Ref OK today then ??. We must of had our usual ref at Leigh today because we won by quite a few points today against Workington. Its getting ridiculous having him every week now

Sorry "Cokey" but i just had to mention the ref ....Refs don't get mentioned much on this board .

Didn't manage to get to the game today (first one I've missed this season) sounds like we played how we have for the last few. Having said that, Jimmy has constantly rotated the squad, which is the right thing to do with such a long season. I think only Clough, Gaskell, O'brien and Pitts have played in all the games. I expect from late may/early June Jimmy will decide on his strongest side and run with that consistently (barring injuries)
If we're still playing bell we par then, then I'd be worried.

Having said all that we need to cut out the sloppiness and start performing better. We have two tough games coming up against Sheffield and London and if we play how we have recently, we will lose.

I also think we are massively missing Mullaney. He's been superb this year. He's just as important as Gaskell and O'brien.

Actually you have London and Doncaster..But shows you're paying attention.

We play Sheffield the week after Doncaster...
If I said our next two league games are London and Sheffield you may have had a point...

And you play London the week before Doncaster..Do you not take one match at a time at your club?

Genuinely have no idea what point you're trying to make.
I was just pointing out potential tough fixtures we have coming up.

But looks like another match thread is going to be derailed by a Leigh fan...

I agree with Bullmania that we need to improve for games vs Sheffield and London. We've got a bit sloppy in recent weeks. We've let soft tries in during the last few games and haven't really clicked in attack for anything longer than the odd 5 minute period.

Getting a bit sad now this "banter" I like too come on too read Bradford match report not people trying too wind each other up! See ferguson didn't play again? One hell of a player when fit but a right biscuit body!

Bloke near me was questioning how long it took him to do his daily postal round, based on the speed he ambled round the pitch. Must stop for a rest every few houses.

Like most of the contributors on this thread i agree a win is a win and we are a long way off the crucial last 8's. But! i look at Bradfords squad and it should be playing better than it appears from reading the reports, something isnt clicking. I fully appreciate JL was a fantastic player and Bradford legend but is he a good coach?? Is KH a good assistant?? I dont believe they are getting the best out of the talent available.

That's it, we need to sack the coach! Oh and sack the board!!

It's been a while since we had a "sack 'em all" thread. Things are going too well to have some stability, we should start sacking people immediately! Someone should start a "Lowes Out" thread without delay. I suppose it's a bit much to hope for another administration, where practically everybody gets instantly sacked, but we can dream

It's not your fault, but we are really Super League standard fans, just slumming it with you C fans for a while, and as such, we have these advanced brains that can actually multitask to thinking not only a couple of games into the future, but even talking about the playoffs, cup ties and all sorts. We can do this at the same time as thinking about what to have for tea, and whether we need a crap. I bet you're dead jealous!

Is it a case of a mindset I.e. When we play teams that pose a greater psychological threat, the team will have to move up a couple of gears and perform or get thumped. London (who are improving) Sheffield, both of who will be difficult away. Posting big scores seems to be the demand from fans, where there is little value in that thinking. We actually have had relatively minimal injury problems so that is a bonus.

Teams in Super League tend to come into their own just past halfway in the season. The same for us. I am not too worried right now.

There are some extremely negative opinions elsewhere on the interweb.

I would say that the team are where you'd like to see them in terms of league position and results.

They are where you'd expect a fairly new side to be in terms of performance and have improvement in them ahead of a (hopefully) attempt at promotion through the super 8's.

In my opinion.

I can't comment on anyone else as that's their look out and know enough about them.

Obviously teams raise their game a few levels when they meet us, probably more than they do than when they play Leigh. As far as the coaches are concerned it's stupidly early to make any kind of judgement. We've had 14 new players to integrate into the team including a new halfback and fullback. Of course it will take time to gel. We seem to be winning games without ever really cutting loose so I'm happy with where we are at the moment. I hope to see us looking more slick later in the season - when it matters.

Personally I am not remotely bothered about thrashing teams week in week out.

It is a long hard season and I would rather we did what we have to do with the minimum of effort rather than go all Gung-Ho in order to humiliate sides.

That way we can be fresher when the middle 8's come around and may well have the advantage over the bottom 4 SL sides who will be scrapping each week to avoid finishing in the bottom spots.

Points difference will not matter in the weekly rounds. Do what is required at minimum cost then go all-out in the play-offs.

We looked yesterday like we were trying to score on every set of six. Whether that is just a mindset the players have developed themselves, Jimmy has coached into them or maybe just because it was the first time they'd played with the sun on their backs, who knows.
We played well for about 20 minutes collectively, and that was enough to win the game. Gaskell doesn't throw that ridiculous pass and we don't switch off for the last 30 seconds of the game and Dewsbury are restricted to just one soft try under the posts in the second half. We defended a handful of sets on our own line throughout the match but were never really threatened that much.

For me the entire match was typified by one passage of play in the second half. Adam Henry took a pass on our own try line, and managed to sidestep and dance his way past at least six Dewsbury defenders until they finally brought him down on our 40. It was a great effort. We then dropped the ball in the next tackle.
Complete rocks and diamonds all afternoon. Frustrating to watch, but at least we're still winning the games.

We did defend quite well but the amount of holding down and the laughable 10m made fluent rugby a challenge. I thought the way we worked for the first try by Pitts was superb with both halfbacks working together really well – hopefully that’s a sign of things to come.

The offloading for Uaisele’s try was excellent too. Pitts has a great offload and given he’s not the biggest it’s a great asset.

We did make far too many errors and I expect Halafihi will get a telling off for the penalty he gave away while we were in possession.

Some of our big lads are a still a bit off the pace (I’m thinking Fleming and Lauaki). From what I’ve seen they’ve missed out on the pre season so have some catching up to do.

Any news on Davies? He looked good versus Leeds in pre season.

Nothus ... I think Adam Henry is gaining more confidence with game time. Dropping the ball overall in good weather is a bit mystifying. It is well known about my views on defence. There is nothing wrong with having the "opportunity" to defend our own line, we will have too come more determined and skilful sides.

Which other players are going to appear to take responsibility for running the game outside of Gaskill? I thought Addy would be more decisive and influential.

Bullseye ... Is it that Refs are allowing a slower play the ball because it is recognised that teams are part time and given the differences in fitness?

On what I've seen so far, it is that the Championship refs and the Championship teams have mutually become accustomed to laborious PTBs and to them, that's just how it is. And if that's how it is, and everybody does it, then it's easier to just let it go than try to swim against the tide. Compared with watching SL the difference is really obvious. In this league you generally would have to peg the guy down with six guy ropes before the ref would blow.

I think that's about right to be honest. And I think it's a big reason why we're not posting big scores.

A lot of our players aren't used to such a slow PTB and are struggling with it at times. Perhaps need to start playing like they know it's going to be slow, instead of complaining when it is.

There's no doubt there's a difference in this league with the PTB speed, it's clear to see. So adapt to that, rather than expecting the referees to adapt to our style.

It can't be that otherwise Leigh would be having the same problem.
I think the refs in this league have to allow some compensation for the fact that the majority of teams are part time. It is only natural that their fitness levels will be lower then SL, so some leeway is given around the ptb for this fact.

Speaking of refs we've got Joe Cobb on Sunday.

That should be a popular appointment.

Sure it is. We should all be willing to be welcoming to those of a lower mental ability that ourselves