Oh dear, this person clearly does not know the rules about entering into an argument with FA.

I don't think they have the first idea about basic human interaction let alone the niceties of conversing with our FA.

I had a right good dump earlier, and it reminded me of the shoite you specialise in. The funny thing is you are a pathetic little inadequate, and very likely think your ignorant language makes us think you're well 'ard but we just picture Violet Elizabeth Bott stamping her feet.

The bet was what I said, in reply to your quoted rubbish. Now you're wetting yourself so much, you seem to be changing decades. As well as your previous mistakes and that purler you continue to embarrass yourself, with "lower division". That would have been, er, the Second Division. The game you are so painfully and excruciatingly trying to spit out was in the MIDDLE tier of the relevant year.

I would say "try harder" but doubt you can. Give it up. Everyone is laughing at your hissy fits and goalpost moving, and there's only you can't see it. You've become the forum clown.

Is that more than the just over 14k that saw Bradford Northern lift the Second Division trophy in 1974?

Don't scare him off, he's a hoot.

Spoilsport, I was saving that one for later! It's best that it was Bradford, too. Though I fear our tetchy new friend may explode. Oh well. Anyway his carer tells me gingdong has been delayed while Dyno-Rod pump the saliva out of his keyboard.

Doubt even his dad goes back to 1974...

It would be a crime, punishable by having to befriend gingdong, not to pay homage to the Hunslet Room, when playing Hunslet. In the interests of research I intend a visit in the near future. www.gardengateleeds.co.uk/

It would be a crime, punishable by having to befriend gingdong, not to pay homage to the Hunslet Room, when playing Hunslet. In the interests of research I intend a visit in the near future. www.gardengateleeds.co.uk/

Quote ="tigertot"It would be a crime, punishable by having to befriend gingdong, not to pay homage to the Hunslet Room, when playing Hunslet. In the interests of research I intend a visit in the near future. www.gardengateleeds.co.uk/'" As Leeds based traitor I'm near enough to go there fairly often on A sunday for a game of doms and a gherkin. It's been closed for a fair while and I was beginning to think Leeds Brewery were going to keep it that way...

Quote ="tigertot"It would be a crime, punishable by having to befriend gingdong, not to pay homage to the Hunslet Room, when playing Hunslet. In the interests of research I intend a visit in the near future. www.gardengateleeds.co.uk/'" As Leeds based traitor I'm near enough to go there fairly often on A sunday for a game of doms and a gherkin. It's been closed for a fair while and I was beginning to think Leeds Brewery were going to keep it that way...

Obviously we are all presuming we will make the middle eight. If my understanding is correct if are to be promoted, either in a play off or by being in the top 3 of the 8 we will have to beat at least one Super league side.

I'm guessing most of us would pick Wakey and HKR as the most likely to be in the middle 8 with us. Considering the respective merits of the squads so far do we stand any chance of beating them.

Wakey managed the truly extraordinary feat of losing to the Bulls twice last season. However a change of coach meant they finished strongly, have signed Paea and Smith. Purely on the basis of their front row I'd say Wakey have the edge on us.

HKR look very light in all depts but have signed a couple of Aussies and are still looking to sign more. The Chairman has come out slagged off the players and they've released almost half the squad. They finished the season poorly and are looking to play Donno and McCarthy in the back row who are both relatively light without appearing to have enough props. i think is a close one.

The unknown factor is the toll the season will tell. Will the relatively lighter campaign in the Championship mean the Bulls are in better shape after 22 games than two SL squads, one of whom look short on numbers.

Personally I'd pick our backrow and stand off options over either of them but elsewhere not so sure. Personally, I think we're a good prop short of doing both of them.

What do others think?

Of course one potentially levelling factor is morale. If by the time we meet, Bradford have been winning most of their games, and playing well, they'll be up against superleague teams that have, by definition, being doing the opposite. I'd expect one of those SL sides at least to be going through some sort of trauma or crisis of confidence (one of them lurches from disaster to disaster more often than even we do). And it's only one of them we need to overhaul.

TBH I think you're being a bit too 'glass half empty' with regards to our front row. Sidlow and Clough are both solid enough SL level props (albeit bottom half of SL). Davies and Tahroui both have the physical size and are generally well thought of at clubs there leaving. Fleming and Bates both look like decent prospects. Admittedly the last four are ubknown quantities to an extent. I dont doubt one or two might turn out to be duds but I dont think all of them will be. Our front row is certainly in better shape than it was at pretty much any point last year, I can only think of a couple of games where we had 4 genuine props available, And that lac of go forward combined with our defence was our biggest weakness last season. There already looked to be signs of improvement in defence after lowes took over at back end of season so hopefully a pre-season together will continue that improvement.

As PP said we're likely to go into the middle 8's having won majority of our games against teams that have lost majority of theirs and that confidence will stand us in good stead too.

:1mdl6pj0

It's going to be hard whoever we come up against. Playing badly or not they are allowed double our salary cap [I appreciate they may well not be actually [i:1mdl6pj0paying[/i and will have been playing against better opposition than us, all season, so are going to be in the swing with the kind of form needed. Unless they have been getting some pretty heavy tonkings I suspect the fact they are now pitted against Championship clubs is going to give them a boost; just think how we felt in cup games against lower league opposition, however well we'd been playing in the league. ATEOTD, they know they only need to avoid losing to one of us to get back, which is pretty good encouragement, to be fair.

I feel our squad is going to be a strong one in the qualifying bit early on, in truth I feel it's possibly even stronger than one or two we've put out in SL, but it's the business end of the season where the more meaningful trophies are handed out. To that end, I hope we really are considered the 'big scalp' everyone wants, as it will give us that intensity which we'll lack compared to the SL clubs in that Mid 8 section.

Finishing top 2 in the Championship could be vital. The result is you play 4 games at home instead of 3.

I dont fancy the chances of any of the champioship clubs finishing 3 or 4.

One of the main improvements under Lowes last season was what he called the 'mini pre-season'. The conditioning of the forwards was a disaster as they were almost all too light. If you're going to have bigger props (which I 100% agree with) then in absence of the class of player we can't afford you would normally need more numbers owing to reduced workload over a season due to higher impact etc. Big props (JP, Sam, Graham apart) who play too many minutes turn into rubbing rags at the seasons end.

I like our squad, lots of size all over the park. I think Jimmy will have them running their weight and be more aggressive. Looking forward to seeing Harry S get a proper go. I think any game against bottom SL opposition will be 50/50.

BUT over the course of an entire season with play offs at the end there's an 18 stone hole in that front row.

The main reason why I feel the squad is strong is because, whilst maybe lacking the odd top individual from the past, it's far better balanced than most of the recent ones and we have no obvious holes...well, I'd like another 'proper' half maybe, but with the cap we have, I doubt we could have done much better. I still feel the 'mini pre-season' is not so much a new innovation from Lowesy, as a reaction to the fact that Gary Dempsey is away with the England team in Australia, but obviously I could be wrong on that. In any case, the fact we can attract people of Dempsey's quality has to be a plus in its own right.

I'd like the club to get some pre-season games announced. Mainly just so we can get to see some of the new guys getting a run out

Would be nice to have a pop at the Rhino's for old times sake - would probably draw a decent crowd as well

In an interview with the T and A Jimmy said he'd had a 'mini pre-season' shortly after he took over. I'm guessing he got them on the weights. The fact that he's gone and got Dempsey makes a big statement about size/strength/fitness. Credit to the BOD for backing Lowes with a decent backroom. February feels like forever.

the mini preseason was probably mostly a mindset reset of how he wanted them to play. The team was underperforming including physically, extra physical workout would not alter that as the source would be either central fatigue or more likely chronic fatigue syndrome. change of mindset, getting them to focus on his positives, would get the most out of their existing fitness levels.

Let's just break this thesis down.
Extra physical workout (either weights or cardio presumably) does not improve physical performance (even if they were laying on the sofa all week?) but would most likely lead to chronic fatigue syndrome, otherwise known as ME??

I suggest you send this to the Lancet as to my (layman's) knowledge the causes of CFS are still a mystery within the medical profession. If Lowes has identified a common factor this would be an extraordinary breakthrough.

I guess Martin was meaning that very hard work physical work, as much pre-seaon work is, is done to help [ilong term[/i muscle improvement and is not normally done close to competition times, as it can indeed have the opposite effect.

When I was involved in athletics overdoing the training was referred to as 'leaving your strength on the road' or 'on the training track'. The normal way is to do the heavy work early in the schedule and then wind down the physical stuff, long heavy weights sessions, long runs etc, as the competition starts. Competition itself, along with shorter sharper training bursts are then sufficient to keep somewhere near your peak both in a cardio vascular and power sense.

Have to say it would be interesting to know what [iexactly[/i what was involved in Jimmy's 'mini' pre-season last year but the way the players seemed fresher and more up for things suggests to me that it wasn't a full on pre-season schedule, which as Martin suggests would probably have left them knackered. Some weights, no doubt, and some 'fresh ideas' in the mix. A change is as good as a rest, I suppose.

Maybe Jimmy had paid to watch the Wigan game - so the "mini" pre-season was a punishment?

Just as momentum is a product of mass times velocity, think about what I am saying about fitness (in the context we are talking about) as a product of muscle times mind set. Muscle of itself is not sufficient. The Lumberjack may produce as much momentum into a tackle as Tahraoui because he looks a bit faster on his feet which compensates for lighter weight. So with mindset. if you are less motivated it does not matter how much muscle you put on, if you cannot be bothered to get off your and use it.

and if we are one 18 stone prop short next season we were three short last season, with the knock on effects on morale through having nothing in the middle of the pitch. the shortage of tackle capacity in the squad meant more burden on the rest. That is going to wear you down mentally. Being continually beaten as a result of three props short is going to wear you down mentally. Having a good game with four props only for one of them to decline further loan will wear you down mentally. Having a coach that repeats himself because he has no magic answer to the lack of props will wear you down mentally. going on a blog site and reading the comments of fans who dont realise what three props short means to you as a player wears you down mentally. etc etc ad nauseam mensorum.

and I am not saying that this was a conscious thing by the players last year, I am sure they all wanted to do their best. But the subconscious can be a strong brake on the conscious and therefore performance. Change that mindset, and unleash the potential. Or is that an unfair interpretation of the truism, a change is as good as a rest?

I wish our moderators would stop getting off their rcs to change my Englishisms into Americanisms such as booty. (edit by me) An rs is an rs by any other name - misquote.