Well said!!

Bang right FA, but imo these next three weeks will be critical to our season. We have arguably 3 of the toughest fixtures in 3 consecutive weeks, I think it would be a lot to ask to win them all, but I'm hoping that we can be competitive in all and win 2. I don't think we'll let Wigan run away with it on friday, from what I've heard Cats were very poor, so I'm hoping we come out all guns blazing and show that we can mix it with the best.

That's aimed at me so I'll respond. I'm optimistic. I'm always optimistic. I was optimistic all last season and all the way up to the first game of this season, especially with our excting new signings. But the Huddersfield game, which I really thought we would win, put some of my optimism on hold and the Saints mauling blew a lot of the rest of it away. But yes, 4 games in and 2 wins, better than last year, so lets celebrate.
I would be happy with 2 wins from the next 3 games, they could be one point wins for all I care, then yes I will be really optimistic for the season, but as yet I have not seen anything to show that it is not going to be another season of scraped wins, followed by dodgy defeats. I am dearly hoping to be proved wrong on Friday, especially at home.

I don't come every week expecting to see unbeatable champions, but I come expecting to see 100% effort every game, you can't ask for more than that. I saw that against Cas. I saw nothing like that against St Helens. If we play 100% week in week out then I expect us to win more than we lose.

But wins over Salford and Castleford, commendable though they are, are not enough yet to get me excited about our prospects for the season.

im not taking anything from your win over us last night, but i dont think you can put our nilling down to great defense, we did absolutely nothing but knock on when we were ner your tryline.

was impressed with orford though, his kicking was imaginative.

im just grateful we had a step up in defence too.

all in all a pretty good match

Debaser...despite saying you are optimistic surely you cans see that you HAVE come across as (for you) unusually negative and down this last week? IMO anyway. And if it was M.E. making those posts, I'd be having my inevitable frustration attack. You really sound like someone who has had any confidence and fight knocked out of you, and I'm pretty puzzled cos that's not you at all!

Adey - yes ok, I accept that I have been negative this week. That's not a crime. I am just not as carried away as some on here over our two victories. If we win some of the next three then I'll be buzzing again. But at the moment, I'm sorry, its looks like more of the same. I am behind the club 100% as always but I had such high hopes for the season that its hard to get that back after the first two games.

And when I watched certain players against Saints not even being d to try and tackle, it p****d me off no end. I can accept losing, we have no divine right to win every match, but why should I watch players who look as if they don't want to play. Having said that, as we all have season tickets, we will be there every week and away too if we can. So I guess I'm not that negative.

Obviously pleased with the win but agree with Macca that it was far from being a great one to watch. A lot of our players were slipping around early on so although the pitch looked pretty lush it was still a greasy one.

Through the first half I thought our defence was very good, with Beaver and Sykes making a few great hits. Salford didn't really offer much in attack though but we did manage to stay in their half for the majority of it. One small grumble would be a very late (if at all) 5th tackle call from Child which resulted in us surrendering posession deep in our half. Also don't know what was up with Nero as he had a mare.

Second half we had to absorb some pressure partly due to Glenn Hall either knocking on, mouthing off or putting in high shots. Sure he will get better but he needs to cut out those penalties as a better side would have made something of them.

I thought Orfords kicking was great if you ignore the conversion attempt, he even managed to pick me out of the crowd with his penalty that put us 6-0 up, although I do think it was a great catch but I would say that!!!!!

Next week is a big game as Wigan are on a roll and whoever plays on the right wing best start catching practice now as big Pat looks to be on form.

Don't recall anyone being 'carried away'. Though Cas was good, and even better on video.


You see that's your problem right there. You're sternly lecturing us all against getting carried away, while all the time it was you who'd got yourself overly carried away before the season even began!


... in which case you may get, and will richly deserve, another moment or two of the 'Saints away 2009' variety. Which moments were pretty much reserved for us travellers last season. I agree you're not that negative. You're just giving a great impression!

Exept when Saints play Bradford and its all about how poor the Bulls were.

It's not ALL about how poor Bradford were at all. Saints were very very good and we responded badly.
This week and last week we were up against teams who are not as good as St Helens so it's easy to dismiss the wins as easy points against weak teams.

We started very well against Cas and they never got the chance to re-gather themselves. That match showed how creative our team can be and how well they are beginning to communicate on the field.
Friday was a different kind of game. Salford threw all they had at us and we showed how well we can defend. The number of tackles in the game was phenomenal and the heavy pitch won't have helped our energy levels. We played for the full 80 though and they didn't get one really decent break all night. Anyone who didn't see the game could be forgiven for looking at the scoreline agains the second bottom team and thinking we weren't that good. The team were 100% better than this time last year though. Last Feb we would have lost that game.

Forgive me if this comes across in the wrong way but maybe it's a sign of the changing times though that some of you fans are happy to have scored just 7 points against Salford? Only a few years ago you'd have expected to beat them by more like 37?

As a Bulls fan do you find going to games more interesting now knowing that a win can't be taken for granted like you did a few years back when you were one of the top dogs?

I don't think a win can be taken for granted with any club now to be fair. Leeds have by far the best squad on paper IMO and have already lost as many games as we have.

TBH, it is not really the 7 points scored that is the most important factor. It is the 0 points conceded. Simple to say that if you do not concede any points at all you are never gonna lose a game which is the most important factor in the end.

I seem to recall Saints only managing a 4-0 win at Celtic last season and it did not do them any harm.

Maybe to his surprise given our recent history, I have to say I agree completely with what ME just said. How many times in the earlier years of SL did we hear the coach say "defence wins matches"? If you are struggling to get across the line at their end, you'll still do OK if you can stop anyone getting across the line at YOUR end.

Now Debaser seems to be taking over ME's mantle, maybe a glad new day has dawned?

Well, we've had good and not quite so good in equal measure over the years mate, so 0-7 against Salford is fine to me. There are no easy games in SL anymore as I'm sure you're aware. You will also be aware that crowds at the Grattan Stadium have dropped since the 'good old days' so obviously quite a few can't come to terms with the new realities of life in this more competitive rugby league.

I guess if you started supporting the team when we had the likes of the Pauls, Tevita Vaikona, Les Vainikolo, Joe Vagana, Jamie Peacock, Stu Fielden et al it's difficult to come to terms with perhaps not really replacing all those stars, but in all honesty, for me anyway, the matches [iare[/i more interesting today, and whilst personally I truly did try [inot[/i to take things for granted a few years ago, it was really difficult to get excited about a trip to the Willows or even worse a home game against such as the Reds.

I don't mourn the 'big four' though, rather I welcome the big fourteen, and in any case it's good to see teams like Huddersfield and Warrington doing well (though I think Leeds have had long enough

). However don't think we've given up on this season, I think we have a side that can only improve with time and some really top class youngsters coming through too, so look out [ithe Bulls are on the charge[/i!!

It was always going to be a tight game in those conditions. 7-0 at least shows we can tough it out if necessary and not fold like we did at times last season. We my have wasted a few chances but we nilled the opposition so what the heck.

The next stage in development is the Wigan game, we'll see how well we do against one of the top teams after two weeks of confidence being built and combinations improving.

Blimey, praise indeed. I am not worthy....



I am not that negative am I? Surely not.

You don't think so?

from debaser's family album . . .

That does look a little like some of my photos to be honest.

The main issue for us at the moment is whether the new signings are "working". After the Saints match one could be forgiven for thinking that the investment in Orford & Co might be a huge waste of money and that we were effectively back to the drawing board.

The last two games have provided some grounds for optimism. It looks like we might have something to build on. The new players in themselves will not transform the playing fortunes but if 2 or 3 of the youngsters can really step forward we might have the basis of a much stronger squad.

One of the reasons I'd be cautious though comes from looking at the league table. We are currently 8th but I wouldnt say that any of the teams above us are going to be easy to overhaul. 6th or 7th place could be the limit of our progress, even if we have a good season.

Just wanted to say well done for your win on Friday. To say it wasn't a classic would be understatement of the century but there were probably positives for both sides to take. From a Bradford POV to nil any team (even one as clueless as us in attack

) takes some doing and I thought your defence was excellent. Your long kicking game killed us as well as every time you kicked deep we rarely made it out of our 20 on the first tackle. Added to that the obvious size advantage you had in the pack and we just had no "go forward" from which to get our backline into the game. From a Salford POV the fact we only conceded 7 points was a minor miracle considering the amount of territorial advantage your guys had. In attack though we were pretty hopeless and our kicking game still isn't up to scratch.

Finally, a couple of minor points. Not quite sure why so many people were commenting on the "heavy" pitch on Friday. As far as I'm aware our pitch is the best in SL and using that as an excuse for some of the dire fare on offer is pretty lame IMO. The rain and the greasy ball were more to blame. Besides if players actually wore studs on their boots instead of those e blades they wouldn't fall on their ar$es so much! Also, what constitutes a professional foul these days and a spell in the bin? When Sykes(?) held Ratchford down after that late try saving tackle surely that is a professional foul as it stopped a try scoring opportunity?(although we probably wouldn't have scored if you had 10 men on the pitch

)

Anyway, the best team won on the night and I think you'll probably go alright this season. Can't see you challenging for the top 4 but you'll probably finish somewhere in the top 8.

I don't think anyone was complaining about the pitch mate, considering it had probably had a months worth of rain on it over the previous 24 hours it was in super condition, but considering both sides were slipping about and dropping the ball I think the general wetness certainly affected both sides ability to play more attractively.

Syke's tackle on Ratchford was what I think is called a dominant tackle, refs always allow extra time to clear the ruck for dominant and surrender tackles.

What's a dominant tackle?
A surrender tackle is like a voluntary one isn't it?

When the ball carriers momentum is propelled backwards towards his own goal then the tackle is DOMINANT.

A SURRENDER tackle will be called if:
The ball-carrier surrenders his run at the line.
Spears in at the hips of the defending player.
Spears into the space between two defenders.
Note: If a SURRENDER tackle is called the defender/s may:
Work the player on the ground. They are not permitted to do this by using the ball carriers head or neck as a lever. This will be deemed a GRAPPLE TACKLE.
Lay on and spin to the front of the tackle.
Move to a position known as the "Bear Hug"

The VT is now unofficially but totally ignored.