too right. I'm not sure why the entire backline is getting such a slating.

We had nothing at halfback on Friday (both SO and SH) and it took Morrison moving to stand off to get anything going at all. I thought Nero and Sykes didn't do too badly and Tadulala was resorting to being an extra forward he was that starved of ball.

the forwards were laying the platform but lots of times there were forwards getting their hands free to turn and see nobody backing up. poor. Platt/Jeffries/Deacon should be doing this IMO.

I really don't know why the club are happy with Jeffries at this moment in time. We need a general there to organise the backs and get some moves and passes flowing.

They have tried and failed to bring in a replacement in Bird. they can only get in players that are willing and able to come here.

IMO, the difference between us and other clubs is all in the coaching and club philosophy. the abilities of the playing squads are all similar with a couple of exceptions at each end. that has come with salary capping and franchising.

I have been at both of castleford's home games this season, and they have a team of young lads, local homegrown players, journey men, and a couple of key players. what is clear is that they play to a pattern and that their halves are at the centre of everything. when he (sherwin) was absent Versus quins they were very poor. The spine of the team is very good and in Shenton they have a youngster who will run his guts out for his team. the most galling thing though is how impressive Feather, Ferres, Hudson and Evans have been. all players deemed not good enough for us for various reasons.

How many of our players have points to prove? Deacon is beyond criticism by many, but why?? the same applies to newton. we need a new broom through the squad and the coaching staff. and we need to start this as soon as. starting witha new head coach and coaching staff!

wasn't Evans leaving down to some daft ruling about home grown players?

And the reasons Hudson went have been very well documented.

and we all knew feather had a good game in him, it was just keeping him fit that was the problem.

Exactly. And I think in Scruton we have a far better prop.

Eh? Your logic surely points to us needing a new half back, rather than a new coach.

I've been down to Cas on a few occasions in the past 12 months and was struck by the positivity of the place. Despite their fortunes on the field there's a genuine sense of optimism, especially after they got their franchise. It reminded me of how it used to be for us in the late 90s. They genuinely seem to be improving on the field now too.

We need to get that positive feeling back. A few wins would help but I think fans need to see evidence that there is genuine light at the end of the tunnel. Since 2005 we've just seen a gradual deterioration in fortunes while other clubs look to be on the up. I really hope to see something of the junior players this season, the likes of Whitehead, Donaldson, Olbison, Crossley etc.

Much of the side now is made up of players with little charisma, we've said in the past how important it is to have characters on the field for fans to identify with and for the club to market. We seem now to have fewer "fans favourites" than we've had for years. All those players fans looked up to have been allowed to leave.

Seeing a few youngsters come through would fill that gap. Fans are more patient with the kids who come through, look at how much people get behind Dave Halley in comparison to others. Once the youngsters start to come through you;d getthe feeling we were starting something new again and the positivity would return. I hope to see them come through soon.

I think you'll find most of those are in fact aliases

OSV. Simple as.

As for fans' favourites... flippin' heck, if you can't get behind Steve Menzies, a guy even Manly-haters loved...

It's the key thing that the club need for a long term future. But I think you're missing my point, fans on the terraces pay to watch the team. You can have the best stadium in SL but if the product on the field is pants and the fans have no favourites then nobody will watch. Look at our opponents on Friday night as prime example.



Menzies is a legend in the game and a step in the right direction but what I'm saying is that we've lost the likes of Vainikolo, Fielden, Pryce who were big personalities and the fans chanted their names and had them on their jerseys. If we can't replace these guys with similar due to finances then we need to promote our own. Recruiting honest toilers is all very well but we're in the entertainment and competitive sport business and you can't expect 12k to turn up each week to watch a team they don't identify with.

I know it takes time to produce players through the system. It's something we've only just begun again recently. All I'm asking for is that we see evidence of these kids coming through this season. That's not too much to ask.

BTW your pic lost me completely!

magnificent result

I think that the sheer cynicism about Odsal could result in a bigger bump than you might expect if it does happen. However, we do have a problem in that we have successfully conditioned the Bradford sporting publc to think that anything less than the title is 'pants'.


Remember my youtube idea a long while back (low-tech ads for games featuring the players). Something like that would be cheap (verging on free) and could help establish personalities. Scruton's meant to be a gobsh.te (in a good way) isn't he?


Halifax 2003 are the cautionary tale. How many of the youngsters they played have gone on to make it? Apart from Rikki?

You're probably right in our case. If it did happen you could probably stage the world's largest streaking event as enough people have said they'd bare their backsides if it came off.

Bradfordians are particularly dour and particularly apathetic. The apathy I think is connected to the decline of the city since the 60s. People have grown to become negative about OSV because its so long since anything of any size was built in Bradford. The coucil must have a warehouse full of plans and artists impressions of buildings and schemes that have never come off. People won't get their hopes up to have them dashed again.



A great idea. As was the Menzies t-shirt but the design was pants. The club need to really think about stuff like this while times are hard. If they don't have the expertise or cash to employ anyone then use the fans! While there's a lot of apathy it could soon be removed if we genuinely got people to work together. I fear the apathy isn't all on the fans side of things though.

OK... I am a bulls fan, but have always had a soft spot for Cas as being a trad RL club who tended to play decent footy, and i have been swept along a bit by their positive marketing, a bit like many people were in 96/97 here in Bradford. Just a few things

1. a special promo for their match V quins meant that including stand transfers, me the wife and 2 kids paid only £19. at Bulls V hull KR on the same day, we would have paid £60!

2. we filled in contact forms on the promo vouchers. they sent us 2 more for the salford game on staurday AND phoned the missus to ask what we liked and disliked about our first visit.

3. the mascots , fire eaters, acrobats, face painting, bouncy castles etc.. ie (all the stuff we are charged for for the kids at odsal) was free!!

4. steve long is in charge of the gameday entertainment (except of course the game). we may be a bit blase about him, and see it as a bit old hat, but he works damend hard at making a game day a good family value day out.

5. Local players playing. Even most of our youth products over the years are not Bradford lads. we need local youngsters, not just lads from heckmondwike (Burgess) or Pontefract (Langley). they are both very committed, but I want my kidsn and other local kids to be saying " I want to be like him, he went to my school" and aspire to be like them. Infact, my son wants to be like his favourite Wakey player, he went to the same school as my son. Yes youve guessed it - Dave Halley!!!!!

6. A traditional ground. am I the only one who prefers some of the older grounds? Weldon Road has character and history and a great atmosphere. which created a better atmos, Central Park or JJB? Boulevard or KC.. let us see Odsal as our home and live with it. improve what we have instead of pie in the sky schemes like the OSV!