Been lurking on here for ages and never posted but after 12 straight defeats I couldn't hold back any longer. Just to say first up that I don't attend Bulls games and have only ever seen the team twice, once at Workington and the other a loss to London Broncos in Edinburgh. However, I have been watching on TV since the Northern days and keep up as best I can via forums like this and local Bradford sports reports. Well, having got that out of the way the question I want answered is "Are we really that bad a team ?", should the players we have be losing 12 straight games ? Looking at last nights 17:

Dave Halley
Rikki Sheriffe
Michael Platt
Steve Menzies
Jason Crookes
Brett Kearney
Paul Sykes
Craig Kopczak
Heath L'Estrange
Andy Lynch
Elliott Whitehead
Michael Worrincy
Jamie Langley
---------
Nick Scruton
Wayne Godwin
Tom Olbison
Vinny Finigan

...no, it's not the greatest Bradford team of all time but seriously, for me there is no way that group of players should be losing every week for 3 months. If those exact same 17 players were playing for Salford, Wakefield, Harlequins etc and getting the same results, then I think we'd all be watching on in disbelief as a team with proven internationals and overseas talent kept on losing. For me the only reasons for this frankly ridiculous and embarrassing run of results can be:

The team has given up
The team is so badly coached it simply can't stop making mistakes
Losing is a habit we can't get out of...we now expect to lose and even if winning (ie v Catalans) find a way to lose

The players we have should be capable of top 8. There is simply no excuse for what we've seen over the last few months. None.

PaulC.

ps that's my rant over. Back to lurking

This is from an Aussie's perspective

Brett Kearney to fullback
Steve Menzies to the forwards

Another thing is Matt Orford I know Bradford would be playing better if he was in the line up for more then half a season

the team on paper doesnt look bad but think its players not being in there natural postions ie a fullback at standoff
a centre at scrum half,2nd rower playing centre and a centre playing wing

Spot on there cant understand why he didnt play kearney at fullback and brought in danny addy at standoff with halley on wing

It has just proved to me that LSH is not up to it, in any way shape or form.

Although I tend to agree, it wasn't LSH dropping the ball on the first tackle over and over and over again.

Doesn't matter how good or bad the coach is if players are doing that so often.

I think u hit the nail on the head with loosing is a habit. after 3 months of loosing it would be impossible for any of the players to belive 100% that we cud have beat saints and those doubts surfice as knock ons silly penalties etc. as the players try too hard to force a try out of evry set. we defenatly don't have anywere near the best team in the superleague - money has ment we havn't replaced players with the same quality - but to answer your question no i don't think this team is that bad, there just stuck in a loosing routine.

If players can't do the fundamentals i.e. hold on to the ball, complete sets, then surely this is coaching. If not the only implication can be that the players are not trying or in some cases not good enough for professional RL. However, the players are better than what they've been showing. This to me means they have given up and aren't focused.

How can a coach teach senior players how to catch the ball?

Shouldn't senior players already be able to catch the ball ? If so why aren't they ?

A proffesional RL player should not need to be coached how to catch the ball



One of our players, IMO, is not good enough for professional RL, others are not good enough for Super League.

Crap, nothing else to be said. Steve Mac should be ashamed of the team he has left compared to what he was left.

I don't know why, I wish I do (and bet LSH wishes he knew). But I can't see how anyone could blame the coach for a player's inability to catch.

This Team was picked and moulded into what they are today by Macca and his Coaching Staff, one of which was LSH. He is displaying the same bad habits that Macca did. Poor Team selection and rotation, players playing out of position. Nothing will change before next seaon and maybe further along than that, bad habits are hard to shake off. Potter has his work cut out and for me letting LSH go should have been on his list of priorities. A whole new backroom staff along with whover he signs for next season. We are that poor!...

Edit: Nothing to see here

Thanx, not that it would make much difference!

Steve has played in the forwards in almost all games this season and Brett has played about 80/20 in the halves and full back. Thing is we have several half decent second row/loose forwards (injury periods excepted) but have lacked the sort of Skill, in particular the ability to give a decent pass to his winger, that Menzies brings in the centre. In short, the squad was thin from the start, with little strength in the threequarters and particularly at halfback.

The halves have been the main part of the problem all season. Mainly due to not having enough of them; Kearney was signed to play stand off, though as you rightly say he is better at full back. When Orford got injured it left us without a single, experienced (open age) half back, so Kearney or L'Estrange have played scrum half and we've had several players, including forwards, filling in at stand off, L'Estrange, Addy, Sykes and even Menzies in one game. We have been asking young forwards, just coming into the team, to play at stand off, and you aren't going to win much in that situation.

It's hard to believe, but there are actually several good players at the club, and a number of top class young players either on the fringe, or actually breaking through into the side. The trouble is that confidence is shot, nobody trusts anyone else, and much as they try, and they really do try, I won't accuse anyone of lack of effort, but when things go wrong they just fold and miss tackles alarmingly. This is interspersed with periods where they keep a really good line and actually look like they know each other.

All in all, I think we're all ready for this season to end,to see who is really arriving, instead of all the rumours, and look forward to next year.

The team just doesn't have enough good players and pretty much no coach as LSH as made no difference at all. It's pretty awful just to see some of the players we have. The fact some people seem to rate them highly is even worse!

A horrible season and i don't think anyone can say any different.

In ten years this season will be classed as the one that saw the start of a poor Bulls in super league or the lowest point before the re-rise of Bullmania! I hope history leans more towards the latter.

What I find quite astonishing is that some people are only just beginning to realise how far we have fallen It is a fecking disgrace that it has been allowed to go on fro as long as it has, yet people still rush to defend some of the guilty men.

However, yet again I am intrigued at the non appearance of the three stoogies who will no doubt continue to tell us how good things are at the club.

The Bulls are a laughing stock and the sooner Potter can start working with the team the better. McNamara and his merry men - what an utter pile of crap.

For those with a little longer memory rough with smooth. I have seen many worse performances than some of this seasons. It doesn't make it any easier to swallow but how many years have Wigan gone without a pot, how many years did we laugh at the clowns from down the road, a long time since a Hullabaloo of the early Eighties and what about the great teams of long ago Huddersfield, Wakefield,Salford how long have they gone without a trophy ? We have no god given right & as a FAN you take the rough with the smooth.


HTH

Indeed. I'd much rather be seen by all the world as a fan than a stinking vulture.

Answer - it would appear so.

Quite shocked to see and watch that performance from the bulls last night. Mick Potter has a big challenge next season, first priority must be some decent half backs, there didn't seem to be anybody organising the team.

Potter's taken on the job and he's nobody's fool.
Whatever he sees for next season in players, funding, juniors (etc) must be enough to have convinced him to sign up.
He would not have done so otherwise.

Is there anything else we already knew that you wanted to share with us?

And yes, I know your comment was given in good faith - sadly, we started the season with one (excellent) half back - who ran the team early doors and as a result we rose to 4th. Then he got injured, and we were well and truly stuffed. That it coincided with our head coach (good, crap or whatever) losing interest and wanting out for his new job hardly helped.