Ronald McDonald I think all the teams you’ve mentioned will be closely matched this season, I will reserve judgment on Featherstone and Leigh until I watched the game tonight but they’ll probably be streets ahead of the rest , there’s so many variables with injuries, refereeing decisions, weather conditions it’s gonna be a long d season, a lot of the teams are evenly matched this year .

I can’t see kear going anywhere before the end of the season but we have certainly gone stale.

While not overreacting from a loss, the way we ended last year it’s clear we need a kick up the backside from somewhere. We are long overdue an exciting season of having a team we can get excited about. I’m not even talking about promotion favourites, just a team that makes you excited to get down and watch them.

Even in league 1 and gaining promotion i dont think we had a genuine buzz about the team.

I would suggest this is a very likely scenario. He won't get sacked unless we really do fall to pieces, however there needs to be a plan in place for next year.

I think both John and the club will have to tough it out the rest of the season as we have no other choice as it stands. The club can't afford to waste money on paying him off and bringing in someone else so its going to have to be done at the end of the year when his contract comes to a natural end.

Sadly its been the same story since day one. Whilst we are no Fev or Leigh, nobody can suggest he hasn't been backed in the market. We spent big in League 1 only to promoted by the back door, he's had arguably the 2nd/3rd biggest budget in the Championship for the last 3yrs but been seriously outperformed time and time again... even this year Big Nige has backed him with signings that won't come cheap and yet the squad looks woefully unfit and disinterested when its time to knuckle in.

Having watched a few training sessions in the past couple of years, the one thing that stood out to me is how little Kear actually gets involved. He is not the hands on kind of guy that I first expected and looks like he relies heavily on his assistants. Given we have taken the cheap options of Messrs Dunning and Beattie, is it any wonder we get performances like Sunday???

This is interesting.

Only one person bradford need to put in is Leon he certainly knows his stuff

The ‘fitness’ argument is interesting.

Having spent years in sport and formerly at a club who is now a fellow Champ club, I find the argument lazy.

In football, if you have to do more defending and work without the ball you tire quicker.
In rugby, it’s exactly the same if not worse due to the impacts on bodies.

Thackeray kicked us to death and we defended far more than we should’ve. We need to respect the ball, remain disciplined and build pressure.

Crossley and walker are never going to be size zero, but how can you say the team are unfit?

They lacked desire, not energy.

Couldn’t agree more re fitness and the above post.

Any team defending more than attacking looks tired, we didn’t look unfit v Dewsbury?

It’s seem an easy pop IMO when a team loses as they naturally look deflated, are likely to have had less ball etc

Interestingly Premier Sport were saying Leigh looked out on their feet after 10/15mins due to defending, are they unfit too?

When Kear took over the team was a shambles after getting relegated in 2017.
He has taken us from League 1 to Championship playoffs in 3 years(2020 excluded) every year he has improved our league position.
It's time for a change but Kear hasn't done a bad job.

So if we are fit enough the problem is that the players couldn't be bothered? Kear seems to think it's an attitude problem.

You can blame a lack of possession and field position as much as you like but that was down to our weak defence allowing Sheffield to make 10m per carry and us taking the ball at walking pace and running laterally. If you add a kicking game that is on the back foot because of the lack of go forward we end up surrendering field position. They could put in attacking kicks and we couldn't.

As for expecting Crossley and Walker to be size zero - nobody is expecting that. However both players have been slimmer in the past. No team competing in SL or seriously competing to get there has players in that shape. This isn't the 1980s. I happen to think we have more "go forward" with them on the field, Baldwinson and Fleming aren't as good going forward.

We have an opportunity to show better attitude next Monday. It's the perfect opportunity really as Leigh will be hurting. Refusing to allow ourselves to be embarrassed would be a good start. Get stuffed and we go into Barrow match with 1 win from 3 and we could after that very easily be 1 from 4. Kear could be on a sticky wicket soon.

I always find Fleming infuriating. He's like Chris Feather, with his size you'd expect more impact but he seems to stop a metre before contact.

As for the question of fitness and conditioning. It's always telling when you see a player from an SL side take the field with us. They stick out like a sore thumb in terms of body shape. I know we aren't full, full-time but if you are carrying a spare tyre you're going to pay the price in terms of mobility and fitness. That's just natural, you're carrying weight that adds nothing to your performance and on a bog of a pitch that's going to tell sooner rather than later.

Couldn't agree more.

If you've just retaken the lead with 13 minutes left and then let in two converted tries and two penalties at home I don't think that's fitness. I think that's an attitude problem.

They weren't defending for 20 minutes. In fact if anything they were on top and gave away penalties in Sheffield's 20. Whilst I don't really believe it but surely if the team has turned up not prepared to try that is an even more damning indictment of the preparation.

Kear's interview after the game talking about having smoke blown up their backsides and disrespecting the opposition is embarrassing. They won one competitive game and lost the last few of last season. Players like Gill, Wallace, Doyle, Miller, DFJ, in fact all 17 individually and collectively turned up to play with an attitude of 'we're better than this'? That's just not remotely credible.

Agreed. We field that kick-off, complete the set, put in a reasonable kick & chase, Sheffield start their set 80/70 metres from their try line, the forwards have to get back. Instead we messed up the kick-off and Sheffield start the set 40/30metres from out try line. That instantly gives them energy and drains ours.

We can be as fit as we want, but fitness can be in the head too. You feel more tired if you have to jog back to your own 20m line to start your set 80metres away with 10 mins left. If you start 40metres after the opposition made an error, you feel less tired.

That's why I think its an attitude issue rather than fitness. We don't bite down on the gum shield and complete those tough crucial sets. We consistently mess up and put pressure on ourselves and give the opposition a lift.