If Paul Sykes had put in a similar performance to that of Addy's tonight, we'd be on here baying for blood.
I know the guy is only 21, but he had an absolute shocker. Failed to find touch with the penalty, was caught in possession on the last tackle TWICE, and missed bags of tackles, including a poor attempt on gareth thomas which allowed him to score.

He looked way, way out of his depth against a very poor Crusaders side tonight. For his sake I hope it was just one of those days.

He's a 21 year old playing out of position, and under pressure as we really needed a result. He didn't have the best game, but on parts you could see his potential (his offload in the build up to Ainscoughs try)

Actually he only just turned 20.

Addy's little flick pass in the build up to Ainys try was sublime.

As for the rest of the game, he played like everyone else. It was a scrappy game and everyone made mistakes!

You know, I feel as if I have fallen into some parallel universe here!

We made a few errors but got a decent win. Not much to worry about.

The NT is the new PT and vice versa.

Without your 1st choice halfbacks any win is a good result.

The amount of needless errors are a concern though and against slightly better opposition and without the great scrambling defence we may not have got the result. If we reduce the errors by half we would undoubtedly be looking a lot fresher in the final quarter.

Despite both wingers looking the part last night, I thought Ah Van looked a little dodgy in defence at centre. He was brushed off a number of times and failed to complete the tackle. I had the same concerns versus Halifax in pre season but put it down to some rustiness. I'm not sure how much NRL experience he had at centre but it's an area he needs to improve against the better sides in SL. Looked strong once again with ball in hand though and he strikes the ball superbly. Some of his restarts were putting the Crusaders under some pressure, too often teams are happy to just return the ball to the opposition with a hoof down field.

I agree Eddie.

The bad stuff should be pretty easy to fix up.

If we have easily highlighted it, you can bet the coaching staff are all over it.

And I repeat, we are still without our first choice half back pairing - we've had a different pairing every game so far!
Also we still need to gel a little.

We're sure to get better as the season progresses, so the more wins we pick up early on is a bonus IMO!

Did you see your mob on TV last night…..the camera was on you for ages!

Not seen the replay yet but I did receive a text off one member on here asking to get my bald head off his tv screen!! Which I thought was a little rude considering I had a hat on! But Sky do tend to pick out a good looking speccy to focus on...

We got the win. An away win at that.

Without our two starting halfbacks or Langley.

Despite the "momentum of the game" bollox seemingly again being against the side with a seemingly unassailable lead from half time - the conspiracy theorists will say Sky/RFL team orders...whatever.

Despite a late try against us that was a joke, and that had roles been reversed I feel sure would have been disallowed (every other benefit of doubt for Bulls has been).

With a three-man bench from early doors,

With a squad that everyone knows still has a way to go to fully gel.

And, apart from that last few minutes (again ) with some generally very effective defence on show.


Various people, from the coaching staff down, did counsel patience before the start of the season. I'm still happy to be patient. We saw some good stuff yesterday - the work for the Ainscough try was sublime, and genuine pace out wide is something we have not had for ages - and a load of silly stuff that ought to be fixable before not too long. I said some time back I expected a slow start, but with our momentum picking up strongly as the season progresses. I remain of that view.

And as for Pinky and Perky and the Wigan Wakner in the Sky box...they always talked bollox anyway and Clarke has just become a verbal excrement machine. So I ignore what they say - or, more usually, watch matches with the sound down low. Wells and Carney for me.

One of the worst games I have ever witnessed in SL. But one you would probably have lost last year without Orford. Definitely a better team when Diskin is out there.

If winning "Ugly" is what it takes during the first half of the season then so be it, the team need to be in a reasonable table position by then to step up and get on a roll towards the playoffs and onwards!

Its all about result, not performance.
Dont let Barrie McD, Phil Clarke or any other try to convine you otherwise.

Re injuries, the Duffster tweeted earlier "Chev's injury not as bad as first thought. Heath sprained his ankle. Will know more tomorrow. Ah Van OK."

Fingers crossed.