^
What he said

(Thanks FA, saved me typing out a rant....)

Today showed what we a lot us have feared all year, no idea without Gaskell, no speed, no defence today, the only thing we have a lot of are well paid ball boys. Going by name of Peterson, Davies, Tahouri, Ulugia, Brook, Halafihi etc etc

Well that result and performance has been coming for some weeks now and it is no surprise to me that it happened tonight. I expected that Fev would want to right a few wrongs after we demolished them at home and they pretty much did the same to us on our own patch so congratulations to them. They were far more enthusiastic than us and seemed to have twice as much energy.

Lowes surely has to take some responsibility to this, his faith in our recovery and players not needing resting appears to be flawed based on recent performances. We look absolutely shot right now, O'Brien in particular looked shattered tonight. We all thought we were vulnerable for halfback cover and without Gaskell we look clueless.

The momentum seems to be gaining at Wakefield, Leigh etc whereas we look to be going backwards right now. Sadly I suspect even if Gaskell does get fit, SL teams will all too easily shut him out the game without another strong playmaker to rely on to take some responsibility.

Feeling very low after tonight. We're absolutely shot to pieces. One of our best player can hardly walk due to Jimmy hammering him for 80 minutes every week. The whole squad were out on their knees, against a team who hasn't had a week off (like we have earlier in the year), played on Sunday too, are part time, and some of their players may have had to work today!!

Jimmys policy of playing the same team every week was always a gamble and it has gone horribly wrong. We now have a situation where our players looked absolutely shattered, yet the fringe players have hardly played. Do we now play rusty players against Sheffield, Leigh & Fax? Or do we go with the same tired players, hammering them even more before we start the middle 8's on zero points like eveyrone else. We don't win promotion by smashing Doncaster by 70+. We will win it by beating Wakefield/Leigh etc. Problem is now out best players are physically and mentally fatigued. Meanwhile we have about 4 fringe players out on loan, while the rest don't get a look in. He absolutely has to make a huge amount of changes for Hunslet. Swapping Lauaki i for Flemming and Uaisele for Henry won't cut it. The whole team looks knackard.

Far too many players out there have become complacent. Danny Addy was hopeless yet again. He was just as guilty for Featherstones tries as Henry was. Yet it will be Henry dropped while Addy carries on. Whens the last time he had a good game? We had Purtell running round like a headless chicken. And Siejka who not once even attempted to take on the line or draw a player in. I could have done what he did today. Just catch and pass. Meanwhile we have a young HB who we've sent out on loan. Can Brook really play as badly as Addy today?

Unfortunately i think Jimmy will make one or two changes, we'll beat a poor Hunslet team and we'll think it's ok. We are in a bad way at the moment. This isn't a performance our of the blue. It's been coming for about a month! Time to bring in Ulugia, Davies, Walshaw, Halafihi in, bring some enthusiasm and let the other players feel their pressure. At the moment the players and fans know what the squad is going to be every week and many have become complacent.

What makes it worse is that Fev weren't exactly spectacular. Their discipline in the first half was appalling and they made multiple errors. But it didn't seem difficult for them to find their way over the line, not at all. The Maitua try was embarrassingly easily. They cut through us all over the park, whether it be on the right wing, left wing, getting in behind the ruck, etc. It was comfortable for them and they didn't have to try too hard to break our line.

As for own attack? Non existent. Addy isn't a scrum-half, for one, and Siejka does nothing at all but move the ball along the line. I can think of maybe one occasion all evening where he actually took the ball vaguely close to the opposition defensive line. And I'm not sure what was going on with the outside backs but it seemed in the end like Walker was at left centre, Blythe was at right centre, Henry was in the second row, and Purtell was at ... scrum half? I'm not sure. They looked lost in attack tonight.

A very poor coach is Lowes, a decision based on heart not ability but very glad you made it

We will not make Super League with Jimmy Lowes in charge. Simple as.

When is Gaskell due back, we obviously need our key defensive player back never mind for attack!! What a shambolic, inept performance that's the culmination of weeks of bad performances whilst still scraping wins. No energy, no enthusiasm, no defensive work, no attack ideas, still no half backs, half a squad with no game time and a coach who needs to recognise there will be no promotion without major surgery. It isn't simply a rubbish performance from a good team, it's one where all our faults were evident in the one game. Middle 8s are but a dream. JL has to shoulder his share of the blame and rotate - let's get some return from 20 odd weeks training of all those in the sat in the stand - however poor JL believes they are is he big enough to let them prove it?? We are wasted and due more pastings if our tactics don't change.

Where's the infamous post match review by JL? Normally up within an hour or so -can't face the fans??

Prior to this game I thought that although our performances have been below par for a few weeks we still had an outside chance for direct promotion and a definite chance for the 'million pound' match in the playoffs. After this I doubt if we will be any threat at all and more worryingly for the future where do we go from here given that a large majority of our squad will be still under contract for next year. My glass has gone from half full to just about empty.

Featherstone bossed us in every aspect of the game without even breaking sweat.

To be fair they haven't had all evening to edit and do whatever else they do with Bulls TV. They probably wanted to go home to bed like the rest of us!

Not sure what future Siejka has at the club anymore after that. I can't recall ever seeing a half back get shifted to hooker and then hauled off the pitch completely a few minutes later. I mean by no means was the loss his fault entirely, but 6 and 7 are such key positions in any side you just can't have passengers in those roles.
The subs and role swapping on the fly last night just gave me the impression of a coach who was either panicking or just didn't have a clue how to rectify a bad situation.

We have to use the rest of our squad now. Have to. I honestly don't even care if we lose some more league games, do enough to get in the top 2 and just go into the playoffs and have a decent crack at it. It seems like Wakefield are finally getting their act together so in all honesty I can't see anybody switching places once these playoffs are done, but at least we can go in and put a bit more effort in than we showed last night.

That was the Henry I remember from last season. I was wondering where he'd got to. That will be him done for the season I think. Purtell & Blythe will be the centres going forwards.

Siejka was hobbling again. If he wasn't 100%, why play him? Because all the other people who can play in the halves are injured or on loan. Except Mendeika - who did ok at fullback.

Mullaney & Gaskell are going to be our halves for the 8's. They just need to be fit

And our starting front row - Clough, AoB & Sidlow all looked completely knackered from the start. I don't know how that was missed with the conditioning team & technical support we're meant to have.

As everyone has said, this performance has been coming for at least 4weeks. I just hope this can be a wake up call for all concerned. Because they've needed one.

If you wanted a team with desire, enthusiasm, plan A & B and energy the Fev were that team. We were shot away after the first 5 mins, this has been coming for weeks most people have seen it, radio commentators, and fans alike in fact everybody except JL and the team.
I have to agree with a few other posts why do we have a big squad with a lot of players out on loan if we are not going to use them and bring them on. a few comments from the coaching staff "training hard each week" well this training has not been transferred to the pitch when it matters. In the T&A "We're ready for you" LOL but it's not really a laughing matter.
Last nights performance could have a bigger impact on the next 3-4 games if we don't rest players and give a few a kick up the backside.

Interview here: www.bradfordbulls.co.uk/bulls-tv?RID=O9njUUODVX It makes me cringe when people ask our resident miserable sod questions that pee him off. Luckily he is "Not going to panic". He was mean to Ross. Such a meanie.

Interview here: www.bradfordbulls.co.uk/bulls-tv?RID=O9njUUODVX It makes me cringe when people ask our resident miserable sod questions that pee him off. Luckily he is "Not going to panic". He was mean to Ross. Such a meanie.