And he pounces .... after one defeat (albeit very disappointing)

Yes it was a very disappointing result but remember this time last year in the pre-season friendlies....Dewsbury 38-4 Bradford....and when Bradford were in the SL. Just trying to inject some enthusiasm

That's a woeful result under any circumstances and must have rang bells of concern in the coaching set up.
I will be keen to see what Grima has to say about it.

From the Broncos site....

I wasnt at yesterday's game but i agree with this quote. I was at the Catalan game and Foran did very little, and had a very poor kicking game. Barthau getting fit is key - then gives us more options at 6.

Sounds like Grima is saying all the right things and hopefully this is a real reality check for the players - two weeks to get it sorted, we need a good confidence boosting win in game 1!!!

You've managed to establish this concern after....3 pre season friendlies?

Blimey.

Yes - a bad result. But listen to the state of some of you. Calm down.

Penguin maybe you could offer your thoughts on the performance ( and timing given the first game is 13 days away)rather than chipping away at others who have.

Calm down from what exactly?

Having read the HC statement says we were beaten by the whether and conditions, is this some kind of joke? Sounds more like the team were under prepared.

I think there probably is some truth in the conditions statement. Would have been a new experience to most of the players (and one they will need to get used too this season). Also lets not forget this is a new team, it will take time to gel. In a perverse way this could turn out to be a good result for London. Any complacency (from players and fans) will be gone and I expect us to come out all guns blazing for the first game.

I just think people might be overreacting a teensy bit.

We are unlikely to win the league, we are probably aiming for top 3.....I dunno. It's probably a marker of how far my expectations have fallen in the past couple of years but I'm struggling to get too worked up. Did we all seriously expect it was going to click immediately?

I "pounced" when Grima was appointed. I asked who he was and what experience he had as a first team coach.....I was told/assured he was a good guy. Well good guys finish last. I don't want a good guy coaching the team I follow, I want a mongrel who will infect the players with a steel....an iron will to win.

His is a damp squib of a coach who thinks smiling and spitting out soundbites is enough.....and given Hughes's recruitment record, he's probably right! Hughes is like the old grandad with dementia that you keep asking for money from and he keeps giving it because he doesn't remember previous hand-outs. This time around he's hired a coach who immediately started recruiting his mates.......surely I'm not alone in being very concerned



We were beaten by the conditions? Players weren't ready?

Fuck me sideways.....bring back TR

I thought that adding Andrew Henderson to the coaching staff was a smart move because he's had plenty of experience of championship RL and that he'd be able to ensure that the players knew what to expect and how to deal with the different environment. Yesterday's result seems to show that he hasn't done that.

So, lots to be fixed over the next two weeks. Let's see ...

Back to reality, I just hope Crown Flatt is a fortress this season giving the Rams an outside chance of top four themselves, otherwise, we are in deep, deep, like, Mariana Trench deep doo doo!!!

Lets come back to this conversation at the end of March.

Why?
As I said, I asked about the coach when he was appointed and I have seen and heard nothing that makes me think he's not out of his depth. He's recruited badly for a competition that we must win to stand any chance of getting back up. He's recruited mates...including one bloke who had retired from first grade footie.

By the end of March we will have played Donny, Sheffield, Leigh, Workington, Whitehaven and Halifax.....If we aren't on 10 points minimum he should be fired, but no doubt Hughes will offer him a pay rise!

Penguin how much needs to click for a FT team to beat a PT team?

I genuinely thought (foolishly) we would hammer them! Conditions, pitch .... Is a poor response. The tries conceded says a lot.

I thought it was a typo when I first saw the score.

Is Gutterfax really Rupe 1?

He sounds like him.

surely somebody need a drink

As I said, lets revisit end of March.

Well, hopefully, we either a) took them so lightly that our guys took the urine, and are now still reeling from Grima's bestest "hairdryer"!

or b) Dewsbury at home are going to be formidable for anyone! option c) is almost untenable for a Full Time squad, in what should be a three horse race!

Anyone remember 1994-5 when the new Brisbane owners underestimated Div 2 and we were also-rans. That was one hell of an anti-climax after Tanky Gordon and the wonderful 1993-4 season when anything seemed possible.

I was at the game on Sunday, you just had to look at Hughes face after the game, Paul Sykes, Schofield, they were laughing there head's off, you cannot blame conditions on that, same for both teams, grass was long and field un even, but still a POOR performance,

Dewsbury were just doing basics on us, we missed lots of tackles through centre again and the Dews props were just doing the simple stuff and we had no answer, no on field captains to marshall the troops etc, no plan B, just felt like Deja Vu again for the team.

Having watched a fair bit of Championship rugby I'm not totally shocked we lost, though the margin in surprising. There are some very good teams / players here. The worst team is night and day difference to Skolars/Hemel/Oxford. I think a few will be surprised by some of our opponents. Some of our recruitment was good but some is worrying - the pack concerns me for the umpteenth consecutive year. Whilst being pro will get us over the line in a few games, especially as the season progresses, it's less help early on and I think that the line of thinking it was only games v pro teams that mattered will be wrong and we will lose to some part time teams.

Deeply worrying times for RL down south and not just at the Broncos.

You are probably a bit out of touch with the championship if you thought you would hammer Dewsbury at theirs. There is not much at all between top Championship clubs and lower SL clubs. The top players in this division who are part time are easily as good as some of the players in bottom end SL clubs.

It is certainly looking like Leigh and Bradford will run away with the league and leave about 6 teams fighting for 3rd and 4th place.