That was out best side playing a team of part timers............







Absolute joke.......and any lapsed fans who may have been considering coming back will no longer see any worth in it. No home friendlies was bad enough, but playing the kids in France and at Skolars looks like another mistake by the club......and by a coach who I will again say is UNTESTED at this level.

I can only hope that St David of Swinton is prepared to pay the wages in 2016 when we're still full time and still in the championship.

Terrible result - this is the wake up call people for anyone who reckoned we could walk this league! Two weeks of very hard work needed before Donnie RL come to town! Better to lose a friendly than a season opener but we take any team in this division lightly at our peril!

Sorry, but with a full time squad, we should be finishing 3rd at worst and to have any chance of going up, 1st........if we don't start the season with 2 wins then I suspect we'll end it playing in front of 300 home fans....

.....Thanks again Mr Hughes!

Gutters, each and every one of those part time teams is going to treat the games vs us ( and Bradford) as a cup final - treat them with contempt at your peril!

That may be the case, but it doesn't change the fact that with the exception of the coaches good mate who arrived late, our squad have been together since November 1st and should be spanking sides like Dewsbury, not being spanked.
This wasn't close......this was a tonking and friendly or not, other than the Skolars game, we still seem to have an acceptable failure issue. Grima and Hughes should be well aware that they are supping at the last chance saloon when it comes to the patience of the few fans we have left......

There are some very interesting playing surfaces in this league, it will be interesting how a team of kids and imports adapt to them. Dewsbury, Batley, Featherstone, Haven and Workington will take no prisoners if the application is less than 100%

What worries me is Grima has his mates who I think will be undroppable, guys like Cordoba, Nasso & Foran.

The only one of those three that concern me is Foran. The other two went ok yesterday.

Missing a proper number 7 in my opinion.
If we had Barthau fit and put Keyes at 6 it would be better balanced.

Agree, maybe Foran will come good, and he needs time to show what he is capable of, but I think our half backs yesterday were ineffective.

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!