With the players who have not left and will presumably resign we will not win games. The current group of players hardly offers a pack of forwards. I'm hoping that new, quality players will come in, I hope that is why Toovey signed up. So if we keep the current crop and don't add significantly we will struggle in every game. I remember Swinton pushing us all the way in the tin pot shield last year in a side including Chisholm, O'Brien Welham and Moss

Whilst I agree that Leon knows a damn site more about pro rugby than me it needs to be borne in mind that I don't think he has ever experienced life in the Championship so may not be upto speed with standards in a PT league.

Agree with this. 3-4 years ago it would have been a walk in the park for a FT team in the Champ. Different ball game now. It's hell of a lot more competitive nowadays!

Don't get me wrong, I know how hard a task we have in front of us. I was just suggesting that whilst this is Leon's worst pre-season he hasn't experienced CH football before and that most of the teams we will be fighting for survival with will not be full time. (Although at this stage I don't know how many of our players are. Come to think of it I don't even know WHO most of our players are.)

I know how hard it will be too, huge season ahead of us in terms of how our future looks. Yeah it's his worst but even so 3-4 years ago he could have had the worst pre-season ever but with a FT team it still would have been easy. But this year will be so difficult due to the reason you suggested. Survival. And we are bang smack in the middle of that :/

It amounts to pretty much the same thing, but in my view, managing to somehow remain solvent and surviving into a second year, given what we have lost already and the handicaps we play the season under, is all I'm looking for. Bonuses graciously accepted.

Still don't understand why we are on -12 points though. My understanding is that that is for pre-packs, buyouts, and phoenixes. Not for brand new entrants. The RFL decreed ANY new Bradford club WOULD have to play in the Championship but that given our non-existent state with a week to go to kickoff is surely a decree that was already worth MUCH more than -12 points.

Now the new team in the new club under the new management has to take pastings all season and suffer at the gates and financially to a sorry tune, whilst madly scrambling to get staff, sponsors, shirts, all the infrastructure, before the regrouping in C1 - where any sane person would agree we should be - can begin.


But, looking on the bright side, at least the RFL is paying our rent, mainainance and VAT deposit so we must still be their favourites.