As a Leeds fan, there is some initial satisfaction, when remembering how "big and scary" Bradford were and the tramplings we suffered at their hands.

In reality, however, a former top club sliding into a steady decline, financially in addition to performance and support, is never a good thing for rugby league. As supporters of a minority sport it should be of concern to us all.

Leeds needs strong. healthy oppositon. (as long as it isn't Wigan- they can decline all they like )

But we WERE as bad as that at one time.

For those revelling in their demise, you are morons. SL is supposed to be improving, not getting worse.

You can tell the ones who have only been around since Bradford have been good as Bradford didnt even register on the radar as a rival before 1996.

I would hazard when Leeds hit a low point pre SL and in the first year of SL, Leeds were in a far worse state than Bradford are now. It wasn't that many years ago that the South Stand were protesting to get rid of Hetherington!!!!!

Quite. Leeds have been in a much worse position than Bulls are now but half of this lot probably werent even around then. They have only known a successful Leeds so are in no poition to take the out of a club on the decline.

I was talking to some (proper Australian!!!) Manly fans at Elland Road, saying that 10 years ago I would never have imagined Leeds would ever get to play Manly at Leeds, and that despite the result, it was a measure of how far the club had come since then. Losing last week to me didn't really matter.
I got to watch Leeds v Manly in Leeds!!!

Without causing too much controversy, the fickle glory hunter fans of today pi5s me off at times expecting us to win every game, and booing when we dare lose! Hetherington needs these fans though as they are the ones that rush to the shops and buy all the new shirts to show how big a fan they really are!!!

Spot on.

Its saying something when those who have gone for years dont go much now because the hangers on spoil it for them.

And are to applauded for it. Potentially 100s if not 1000s of converts (you only have to look at the incredible expansion of student RL over the last 10 years to see what 'market potential' there is there).
We can all have a laugh at others expense, but as successful as we might be at the moment we will always need oppostition to play against.

Interesting that they did though, isn't it? Almost as if there might be something going on that escaped your attention.

Why Steve Mc's still in charge there is beyond me. He's had plenty of time, recruited the squad, and they are seriously mis-firing. If he isn't going to get pushed, maybe it's time to jump. I don't seriously believe he thinks he's up to it.

They can't score, can't retain the ball, can't win.

Odsal always looked a miserable sh*thole, I bet it's looking even bleaker today.

How laughable does it sound when Steve Mc declared pre-Wigan game, 'we're close to doing something big'!!!

A big scoreline against you??? Job done.

I think the problems at the bulls go deeper than poor coach who has recruited poorly. I don't see a squad put together with full cap available, either that or its weighted stupidly in some big name players who are not worth the money.

If McNamara has been told that his wage bill must only be £x, then there is only so much he can do with that.

I think the problems run deeper also, but the coach is a good starting point IMO. Whatever the salary cap impications, they are his signings, and they are not performing. Keeping Platt + Nero anywhwere near the team (players who haven't offered anything!!), shifting Halley out on loan, not addressing the halfback problem, not being able to be coherent in attack, kicking 3 penalties at home to Giants to go 6 up, these are all things the coach should be accountable for. Like an old saying, 'it's not what you've got it's how you use it', and the Bulls are spent. For further re: check Kear ar Wakie. Steve Mc gets flustered and can't stand the heat. They are low on confidence, not winning, and look pretty crap to be honest, this is where the coaches step in and earn their money..........or not.

"If McNamara has been told that his wage bill must only be £x, then there is only so much he can do with that."

I think thats probably pretty accurate a statement. They obviously have money under the cap spare tho, hence the Greg Bird Approach??

They'll need to shell out soon anyway in my opinion because there halfbacks aint doing nothing, Newton their first choice (and nearly past it) hooker looked injured on Saturday, he was carrying his arm. Godwin their 2nd choice hooker broke his leg and although Platt their fullback did some pretty impressive goal line defence he seem to be incapable of running a ball forward and seems to run across the pitch more than he does up and down it.

Looking at Bradford as a team they also have alot of players nearing the end of their careers; (there not young put it that way if you like) Solomona, Deacon, Tadulala, Newton, Morrisson, Menzies, Lynch....all been playing for a while. In the next few years Bradford are going to have to have an overhaul....

Who'd have ever thought they'd Miss Iestyn Harris ey????

Things can turn around quickly. Bradford only need a couple of good recruits and they will be a strong side again, if they got say Kimmorley over instead of Deacon or Jeffries and one other outside back next year then they would be a force.

Remember how gash Leeds were in 2000 when Dean Lance took over, they were right up there with the current Warrington team.

The big thing that seems odd about Bradford, if things really are as rosy as some at the club are making out, is that there is constant talk of a "rebuilding phase" and yet I can't see any evidence at all of rebuilding. If they had a squad full of promising youngsters, showing a sustainable growth and development of the team it might be different, but they still have a lot of "experienced" players, as they did in their pomp, but those players are simply of poorer quality. I can't see how recruiting the likes of Jeffries, Solomona, Harris, Evans, Nero etc, whil letting go the likes of Atkins, possibly Halley, Ferres etc can be reconciled with rebuilding.

Like others, when it just looked like a blip for Bradford, it was quite funny because of all the gloating we'd experienced from friends and workmates during their dominance, but when it reaches a point where one of the teams most responsible for making the summer era a success is fading quite badly, it doesn't seem so great anymore.