship, and personally I hope this is your year, and you've achieved.

0.000000000001/10

Go on I'll humour the troll but just remind me which were the homegrown players in pivotal roles at Bradford - Paul Deacon, Paul brothers, Forshaw, Lowes - none of them "homegrown".

Last time I checked, Deacon was signed into and played for our academy before breaking into the first team, even if he was orginally an Oldham product. And Robbie landed here at 18, so is as near home-grown as you can get for an antipiodean.

16, Adey. Lee Radford also, classed as H/G. Spent more time in our academy than Hulls.