when criticising lynch what about langley...our so called great player- injured again! only on 25 mins 1st half conceding us 3 penalties. we have a lot of players who are failing to make the grade but still have 1-2 years left of their contracts. we cannot afford to buy all of them out! sykes, platt, donaldson. please get rid of ah van and herbert- absolutely garbage and a waste of valuble quote spots.

My major concern here is that I have heard rumours potter isnt too popular at odsal. there have been comments he isnt too involved in the day to day on field training, hasnt developed relationships with the players and there is no 'club buyin'. by this, i mean that all the training takes place at tong, so there is a real seperation between the players and the club staff members etc. Whilst this does not seem too important, it can impact the pride of playing for the club etc.

Potters major downfall imo is the lack of consistancy in choosing a backline. Its seems to be accepted the partnerships and cohesion are important for a backline to be effective, yet it seems we never have the same combinations. rotating in the forwards is much easier but halfs and centre/wing combinations take time and he doesnt seem to give them this time, and this doesnt even take into account the effect the changes have on morale.

i would be interested to see how many of the centres have had the same winger and halfs for 3+ games before being dropped for a in experienced 2nd row. if potter didnt see whitehead as a centre in pre season, then surely he needs to give the guys he did see as centres a min of 3 games without change to assess them.

Our ball handling compared to some teams is shocking. watch us move the ball from left to right or vice-versa , invariably this takes us 7 to 8 short passes. Watch the likes of wigan,saints,catalan christ even leeds and it 4 or 5 tops. a couple of short passes on the run and bang, a cut out pass missing 1 or 2 and the centre/wing is in in the corner. We just simply aint good enough to do that, Thats no slight on anyone, people in any job have others who can do the job better than them.
Maybe this stems from potters insistence on shuffling the back-line about , players not having same players inside/outside of them but as a team we should be able to throw the ball about. Look at our backline on paper, Kearney (played s/o) sykes (s/o fb) royston (l/f,s/o,/fb) herbert (so/sh), jefferies (so/sh), platt (fb) all players whose natural position involves good ball handling skills so potentially players who should be more than capable of putting a move together

Yes, you are right. Imaging posting on a thread called "Ensuing Clearout at Odsal" and mentioning the people I would like to see "cleared out". Indeed I really should have thought that through a bit better.

i think you are wrong. rumours of potter not being liked? by whom..dave halley! a sour faced bitter reject? potter is professional through and through, he differs from mcnamara as he had favourites who he let bum lick him hence therefore getting a place in the team. potter is serious and a hard task master, he picks the team on ability and ability alone. the training regime put in place my potter is a dramatic improvement on what mcnamara had in place- a few hours play around compared to potters intensive days long training sessions. maybe money was the reason why we signed poor players this year? and its a case of potter has to make do with that he has (a few poor players) you do not know what potter has allowed him to play with and what players the bulls buget enabled them to sign
i personally feel for potter as he must be pulling his hair out at the massive comparision between his ex st helens players and what he has to work with at bulls

bullbreath, i actually like potter but your assumptions are wide of the mark. firstly, i wouldnt care what halley thought, the guy was unwilling to follow instructions to bulk up and had a horendous attitude to training, so therefore i expect him to be bitter towards anybody.

the rumours i have heard have come from 3 people who work behind the scenes at odsal. 2 have mentioned his insistance on being away from odsal and not intigrating the team with the backroom staff or with the team himself. the other comment came from a senior coaching member who said that potter didnt get involved in much of the training at all, simply organised it like a manager and not a coach. he even mentioned that he often didnt get even organise much re tactics and schedule for the week.

re potters training, i dont know about the effectiveness of either method, but many sports scientists believe short intensive sessions are much more proven than day long sessions.

Agree with all that. Lullia looks the part but a new scrum half is a must and a forward in the Puletua, Luke O'Donnell, Hoffman, Waterhouse mode. Marching 6,7,8 players to the gate to be replaced with another minibus full of journeymen is not the way forward.

In my opinion it's the players rather than the coach that need to buck their ideas up. It's the players that consistently crumble under pressure and have done under Potter and McNamara. It's the players that make poor decisions, let their heads drop too early and give away needless penalties.

The club have spent a fortune on training facilities at Tong which are apparently the best in the league. Before that we had the worst training facilities in the league. I don't think that their proximity to where we play our home games has anything to do with it. How could it?

I agree with you about backline cohesion but we've had a fair few injuries that have disrupted things and the players we have aren't exactly world beaters as it is. Many have deserved dropping given the performances they've put in.

Agreed. I'd hope that some astute signings could turn things around. However I remain to be convinced that a few other players have the attitude required to improve.

i certainly feel that the players need to up it, but i am concerned that potter does not seem to notice or care that the tinkering is not helping. if platt a starting centre he should be played there unless there is somebody kicking down the door. i suppose the case and point would be royston playing well and not being used etc

As an outsider looking in this seems to the most obvious problem.

Mick Potter needs to be given time. The guy has a proven pedigree of putting together strong sides. At least let him see out his contract and see how you've progressed as of next year. I don't know if the backroom staff were picked by Potter, but that could be one area to be re-addressed.

It is your backline that needs urgent re-addressing. In Lynch, Scruton, Kopczak and Burgess you have some quality. Langley and Elima (possibly one of your best signings so far) have some size. I think an experienced professional at either prop or in the back row would be a shrewd signing. Someone in the Ryan Hoffman mould at Wigan. Works like a machine in attack and defence, but most importantly he is the ultimate experienced professional. Someone for your younger forwards to look up to and pick up a few habits. Mark O'Meley and Craig fitzgibbon are OOC at Hull, while I admit they're the wrong side of 30 and overseas, they are two top quality players who have an awesome work ethic. If Wakefield lose their license I would snap up a lad called Paul Johnson at prop. I think in Matt Diskin and Heath L'estrange you have two excellent hookers if you can keep them fit.

The backs will prove the biggest problem. Thomas Bosc and Leon Pryce I believe have been linked with Bradford. Either would be top draw for you. Jefferies can do a job for you as well as Herbert, but neither will be consistent enough IMO. Brett Kearney, Gareth Raynor and Michael Platt look decent. I think Patrick Ah Van has shown promise along with Royston. I think he can only improve in his second season. He'd be worth holding on to. You've signed a new centre who must be good in defence and will hopefully show some flair. Chev Walker is far too injury prone IMO and there are some players who are just crap, but it's a difficult situation because the market for quality backs is grim.

I have sympathy for Bulls fans because I saw Wigan gradually decline, but I have also seen us rise back to the top. It can be done, but it took four years. Gradual improvement is all you can ask for and I think Mick Potter can put the building blocks in place for Bradford to do that. The club must be a bit more ambitious IMO. Why weren't they in the market for Trent Waterhouse? Stefan Ratchford? If a player like Rangi Chase becomes available they should go out for him all guns blazing. Lance Hohaia? Anthony Laffranchi? Imagine if you signed just one of these players. It would turn your whole squad around and you'd see a significant improvement. That is speculation of course, because you might have been in the market for them and if so you must continue to chase these top quality players.

Anyway I'm rambling. Just a few thoughts. I wish Bradford all the best. I've been to Odsal and seen us get slammed many times, but you had to admire the quality your side had. I never felt any animosity from your fans either. One of the better Yorkshire clubs. I've seen my club go through something similar so I've every sympathy. All the best for the future - keep your chin up - you'll get there!

Great post mate .