It frustrates the heck out of me. IMO the last head coach (mainly Lowes) has to shoulder the blame. The half ar5ed attitude the team has displayed in most games since we were relegated shows a lack of professionalism. Time and again we’ve “played” for half a game or less and run out winners. That must eventually take its toll and make players set the bar lower as they can get away with doing less than they had to in SL. In the end that attitude has caught up with them and we’ve begun to lose more and more games that we would’ve won a year or 18 months ago. The squad have “become” average championship players rather than aspiring SL players.

I think we’ve lacked genuine leaders on the field that can challenge this kind of attitude when it manifests itself e.g. when we’re walking to a scrum when we’re behind or when forwards are leaving the tough carries to the backs or when there’s no organisation at the end of a set of six.

In the end it’s a human reaction to do just what you need to do unless you’re challenged to do better. A lot of this game is played in the mind and I think the current squad needs shaking out of its current mindset. It needn’t be an authoritarian approach (didn’t work under Lowes) but it should be a challenging approach. I’ve been part of teams at work that have had a half ar5ed attitude and it was a demoralising experience and easy to lose confidence. Similarly when I’ve gone to teams that are well run it is inspiring.

Can Smith sort things out? I think the clearout in the squad will help. Too many bit part players that are on the fringes doesn’t help build loyalty. A lot of players have got too used to losing. If he can harness the winning mentality and enthusiasm of the U19s and combine that with some toughness and leadership I think we’ll improve. A lot depends on the senior players we’ve got and ones he brings in. Get it wrong and we’ll be 5th again next year or lower. Get it right and top 2 is possible.

One example of the above: Lauaki. Despite being a waste of space for half the season, the fans really want him to do well, and in the later stages, he started to show what he can do. Which is, to give a lead, and show some dog. When he charges at the defence and makes extra yards, or puts it all into a big hit, t gives both crowd and team an immediate and obvious lift.

You need men on the field that can and do lead by example, and show that extra desire that knocks the opponents back.

I think this is partly the reason why Rohan appears to be going for a relatively young squad next year. Younger players will generally still have the desire to learn and improve, they'll be more impressionable and more receptive to any philosophy Rohan tries to instill in them. When you factor in any emotional ties to the club - such as the academy players - this should only help to improve the overall attitude of the players.

Compare this to older players who may be slightly jaded, cynical or just annoyed at having to play champ rugby. Those ex-SL players would certainly need to swallow some pride when making the step down and some might find it harder than others. As a coach I'm sure it must be more difficult to try and change the attitude of a player approaching the last years of his career.

Or I could be talking a load of rubbish and we might just be using a bunch of kids because it's all we can afford

Fully agree. The championship has gotten better this year, so when we weren't 30 points ahead at half time we seemed shocked.

We seemed almost surprised that we weren't just walking through teams and were suddenly in a dog fight. We lacked the stomach for that fight which for me is unforgivable. The games against Fax x2, Sheffield, Dewsbury x2, Batley, Fev, we were crying out for someone on the field just to get the team by the scruff of the neck, stop them feeling sorry for themselves and just run hard, tackle hard and we'll be ok.

The Fev game highlighted our attitude problem big time. Fev just ran hard, tackled hard and gave it their all.

All we needed to do was get in the arm wrestle, build some pressure and then the points will come. Instead we panicked and did about 5 chips over the top from our own 20m line. We felt sorry for ourselves that Fev were bullying us and with our heads bowed as we strolled to the scrum.

We are crying out for a Jimmy Lowes type player who won't allow the opposition, no matter what the score, to bully ys. And certainly won't allow any of his team mates to go hiding and anyone that does, he will hold account to.

I think our attitude was summed up by Addys and Mellors tweets after the game. Playing the sympathy card with tweets such as "we're hurting as much as you " as if somehow it wasn't their fault and they were the victims. We don't need players feeling sorry for themselves, we need players realising their performances aren't good enough and to do something about it.

A full pre-season and I think Chisholm can provide the organisation and calmness. But we really need a player who everyone will dislike because he keeps shouting at them.

Don't disagree with anything that's been said there. We have lacked the proper attitude for at least 2 years, if not more.

Regarding Lowes, isn't it odd that he is exactly the kind of player that would have done this, but seemed to not be able to do it from the coach's bench? You would think it's a trait he, more than most, would be able to instil into his players.

It's been said elsewhere on the forum but there is a strange arrogance about the team that ties in with the above. Suddenly the team would wake up against Leigh but somehow looked to other teams as inferior regardless of results clearly indicating otherwise?

You could almost see them go behind and be stood under the sticks thinking 'It's ok, we're Bradford, we'll be there or thereabouts...', That was the most frustrating thing about the season so far and for me perfectly summed up in the last minute farce against Dewsbury and the look of utter disbelief that the plan failed.

We need a Graeme Bradley type player who can get in the ear of players and get them to man up. Those tweets after the Fev game told a story.

You only get out of the game what you're prepared to put in. Players need to take responsibility and show some professionalism and maturity. I think our lack of leaders with those qualities has allowed this malaise to develop.

Lowes was a great player but he led by example. Off the field I was never convinced he was a great communicator. I never thought he could inspire players to do well for him like others coaches can.

Fair comment. Assuming the financials are sorted -'cos this is our biggest worry currently, for me - then I agree that some new blood is badly needed.

I'm not sure about the reasons for the, 'bad attitude', and its obvious consequence, our inability to put a full 80 minutes together. Playing threequarters of the season with no proper scrum-half and, effectively, no leader on the field certainly hasn't helped. It's a clear fact that a number of our squad have under performed though and as a few of these have been decent SL players, you have to wonder why. There is often a problem with players getting used to new systems, new defensive plans for instance, when a coach comes in part way through a season, and Smith has pretty much changed the spine of the side so I suppose there can be an amount of resignation, or 'bad attitude', when going through the changes and things aren't working properly.

You ask if Smithy can sort it out but, truth is, he has to. Listening to his after match and general comments it's clear he sees building up for next season as his main job, and did so even before the top four went bye byes. Hopefully, whoever comes in, all that will be sorted by a good pre-season.

Does anyone think Chev Walker may also be part of this issue? He's the bloke who is in that role for us of spending too much time on the pitch for a non-player, but he always seems too nice? The person in that position IMO needs to be one of those inspirational backside kicking types, who gets the heads down or lazy players going and gives them some oomph. Chev comes across too much like the "It's ok, it'll all be ok, chin up" type.

The problem is that when you play with the attitude Jimmy had you find it hard (when you are in charge) to understand why your players don't. You can see this all the time in soccer. Bryan Robson and Roy Keane are two perfect examples of players that you wouldn't want to play against but were unable to motivate players when they were managers.

I don’t know but I saw Chev almost go toe to toe with Paul Clough on the touchline when Clough didn’t want to be subbed at one game at Odsal a while back. That didn’t strike me as the actions of a man who was too “matey” as Walker didn’t back down at all.

It’s hard to know for sure. As a player you need to respect the coaches and want to play well for them. That respect comes from having belief in what they say being proven to work. That’s hard for a young coach to get unless he’s a great communicator. Some of the best players can’t make it as a coach despite being heroes to the lads that have to play for them. Look at James Lowes. On the other side of the coin Ellery Hanley was an inspiration to the team he coached at Saints despite not being an experienced coach or particularly bright.

I have a sudden urge to list all the OOC players in the league and their appearances before the disciplinary committee. We need to sign a couple of 2@s.

Great idea. Please do this and send the list to Rohan Smith.

I don't think he's out of contract, but if he is, please leave Gareth Hock off your list.

And Rangi Chase too please.

We don't need players that will spend more time unavailable than they do available. We get enough of that with injuries.

Diskin was our last on-field leader with experience & authority & good game management.

Excellent thread this. Thanks to all contributors.

Let's hope Rohan's positive attitude - under all circumstances presented to him so far - rubs off on ALL the players!

You only need one player with a poor attitude for this to have a knock-on effect on others.

Didn,t we have a chap last year called Harrison to fill that role?

Indeed. And he seemed to me at least to be doing a better job of it. Perhaps as has been hinted at, there are/were a number of people contributing towards the poor attitude and all of them need to be sorted/replaced before it resolves the issue. Head coach has been replaced, but if the captain and assistant are part of the problem too, they maybe need taking out of the equation.

Which is exactly the reason I hope we actually keep him on. He's been a different player since Smith arrived and he's done exactly what I'd like him to do. I'm not asking him to be the greatest prop in the world. I want him to be a big, scary pacific islander who going to run hard and put the odd defender/runner on their back. That sort of thing lifts the crowd and your team mates. We've missed that. I think the last player we really had with that was Elima.

I also think we've looked more lost since Purtell has been injured. While I know he's not quite got the mongrel we need, it's hard not to want to follow a guy who has a heart attack and comes back to play on. A bit like Brent Tate with his neck. We always looked a little calmer and more structured with him on the field.

Bill Walsh, coach of the San Francisco 49-ers and a three-time Super Bowl winner, wrote in his book [iBuilding A Champion[/i:

When a wildebeest or zebra is finally entrapped by the lion, it submits to the inevitable. Its head drops, its eyes glaze over and it stands motionless and accepts its fate. The posture of defeat is also demonstrated by man - chin down, head dropped, shoulders slumped, arms hung limply. This posture is often visible as players leave the field in the later stages of the game when things are going against them. I often brought this to our players' attention using the example from nature and we became very sensitive to it. I would remind them never to allow this to occur. I would assert, "Even in the most impossible situations, stand tall, keep our heads up, shoulders back, keep moving, running, looking up, demonstrating our pride, dignity and defiance."

We're in a league where the play the ball is slower than SL, and our number 1 prop instead of fighting for every split second and get a quick ptb insists on holding players on to him trying to milk a penalty, at a time where this practice is so commonplace it's comical and even refs no longer buy it.

Sidlow; stop it.

Any team needs both the hod carriers and the scrappers. Blaming Sidlow for being a hod carrier when the blame should be on the management for not having the scrappers alongside him is to me unfair.