Re: Bulls v Fax - Post match : Sat Sep 26, 2015 4:17 pm  

There never was any chance of a home tie and this always was a dead rubber. Lowes has got us to the big game by picking his matches and this one was not targeted. The poor performance of the stiffs that did play is of course quite another matter, if ever they had an incentive to bust a gut then that was it, instead... But yes, he treated it correctly as a pointless game, to get out of the way and test some reserves. They failed

Re: Halifax Game is now SATURDAY : Sat Sep 26, 2015 4:20 pm  

Halifax1989 wrote:

Whats Bulls fans opinions of fielding a weakened team today? As a fax fan I was amazed Lowes didnt want to play for home advantage for the big one.

Best of luck next week

Not that bothered. Home advantage was for Wakefield to lose. It was never in our hands before today.

The disappointment isn't in the players being rest, it's in the players who came in and massively underperformed. We have a big squad but the difference in quality is huge. That's just down to salary cap restrictions for me.

Re: Halifax Game is now SATURDAY : Sat Sep 26, 2015 4:22 pm  

HAPEtobehere wrote:

I take it all back, the result leaves Leigh centurions crying in 7th needing to beat Widnes by 4 tries to get back to 6th. Anyone heard that they're moving Heineken to Leigh ext year because they're the best bottlers in the uk

WE might finish 8th yet ....won't find me crying. Been in the 'lower leagues' for 19 of the previous 20 seasons...no big deal (250K Prize money or not) You probably enjoyed typing your post, but I really don't care. We will be in the 'middle 8's' next season, like Bradford Bulls will be also. Whether it be as a SL club, or championship one....I'm guessing at the latter. Though I won't be on here laughing if you don't beat Wakefield, not my style.

Re: Bulls v Fax - Post match : Sat Sep 26, 2015 4:27 pm  

Halifax1989 wrote:

Fair play, I just think home advantage in such a massive game is so important.

So do I, but that was decided when Lowes didn't care about points difference in a seven game competition where winning is being slightly better than the middle group. Lowes not caring about this specific game hasn't really been a factor. We needed to blow you away and rely on Sheffield to do the business against Wakefield.

Besides, this way everyone wins. Lowes knows people ignored since June don't play like they're part of the team, you get your money and Leigh have more ammunition for their Yorkshire conspiracy theory.

[Bullseye]

Re: Bulls v Fax - Post match : Sat Sep 26, 2015 4:36 pm  

Well most of those replacements obviously didn't care about today's game either. Abysmal 2nd half "effort". I don't expect to see many of them in a Bulls shirt next season.

Don't think 4th place was on after our early capitulations gave us a such a bad points difference.

I does sort of emphasise that we will need at least 8 or 9 additions to the squad if by some miracle we go up. Our current back up players are way below SL standard.

Re: What if Jimmy.... : Sat Sep 26, 2015 4:40 pm  

roger daly wrote:

Didn't really understand that. Heard if we get promoted Brian Smith is back, if we don't get promoted I've no idea who is the coach

So you have nothing to worry about next week. If B.Smith has a job lined up with Bradford if they get promoted, he's hardly going to break his back to try and win the million pounder ? Makes no sense.

Re: Bulls v Fax - Post match : Sat Sep 26, 2015 4:44 pm  

Well done to Halifax they wanted and needed it more than us. Can someone please explain what Luaki and Henry bring to the team, they are useless. I know Henry wont figure next week (hopefully) bur I bet Luaki will, it baffles me. Like previous posters have said our back up players are not good and a good clear out is needed next season irrespective of where we are playing.
Again well done Halifax for winning and shoving it up Fatty Beaumont

Re: Bulls v Fax - Post match : Sat Sep 26, 2015 4:52 pm  

FA is correct about it being a "dead rubber" and didn't matter. I have a different overall view of this game though.
True - the result didn't really matter...........but:
The performance of fringe players that Jimmy and Steve have signed did matter.
Seeing the coach get these players up for the game and playing to a plan did matter.
Giving thousands of people who have paid top prices value for money did matter
Showing the club in a good light on TV did matter
Watching players give their all for the club did matter

Many now believe that because we are in the £1m game means Jimmy had done well.
Leigh have fallen off a cliff so how bad will we have had to have been to NOT get into that game.
We have played poorly and walked into the play-off game.
We beat Salford and Leigh and that is about all we had to do.
How hard has it really been to get 5th spot?

If we win next week all is forgotten and forgiven.
If we lose all of a sudden many thousands will look back over the season and realise how poor we have been.
The novelty factor of visiting old stomping grounds will not be there next year - done that, got the T-shirt.
Count up the games we have played really well - as a SL team in the championship as Ferres told us - you will only need one hand and still have enough spare fingers to pick your nose and scratch your booty.
Many supporter will decide to pay on the gate for those few games. Why pay for those awful performances against no hoper's now the novelty factor has faded.

So next week is vital for the club, ST sales and yes - Jimmy. Karl is leaving and I do believe Jimmy has struggled with the squad and getting the best out of them. Can people honestly say we would have been worse this season with one of many other coaches. Would Morro, Nobby, Kear or Smith have done any worse?
And that is why Jimmy must get them up for the game next week - as it really does matter next Saturday.

Re: Bulls v Fax - Post match : Sat Sep 26, 2015 4:56 pm  

That game sort of went as expected with the team put out, although I didn't think we'd lose by so many. Fair play to Fax, they beat the team in front of them and I hope they get the extra funding from that result. I personally, would have gone for the win to make sure that Wakey play a good team tomorrow. That's gone now so they can rest whoever they like. Very strange tactics by Jimmy for the qualifiers. Either genius or stupid?

Re: Bulls v Fax - Post match : Sat Sep 26, 2015 4:58 pm  

I think Ryan and Fleming have possibly played themselves into a spot in the 17 next week. I've said for a while now that I would put Fleming ahead of Lauaki in the pecking order for props, and today didn't do anything to change that opinion.
Ryan's contribution was very impressive, played the full 80 and made a lot of yards down our left flank. Took his try well too.

Not sure what I'd do about scrum half though. Siejka's defence is sound and his distribution is ok, but he doesn't seem to be able to take control of a game and he was outplayed by the fax seven today, who I thought had a cracker.

Halifax, to their credit, played really well and scored some very nice tries. They deserve the extra cash that today's performance has (probably) won them.