It is a sad sign of the times at the Bulls that a few hours before what is normally the biggest home game of the season there is no thread on the board about the Rhinos match.

Any thoughts on rugby matters

I am hoping to be surprised by an unexpected result to get the Easter break underway but suspect it's just the Bulls googles, still if we get a win it might push the Wakey owner to resign?

COYB

Will go two ways. Game over and 20 minutes and Leeds blitz us.
Or we have game of our lives and get shock victory. Everyman needs to stand up and be counted tonight. We have some tough games coming up and need a win soon. Losing becomes a habit. A victory against our arch rivals could turn the season around! We need to rip in from the off, get in Leeds faces, upset them and show some aggression and fire. Time for some players to stand up.

I'm expecting a loss by at least 30 points

I think we'll be lucky if we score a point tbh.

I think they'll show heart and not be blown away but leeds will gradually get away from them. Something like 10-36.

If we keep them to under 40 points we're doing alright. Resting Peacock is a big help for us in the pack but in the backs they're streets ahead.

Our side is significantly weaker than it was when we drew last year.

We still have some very good players though. Ferguson, Donaldson, Kearney. But Leeds back line is best i've seen for a while. The worst thing our team can do is get stuck in a mentality of "we've been through a tough time, lost a lot of players etc" a bit like Duffys comments a few weeks a go. Stand up and be counted or feel sorry for yourselves. We're going to have to stand up in next 6 weeks against some strong teams. If we don't, we lose 6 on bounce. I cannot see Wakey not getting at least one win in that time. If they win just one in next 6 we could be 8 points behind and it could be goodnight.

A sad sign of the times in some ways in that I'm saying this, but this is like a cup final for the Bulls. No doubt there will be plenty of ribbing about that, but sadly it is true.

Put simply, if the players can't get themselves up for this game to take it to the Rhaaaaanos then they need to have a serious word with themselves. If they can't get themselves up for a derby game anyway then there's an issue to be fair.

If we can come flying out of the blocks, take it to the Loiners and play up in their faces, we have a chance of a win - but it will take a complete team performance for the whole game, not just showing what they are capable of in fits and starts.

Leeds like space and the ability to get a roll on. We need to control the ruck and defend like heroes. A tough task, but I refuse to write off the chance of a win.

Interesting that you say we need to get into their faces. The one player we could always rely on to do that was Scruton. Prime example was against Wakey this year, when he started spanking their forward pack.

Do we have that aggression and leadership in the forwards any more? Fakir brings aggression, but this game might be a little early into his Bulls career.

We make very little headway in the forwards, even against Salford, we only just managed to make it 30 metres with 5 drives. Id like us to be a little more expansive from the off, but this will need Gale to improve on what we have seen over the previous weeks.

I don't know if we do have that ability - but Disko certainly has that in him and if he can rev up his pack you never know.

Agree re Gale, his kicking game for one needs a massive improvement from last time out against Salford. Several kicks had reasonable length, but I don't recalll many (if any?) finding touch, putting increased pressure on our defending.

Hopefully the whole team will be telling themselves they can win tonight

If we can't get pumped for this one, then we never will.

Leeds OTOH are guaranteed to be complacent. How could they not be?

Bulls by 50.

If we're going to have any chance in the next few games we're going to have to try and be a bit more creative. We've seen far too few offloads in the tackle from forwards this year and I think part of that has been down to our lightweight pack. I'd like to see our 3 props and Ferguson chance their arm a bit more. It wears out defences as we know from being on the receiving end.

And you never know, the more chancy offloads we risk, the greater the odds that, one day, one won't go to ground!

Well they do say practice makes perfect