If I had to put [isomething[/i at the top of the list of what's bugging me is how come, for a long time now, the team as a whole can come out on so many occasions making such sheer weight of numbers of basic handling errors. More games than not, the catalogue of dropped passes etc is really quite unbelievable for a SL team. And I can't see that that is a coaching issue btw since for example on Friday Menzies was at it, as were one or two other senior players, and I doubt he has anything to learn about catching a rugby ball. But I'll admit I am devoid of any explanation at all as to why we fsck up as much as we do, save to say that we do.

Some of your comments I agree with but the sentence highlighted made me smile. I don't think I have ever seen a bunch of players with less spirit than Bulls this season.

Finally we get a result like we did in Scotland, spirit should be high, we can finally kick start our season against the team bottom of the league and then we have a spiritless performance like we did. We start games like we have already lost, heads are down and there is clearly no motivation or drive. Even after the Wakefield game when I met a few of the players they looked thoroughly depressed, no excitement about getting a result and certainly none of this spirit you have mentioned!

The team is not playing as a team, a few individual efforts have kept us close in some games but there is certainly no spirit in the Bradford team at the moment and that is clear to see by most, there are deep issues in the team and at the moment I can't see us digging ourselves out of this hole without major changes.

Well whenever I've played (albeit at much much lower level) handling errors are usually down to a lack of concentration on what is happening and/or a lack of familiarity with other players. Sometimes it also comes down to plain ability though this is less of a factor when you get to SL level. Lastly they can be down to fatigue when tiredness causes players to make mistakes they wouldn't make when fresh.

Coaches can work to address many of these areas, they can ensure the team is a fit as possible and everyone is familiar with everyone else. Concentration is more difficult to ensure, especially if players have other things preying on their minds.

Re: Menzies' dropsy - takes two to drop a pass. Is our passing technique up to snuff.

Looking at [url=http://www.superleague.co.uk/statistics_club.php?hs1=2009&hp1=7400&hs2=2009&hp2=350&stat=errors&season=2009this[/url, we've made one more error than Saints, off three hundred less carries. Doesn't seem to be much correlation between total errors and the league table though (maybe because of the possession thing).

A big problem for us have been where we make the errors rather than the number. Also important is the stage in the tackle count.

For example versus Celtic we made loads at the point where we should have been exerting pressure on their line. Instead we turned it over cheaply and so they didn't have to really exert themsleves in defence. In comparision they took what few chances they had.

Hmm. A bit of maths and we see that Bulls drop it on 7.2% of carries. Leeds on 6.6% for comparison. Hull on 4.6% of them, though it doesn't seem to be doing them much good.

Its not a coaching issue its a recruitment issue.

In what way? Yes, you could argue that we've signed players that can't catch or pass, however both those can be improved by the correct application of training and coaching

The players we have our far too inconsistent. They are by nature not by coaching. Numerous good coaches tried to make Solomona more consistent but failed. MacNamara doesnt coach Platt to shepherd a 40/20 kick into touch. Halley will have plenty of good games but will find that against certain teams his lack of physique will limit his impact.

Throughout the history of rugby league there have been numerous players that were very talented but erratic. Some of them became more consistent with time, most did not. The real difference between a top quality player and a second tier player is often consistency. We seem to have specialised in recruiting the less reliable players.

A player such as Jeffries is no more likely to be coached into having 3 consecutive good matches than Joe Vagana could have been coached into scoring length of the field tries. He just doesnt have it in him.

I was thinking similar on Fri night. We have players who on their day can be very good RL players but perhaps not consistently. People like Sheriffe, Nero and Platt etc have shown some great Rugby for the Bulls but equally have had their share of howlers.

The successful Bulls sides had quality players who were dependable such as Withers, Lowes, Gartner and Forshaw. We also had some true match winners in Robbie, Henry, Hape, Vaikona and Vainikolo. We simply do not have players of an equivalent class right now.

I like this thread...

All coaches fail.

So there is no point in sacking a failing coach. As you'd be replacing them with another failing coach

Also, we lost some games but we could have won them. The ones we've won we could have lost, so we've been competitive, so let's not worry. (Isn't that just sport - you [icould[/i win, but you [icould[/i lose)

Status quo rules! Macca for England/ GB job (oh, yeah hes already got one)

Really?

Ask the fans of Aberdeen FC and Manchester United FC about Sir Alex Ferguson, Celtic FC fans about Jock Stein, or Liverpool FC fans about Bob Paisley......

Different sports, I accept, but it does tend to contradict your point.