Bloody hell. Round 3 and calling for Potter's head. Don't get me wrong I din't think he is the right man for the job but calling for his head after 3 games is shocking. I know that being born in 1995 all I know really is the Bulls winning trophies left right and centre. Then since 2006 nothing. So technically I should be more gutted and annoyed at most on here because I never experienced Northern going out of business or playing in the old second division. However I know that all clubs go through phases. Well all the top teams barring Saints.

Back to 2012. Do you really expect to win any of the first 4 home games? Because I certainly don't. Catalan, Wigan, Warrington and Saints will be Top 5 with Huddersfield/Leeds in their. We beat Castleford in Round 2. A game which I 'expected' to win. I 'expect' us to beat Wakey this week and if we do we are still on course for Top 8. The moment we lose a game against Hull FC/KR, Wakey, Cas, Salford, Widnes and London is the moment pressure is on us to beat 1 of the top 6. So as long as we beat them then we don't have to worry about the top teams.

Tbf though I am disappointed at the lack of defence. But like I said I would rather make mistakes (like not finding touch) against a team like Wigan than against Wakey where 2 points will benefit us more as it stops a playoff rival getting them. Problem is, mentally can we afford to lose by 30-60 points then back it up with a solid performance? I know they should be out to win everygame but if they try and then lose it doesn't bother me personally so long as we beat playoff rivals and Leeds once



Also Potter may not be the most motivational person ever but he has made some quality signings for us. Hargreaves was solid for Saints, however he hasn't really been that for us. Also Elima, Raynor, Ainscough, (Royston and Briggs), Sammut, Lulia, Gale, Kear and he's brought on O'Brien, Bateman, Burgess, Crookes, Olbison and Addy. So he is doing some good at the club but unfortunatly not the correct person to pull us out of the slump.

Just wish people would stop moaning and groaning all the time. Accept the fact that Wigan, Catalans etc are class sides and will beat a lot of teams badly. Just be happy we arn't losing to Cas, Wakey and Widnes yet

Top 8 here we come (even through some heavy defeats)

I think I may be a minority, but i'm in agreement with most of what you say!

After reading some of the posts that have been quite critical of the club in the last few weeks and particularly following the Wigan defeat i tend to think that your supporters have a right to moan and how Potter can say that some of those Wigan try's were not soft is way off because some of them clearly were.

What is worse is that the standards at Bradford have been low for a while now, not just this season but last season and before that - im really suprised that some Bradford supporters seem happy with the calibre of player you are bringing to the club and the calibre of player you are allowing to leave.

I respect Potter as a coach, i thought he did a good job at Les Catalan and at Saints but i do think that a change is needed.

Bardford should be doing everything in their power to bring in somebody of the quality of Nathan Brown as massive changes are needed imo.

points difference could be quite important at the end of the season, if we're as evenly matched against the teams like Cas, Wakey and HKR as we like to think we are then not getting stuffed by 30/40 points by the bigger teams is important.

That's the key. I don't mind losing to Wigan, Warrington and the like. I do not want to see them get absolutely paggered by those teams as though a loss was always on the cards and thus no effort is needed for this one. The extent by which they lose those games matters. They might even sneak a win if all the cards fall the right way up, and an unexpected win against opposition like that can transform a team and its entire season.

I'm through with excuses and extenuating circumstances. They need a rocket up their s. Last season should have been a turn around and was a huge disappointment. The merest hint of the same this year is not acceptable.

More mongrel, less lap dog.

Harsh? Possibly. But still....

Calling for Potter's head after 3 games of the season. Yeah, that does sound stupid when it's just said like that. However, calling for Potter's head after the club have lost 66% of their competitive games this season and conceding 100 points in just 3 games and the players who've been selected show a lack of ability on the field and show a lack of concern for their poor performances, which it seems has been the team's attitude from before Potter took over as head coach and an attitude he seems unable to remove despite virtually changing the entire team.

So we should just "Accept the fact that Wigan, Catalans etc are class sides and will beat a lot of teams badly"? Well if they're that big maybe we should just not bother even putting out a team against these sides? Just concede defeat before we even have the game. I'm sure the players would like that, they can have a week off and go smash Nandos and Costa coffee and all the other things they do rather than work on the weaknesses in their game.

Or maybe, just maybe, these are the teams where the players should be getting geared up to play them. I mean if you can't raise your game when a team like Wigan, who are probably THE most famous rugby league team in the world, come to town then maybe they ought to look at themselves in the mirror and ask if being a professional rugby player is really for them.

Mick Potter says his side isn't soft. I don't believe there's a lack of ability in the Bradford side, there's just a lack of pride in the shirt from the players and a lack of motivation from the coaches. Potter does try and protect his coaching staff and players, he did it at the fans forum by deflecting a question about who deals with defence training and he did it after the Wigan game when asked if his players were soft. But tbh, I think his over protection will be a self defeating tactic as the players and coaching staff may not feel they have to answer for their performances.

I understand that we can't win every game. But I'd like the players to learn that conceding 40+ points when you get beat is unacceptable. This is a lesson that seems to go unheeded at the Bulls.

The problem is that it may be the third game of the season but it's not Potters third game in charge. Last year we were supposed to start to turn things around but it never happened. now it's this year we're supposed to start to turn things round but... two heavy defeats in the first 3 games don't bode well.

Personally, as I said on another post, I think Potter has to have the season to prove that the players he's brought in over the past two years are up to the job. They need to be given a bit longer to gel and prove that they are capable of pulling on the jersey.

One thing I will say is that heavy defeats are hardly a rare thing in SL although 50+ is far from acceptable. Unfortunately the need for the team that has conceded to kick off lets the opposition get on a role and is something I've never like.

I can handle not being a 'top 4' team at this moment and I am realistic enough to realise we probably never will be until we can find some sort of investment or backer. However the lack of progress under Potter has been a big disappointment so far. I am currently clinging on some small hope that once the likes of Purtell, Elima, Gale, Manase are all fit and Lulia has found his feet that we might find some consistency and see some improvement. However from the small amount I have seen so far.. it all looks very much like the last few years.

I can understand why supporters are pushing the panic button early. Potter has had a full pre season to whip his team into shape but we're seeing the same problems from last year already.

People pay there money and can "moan" if they want.

I can see why Potter doesn't do his dirty washing in public as it leaves him nowhere else to go. If he slags the team off publicly and they do as badly the following week what does he do then? I expect he's keeping it behind closed doors. That said his baffling comments about "sparking up in the second half" and the side not being soft are a bit wide of the mark. I know he may want to focus on the positives but I think there's a need for some players to recognise they could do better, I just hope that in private Potter is getting to the heart of the matter as that's what's needed.

We sure haven't been helped by injury but that's not a problem unique to us. Hull KR just got a deserved draw by scoring 36 points versus Saints with both 1st choice halfbacks missing. The rest of their team pulled together and looked great. What are the chances of our lot managing that?

Tbh a few on here say 'it's not Potter's first game in charge' etc. Yeah okay he had the whole of 2011. But does anyone know behind the scenes problems he faced. E.G Matt Orford, for god sake if the club could have sorted that out we'd have been playing with Scott Dureau at 7 and not Herbert. He took a chance with Ah Van like previous coaches have took chances with kiwis unfortunatly it didn't work out. We'd probably still have Menzies too. But that isn't Potter's fault. It's the backroom staff.

Not being funny but I never said 'throw the game away or not turn up'. I already stated that I would rather them not concede 30-60 points. Jeez. As a player I know that there are teams with that much class no matter what you do they will MOST PROBABLY win but you still go out and give 100% I don't care what anybody says it's always in the back of your head that their better than you.

Yeah okay I understand that points difference may come into contention at the end of the season but atm Bradford should just think about beating the more 'beatable' teams.

Yes I do agree that Wigan scored some soft tries which they shouldn't have scored but a lot of them oozed class which tbh would have troubled any team. But I would rather them concede soft tries against top teams than against the 'lower' teams.

I also agree with dany, I respect Potter as a coach but he is not the right man for the job at this moment in time. We need someone to set some foundations in first. Potter is more of a ccoach to carry on success rather than build it. At Catalan he had no rules except salary cap. Under the quota rules he wouldn't be able to create the same success in my opinion.

There are 6 games which will be massive for us in my opinion. Hull KR, Hull FC and Salford - home and away. I'm more 'worried' about these than London, Castleford, Wakefield and Widnes (no disrespect to these teams).

1st point, Menzies leaving was Potters fault, he didn't offer him a new deal. Letting your best player go is always a gamble. Seems to be doing a fine job at Catalans at the moment.

2nd point - You have used reference to yourself as a player, saying sometimes you know you were going to get hammered. I have been there, and been hammered many times with my junior team. Difference is we played RL as a hobby, just a load of kids who trained twice a week and played on a sunday for a bit of fun. These are professional RL players who get paid a good wage, playing for one of the most famous clubs in the country. I will not accept conceding 50 points as part of the game because they are better Wigan didn't play that well on Sunday. It just became so easy, it became like a training run so they can flick the ball without looking and kickthrough to the corner. If they were playering Warrington they probably wouldn't have tried that. I was embarrssed to be a Bulls fan on sunday. As another poster said, if you can't get up for Wigan in front of your home crowd you shouldn't be player. We lacked such basic skills and it is becoming the norm for us to be conceding 50+ points against the top team. All i want is for the team to compete and let the team know they;ve been in the game. We haven't had that yet.

As i said on another thread, we can't reply on just beating the likes of Salford, Widnes etc because we play them too few times. We have to beat the top teams to make the play offs.

And if we lose to Wakefield? can we "moan" then?...I don't think most of the moaning is about losing to Catalans & Wigan, its the manner of the losses, 2 hidings at home!

And as for the excuse that they are top 4 sides, yes i don't expect us to roll them over but i do expect the Bulls to compete, as Hull KR showed against Saints at the weekend (with half a side missing)

Another one happy to accept getting paggered then, as long as we are paggered by the right teams.

This.


From watching you team on Sunday it could certanly of done with somebody like Steve Menzies out there for Bradford and he's not the only good player that has been released a year or two too early by Bradford in the last few years.

Exactly, if KR can pull out that sort of result against a team like Saints when they've a very similar injury list to us then injuries cannot be used as an excuse for poor performance.

Their forwards have some get up and go. The majority of ours got up and went ( after they'd missed a few tackles)

as a KR fan i feared the worst on sunday with no half backs and then losing both hookers during the game but in the end i felt disapointed we only drew i remember our first season in super league when you came to our place and were 26-0 up at HT and i thought were miles behind them and now id be gutted if we lost to you.I think youve gone backwards under potter and your a soft touch nowadays

Not so. Nobody was sicker than me at Menzies going, but we did offer Menzies a new deal, the problem was that it couldn't start till Awford left, which could have been today, next week, next month or next year. So it was pretty much down to Awford hanging on. Menzies would have stayed, but you couldn't expect him to risk being out of a job for months.

FA is correct re it was "Awfuls" delaying that meant Menzies went elsewhere.

WE can moan as much as we like about injuries and how all the Coaching Staff aren't doing enough.
It's down to the Players themselves individually and as a Team to step up to the plate and perform a lot lot better than of late!

Nb: It was reported we had a new coach at Odsal but it turned out to be MP who had pulled out all his hair in frustation. Megan was not amused!

I did post a comment that after 3 games i would be happy with 2 points with the teams we have played, however, the nature of the defeat against Wigan did not point to an improved side this year but we are still only 3 matches in and if we win against the Wildcats with a good performance I will still be relatively happy.
The 5/6 match point will be a good indicator of how we are going to perform this year but we have drawn some of the top sides to play in the first few matches with a number of injuries. ( no need to burn my season ticket yet)

Just keep the faith. The Next fans open forum is going to be a cracker.

A slight bit of positive news, win on Saturday and there's a very good chance we'll be in the top 8 by Sunday evening. All of the teams we will supposedly be competing with for 7th & 8th spot have tough games this weekend.

Hardly a good indictment of the rest of the squad when you are lamenting the loss of a 35/36 year old as being crucial to your season. IIRC he stood out when he last played for Bradford but results were still going the same way.

The likes of Menzies and Solomona have looked better after leaving Bradford because they are now surrounded by better players who are doing more of the hard work. Stick them back in the Bulls squad with the extra responsibility heaped upon them and they won't make much difference at this stage of their careers IMO.

Menzies was easily the best player in our squad a couple of years ago and from seeing him since that wouldn't change much.

As for his re-signing being scuppered by the Awford business I beg to differ. IIRC we had already signed some other players like Ah Van before trying to secure Menzies. I wonder if we should have tried to sign Menzies as first priority before going after anyone else. I suspect Potter had made a decision to bring in new players first and the Awford business subsequently left them unable to sign Menzies. Unfortunate but possibly avoidable, to let him go was a terrible mistake. Whitehead commented publicly that he loved playing with him and couldn't understand why he'd been let go. One can only dream about what Menzies would have done with a decent winger outside him.

I don't recollect anyone saying they were "happy" to be beaten. Maybe some are just a bit more realistic than others?

Given the state of your pack, I'd say having Lynch back would offer more to the side than Menzies in taking the team forward and giving you some shape in the middle of the field. Another player who hasn't been adequately replaced - who was responsible for that decision? This must be the softest Bradford pack in my living memory. It is a shame you finally have more quality in the backs and halves when a blind eye has been seemingly turned to forward recruitment. Most other SL clubs seem to have a lot more options in the pack - even the likes of Salford.