This is the closest I will ever get to a compliment so I am taking it as one!

Cheers FA.

Have dipped in & out of this one....why so many of the opinion that promotion is impossible under this system? After all, cup upsets in which a SL club gets dumped out by one from the championship are rare but not unheard of.

Rare - i.e. does not happen very often at all. Therefore it is highly unlikely that a Championship team will be able to prevail. It is certainly not impossible however.

Also, most cup upsets occur when the "big" team are guilty of complacency and maybe rest a few of their key players against the "wee" team. Therefore the chance of an upset is greater because the SL side may well be weakened.

This certainly would NOT be the case in the middle 8's when the SL sides will play their strongest available side until they amass enough points to secure their safety.

Because if you accept it's possible, then you have to accept the season has been a failure to achieve the possible and upon that basis significant change needs to take place in order to achieve the possible.

That change being the dismissal of the coach or the person in charge of recruitment or both. Elements of this board have a long standing aversion to the coach being sacked on the grounds that no matter how bad things are they could be even worse - and then they work backwards from this position.

Sadly this has been going on for some time.

However, one of the reasons for this is because there are certain people on here that try to shout you down or try to bully you into submission if you dare say anything about the club.

Then you also get the "Who would you rather have?" or "Who else is available that is better?" questions.

There was one real culprit for this but thankfully he does not post on here any more because he rightly got his comeuppance and he went off in the huff so maybe more people will now feel free to comment without the "reprisals".

Wow, there is a lot of things being said, re-said and then argued about on this thread.
My opinion for what it's worth is:
It is possible for a good championship team to get promoted.
Wakey did everything we had all hoped for - they were cr*p both in the season and play-off's - they were there for the taking by any decent team.
Yes, the seasons build up does matter. It gets you into that winning frame of mind. You learn to play your routines and you practise and build your defensive structures. We had played terrible all year and just couldn't switch it on at the end. OK, we beat a terrible Salford but things like that happen.

Getting into the mpg isn't a success. Someone had to and Leigh fell off a cliff. Who else was there that would get into it. Fax and Sheff were not up to it so it would have needed one hell of a mess for us not to get into it. That is no success in my mind. We stumbled into it when Leigh gave up the ghost and then cursed ourselves because we had not built up a run of good form that would beat a terrible Wakey team.

All of this talk of losing because we didn't kick this or Wakey did that is all speculation. If I hadn't have gone into that pie shop 30 years ago and got addicted to them I would have been stones lighter and been a top player sh*gging every cheerleader that met me - but it didn't work out that way - if only!

Did people notice the threat of moving out of the Tong training centre that is one of our jewels in our ever increasingly dusty crown. That would be a massive backward step in recruiting new and better players. If that happened I would have to say we are now on that slippery path / slope to becoming a regular championship team till the RFL find a way of getting us back in.

I do believe the RFL will get us back in (somehow) as SL as it stands is boring and they need clubs who can and will challenge the top few clubs. They need us and also a strong half a dozen other clubs for the game to survive. It is dying slowly but blowing it's own trumpet occasionally as it does.
I am surprised that Green as a supposedly top businessman has allowed such a downbeat article. ST sales will be down from next year as people just won't have the enthusiasm to watch a handful of awful games and my experience tells me that threats never work in any area of life.

I read one post from someone who says they will buy the ticket that allows 5-6 games at a reduced price. Good idea that. If I were the Bulls I would be dropping that ticket right now as many might just buy that and forget about the full ST.

When we brought in Ferres I was one who was pleased. I will admit that I am now not sure and am confused about what has gone on this year with recruitment and team selection. There seems to be a clash between the coach and Ferres. One or both may need to move on and probably will if we don't go up next season.

Are you sure the Tong training facilities are what we spent all that money on?
The article mentions us moving out to save on rent costs, but why would we have spent all that money on training facilities that we were only ever renting anyway? It doesn't make sense.

Unless all the money was spent on gear which we still own and could bring with us if we moved? I dunno.

FFS not this again! RAB is a purely written medium. You can't be "shouted down". There is no audio. LookTHIS. So, shout it down, if you can I bet you that you can't.

What you mean is you want everyone to agree with you all the time. But what difference does it make if they do, or if they don't? Your view remains there for all to see. It is in no way "shouted down". So stop playing this pathetic victimisation card.


You well might. Aren't those 100% perfectly valid - even essential - questions? What's wrong with anyone asking them, if they did?

I am not playing the "victimisation card" whatsoever!

And I also do not care who agrees with me. Given that most on here rarely do then I would say that that kinda proves that point.

There have been plenty of people who have faced the wrath for not "toeing the party line" as you well know (but will no-doubt deny).

Worse though was that rarest of protected species, the lesser spotted (and highly "respected" (by whom?)) one who thought he could belittle everyone with little chance of a ticking off. When he was outed as the cyber-bully that he was and got his comeuppance he took his bat home and has rarely been seen since.

You're like an old married couple FA and Mystic Eddie. You should go down the pub for a pint, you'd probably get on well in the flesh.

Hasn't Ferres always been a bit of a firefighter? It was certainly the case at Castleford and his record at Wakefield wasn't brilliant in terms of moving the club forward.

Its going to be a long old winter at this rate. Anyway I'll have my two penneth.

Jimmy Lowes - Was heralded as some sort of saviour when he came. He has had one full season as coach and lead a new set of hastily gathered players within a whisker of promotion. In my opinion he deserves another season.

Steve Ferres - Not sure who, if or how it was decided he was needed in that position but I cannot fault his passion for the club and game. Again in my opinion he deserves another season but he needs to up his game with the quality of any new signings however few they may be.

Marc Green - For me the most proactive guy we have had at the helm for many a year. Inexperienced and naïve in matters Rugby League when he took over but learning fast. I hope, as he says, that he is here for the long haul to get the club back into SL and just as importantly stay there.

The Team - For all the individual effort I thought the two things we lacked throughout the season were an on field general and steel in our defence. Whether that was due to injuries or that the players did not have those qualities that's in the past. They need to have a good look at themselves to improve on what the produced this year. Jimmy Lowes and Steve Ferres are men employed to sort the team so the ball is in their court to work to address that.

Whatever happens next season, success of failure, I'll still be a Bulls supporter as I always have been. Happy in the good times and ed off in the bad times.

Thought your comments are spot on. Fans forget Steve Ferres & Jimmy had to start from scratch... a big ask and yet we played well if not to our potential - plus our injuries were to key players in any team i.e. 6 & 7 are paramount and a good general on the field essential.

Feel we have a good Captain/on field general in Adrian Purtell. He seemed to have the motivational attitude required. What do you think?

Can't help but think if the voluntary tackle had been give against Joynt things would all be different.

.....and Withers never knocked on!