I don't recall ever putting out a squad that strong against Dewsbury pre-season. I don't go in for the school of thought that pre-season games give you no idea of how you will do in the season ahead. If we were to really struggle with that strong squad against Dewsbury then I'd question what we are likely to achieve this year.

I say all that without any disrespect intended to the Rams.

What is wrong with you nowadays?

Scamp. I heart you.

He certainly has changed.

forecast for Halifax and Huddersfield weather stations for tomorrow is light rain in the morning, dry and sunny afternoon with wind gusting to 30-40mph, so conditions will be important. I would assume Gale has spent some time today on kicking practice as winds about the same strength. So maybe Briggs for playing with the wind and Sammut at 6 into the wind. (editicon_smile.gif If he has a visa!!!

22/1/12 | Dewsbury Rams vs Bradford Bulls | 15Dewsbury Rams (0) 16-42 (30) Bradford Bulls[/size

Dewsbury Tries Esders (54), Faal (60), Flanagan (77)
Dewsbury Goals Barber 2/3

Bradford Tries Purtell (3), Gale 2 (16,2icon_cool.gif, Ainscough (22), Sykes (33), Joesph (47), Burgess (63)
Bradford Goals Gale 7/7

Sin Bin Craig Kopczak (6) - Late challenge on Ed Barber after the kick.
On Report Craig Kopczak (6) - See above incident.

Penalties Dewsbury 8-10 Bradford
Goal Line Drop Outs Forced Dewsbury 0-3 Bradford
Attendance 1,402



James Craven's tackle on a full speed Brett Kearney was one of the best tackles I've ever seen.

Just you wait till Rams TV upload the match highlights.

I thought Craven, Smith, Esders and Faal all did Dewsbury proud today. They certainly created enough chances to score tries in that second half to suggest that They'll be a force in the Championship this season.

Credit must go to Bradford's defence (I never thought I'd say that so soon) especially the much criticised marker and sliding defence.

Young Adam O'Brien, Phil Joseph (the break and then offload to Ainscough to send him under the posts was a pleasure) and new recruit Adrian Purtell tackled like work horses with the ex Newcastle Knights man at one point putting in three consecutive marker defence tackles.

Luke Gale need I say anymore other than his creative flair in all fairness was worth about thirty of our forty two points (he hand in just about everything).

This creativity is something we haven't seen since the days of Deacon & Harris.

I was very impressed with the Bulls in the 1st half. Diskin looked very sharp early on to say it's his first match in a long time and looked dangerous every time he picked the ball up out of Dummy half.

My man of the match was Luke Gale though. This guy controlled everything. He asked questions every time he took the line on and scored a couple of nice tries, not to mention setting up a few others. That creativity is something Bradford havent had for a few years and it can only be a positive for the Bulls.

Joseph is someone who has really impressed me in the 2 pre season games so far too. He puts his body on the line every time he tries something, whether it by with ball in hand or making a tackle. I was pleased for him to get over the line today as the effort he put in definitely warranted it.

It was good to see the Bulls hustle in defence too. I know it was only Dewsbury (and I mean that in the most respectful way I can) but when they moved the ball latterally across the field they looked dangerous and they will cause a few teams a lot of problems this year.

Bradford were very professional today though and a few players put their hands up big time for a spot against Catalan

ex Newcastle Knights man. !?!?!

Oh no Mick , mistake there !!! It's ex-Penrith Panthers lol

Joke over, in all seriousness thank you for you overview and stats. Looking forward to seeing that tackle and how Gale and Joseph played

A good run out today especially in the first half. Stand out performers were Gale, O'Brien and Joseph (he is definitely worth a 12 month contract).

I look forward to Gale running the show when the seasons starts, impressed by him.

Still a lot of first team players to come so very positive at the moment. The game at Hull will be interesting.

I'll echo everything that's been said so far. Good hit out for most of the squad and it was good to see some of our new signings.

Points worth raising for me are that Tom Burgess looks a lot leaner and did well to score under pressure. I felt that Bateman put in a good shift and earned us some decent yards during the first half and Addy fitted in well for the absent Jamie Langley. Gale and BJ was a successful partnership with the new number 7 running the show for most of the game. His play in the second half that set Crookes free was wonderful to watch. Each time I see Adam O'Brien play he gets better and better.

Even though Dewsbury are a lower league team we scored plenty of points and showed some resilience when defending our line.

Thoroughly enjoyable performance that builds a bit of of excitement for next week and also for the start of the season.

good hit out for the lads, even taking into account the lower quality opposition (no disrespect intended).

I was sceptical about Gale when we signed him but very impressed with him today. Setup some nice trys and took his own well, and was very vocal and not afraid to boss rest of team around. Think we've got the organising half we've been missing the last few years.

Purtell looked a solid signing in time he was on pitch. Creative for his first try and a workhorse in defense. Kearney really showed his quality. Looked very sharp and totally in control at the back. Took a big hit (wouldnt really call it a tackle, more a block) and got back up and carried on. Diskin looked a lot better than he did last season, whch tends to back up what Potter said about him carrying an injury last year.

Burgess looked to have lost a bit of weight and was more effective for it. O'brien was a real livewire and will be pushing both L'estrange and Diskin for a place in team. I'll be surprised if Bateman isnt a regular first team player by end of season, although thought he looked to be carrying a little too much weight. Thought we looked more creative with Addy/Donaldson sharing the 13 spot than we did with Langley there at Cas. Hopefully this signals a change in Potters thinking regarding treating loose as a 3rd prop and we'll see Langley moved into 2nd row.

Phil Joseph was impressive. Looked to have lost a little weight since Cas game and was a real workhorse. Would have no problems giving him a deal as 6th prop and if we don't someone else will. Phil and Tom really terrorised Dewsbiry with some of their runs and both made good yards.

Only downsides for me were Scruton, and Jeffries were both very quiet and didnt really make much impact. Sibbit looked a lot leaner than last year but seems to have reverted to his early 2011 form and gave a few penalties away.

Not sure who the lad with the long sleeved red shirt under his Bulls shirt who played hooker for us in last 20 after O'Brien went off but he looked pretty useful too.


Childs was his usual pedantic self and seemed to concentrate on us, penalising us for offences which he ignored when ewsbury did the same. Typical example was sending Kopczak of for a late challenge on the kicker, then turning a blind eye when Dewsbury took our kicker out a few minutes later. We committed the offences we were penalised for and it down to us to eliminate them from our game but there were two teams on pitch and both should be held to the same standards.

Mat, has Gales performance reduced the odds on him being captain?

That was number 26 Callum Windley who I thought did a good job at dummy half.

Certainly got play going forward.

We did win the penalty count 10-8 but yes when Sykes was taken out in the second half it should have been ten in the bin if Mr Child was officiating both sides the same.

To be honest mate I'd say only 18 penalties from Childs is pretty good going.