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Re: Fev Cup (H) : Mon Apr 15, 2019 8:25 am  

Feath fans must be gutted. Bulls fans were going home, radios turned off and Twitter closed. Not for the first time either. I remember when we came back from the dead to draw at home to Leigh. I'd stopped paying attention long before the fight back. Or when we thought we had only to turn up against York and tried to mount a miracle 2nd half recovery. It feels very us. Quite a rush when it works out but not turning up until it's nearly too late is a habit we should break.

Re: Fev Cup (H) : Mon Apr 15, 2019 8:36 am  

It'll be interesting to watch the video back of the entire game, to see just what it was that made the difference in the last 10 minutes. Yes, I know we threw the ball around like mad men and took chances which under "normal" team instructions we wouldn't have, but there must have been something tangible which suddenly switched the team on. I couldn't believe I'd been watching the same team for the previous 70 minutes.

Re: Fev Cup (H) : Mon Apr 15, 2019 8:54 am  

DrFeelgood wrote:

Perhaps this level of performance is actually our level. Too often we say we're better but then what the better looks like we're unsure of because it never or rarely comes.

I'm quite happy with where we're at. Too easy to focus on the negatives.

For the amount of money we're spending on this squad (and charging at the gate) these performances are not acceptable. I'd guess there's probably only Toronto and Toulouse spending more than we are currently. And yet we've been outplayed by York, Sheffield and Featherstone recently and almost lost to Keighley a couple of weeks ago. Alarm bells should be ringing.

Re: Fev Cup (H) : Mon Apr 15, 2019 9:26 am  

Nothus wrote:

For the amount of money we're spending on this squad (and charging at the gate) these performances are not acceptable. I'd guess there's probably only Toronto and Toulouse spending more than we are currently. And yet we've been outplayed by York, Sheffield and Featherstone recently and almost lost to Keighley a couple of weeks ago. Alarm bells should be ringing.

I do think our performances should be much better with the players we have. I wouldn't say alarm bells should be ringing as we're winning and have grounded out some tough wins in some really difficult fixtures.

I do think Kear has instilled a mental toughness Bradford sides have lacked since 2012, which is huge for this league and especially come play-off time.

We do need to start performing for 80 mins though. To be 26-8 down against a side that had a Prop at 6 isn't good enough. If we can sort it out, then I think we'll be a real dangerous side if we make the play-offs.

Performances do have to improve but this side really seems to have grown some balls this season.

Re: Fev Cup (H) : Mon Apr 15, 2019 10:53 am  

Any ideas why he played the best centre at the club from the bench and the best back rower at the club in the centre?

Baffled at that one me.

Re: Fev Cup (H) : Mon Apr 15, 2019 11:14 am  

Bulls4Champs wrote:

Any ideas why he played the best centre at the club from the bench and the best back rower at the club in the centre?

Baffled at that one me.

I would imagine with such a short turn around, Kear didn't want to use Webster for the full 80.

Re: Fev Cup (H) : Mon Apr 15, 2019 11:15 am  

A tad harsh to say alarm bells should be ringing. The reality is that we are a newly promoted side, and this is the reality of life in the Championship. Yes, I know this was a cup game, but it was against opposition that at the start of the year were tipped by many to be in the playoffs.

If we take stock of the season so far, the points difference of 9 in the league tells it's own story. We haven't tonked anyone, yet haven't yet been tonked. Our biggest defeats of the year has been by 14 points - one of which was a torrid performance against Tolouse who still never really ran away with things and the other a game we were on top of before a red card. We've been competitive in every single game, and surely that's all anyone wanted before the season kicks off? (Cue Fax stuffing us on Friday...!)

Yeah, we didn't blow Keighley away, and we struggled yesterday, but it's the old cup mantra that it doesn't matter if you win by one or one hundred. Room for improvement, sure, but the fact we're digging in and getting results despite not being very good at points means that when we come good, we'll be quite good indeed (too optimistic?)

Re: Fev Cup (H) : Mon Apr 15, 2019 11:25 am  

Nah not buying this 'newly promoted' rubbish as an excuse. We've been in this league before, JK has coached in this division long enough to know what it's like and almost all of our players have played in this division or higher before now. As I've already said, despite the low central funding we have still spent far more on our squad than most so the fact that we came up from league 1 last season is irrelevant.

The fact that we haven't been hammered (yet) isn't really the issue - it's the abject performances we're putting in with ball in hand that's disappointing me the most. You talk about 'when' we come good, but who is to say this will definitely happen? We can't even use the injury excuse anymore because barring the two long term absentees everyone was available for selection yesterday and we were still hopeless. There is nobody left to come back and make a difference to the way we play.

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Re: Fev Cup (H) : Mon Apr 15, 2019 11:32 am  

Full match highlights already out. Nice fast edit from the Bulls. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMCbBdf-uPc Edit - jeez - some of that defence was utterly atrocious!

Full match highlights already out. Nice fast edit from the Bulls. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMCbBdf-uPc Edit - jeez - some of that defence was utterly atrocious!

Re: Fev Cup (H) : Mon Apr 15, 2019 11:45 am  

Nothus wrote:

Nah not buying this 'newly promoted' rubbish as an excuse. We've been in this league before, JK has coached in this division long enough to know what it's like and almost all of our players have played in this division or higher before now. As I've already said, despite the low central funding we have still spent far more on our squad than most so the fact that we came up from league 1 last season is irrelevant.

The fact that we haven't been hammered (yet) isn't really the issue - it's the abject performances we're putting in with ball in hand that's disappointing me the most. You talk about 'when' we come good, but who is to say this will definitely happen? We can't even use the injury excuse anymore because barring the two long term absentees everyone was available for selection yesterday and we were still hopeless. There is nobody left to come back and make a difference to the way we play.

If you think being near the top of the spending league equates to any sort of right to a "decent" showing, I refer you to Salford Reds in the Koukash era, Leigh Centurians last season, the fact that London are in SL over the Wolfpack and Bradford Bulls in the second tier c2015-2017.

You can dismiss newly promoted all you like, and the fact we have been in the Championship before (we've also won the cup before, as has John Kear, but I ain't booking a trip to Wembley just now) but the fact is last time we had a crack at the Championship, the club was on the brink of going bust forever, so it's actually a bigger rebuild job than the flimsy dismissal you seem to be giving it. I don't think my expectations are as large as yours, nowt wrong with that of course.

I agree, who is to say we will come good? Equally who is to say we won't? Depends on how full/empty your glass is innit.