Not bad for starters, says Bradford Bulls coach Francis Cummins

8:00am Monday 14th January 2013 in Sport Photograph of the Author By Ross Heppenstall, Bradford Bulls Reporter

Elliott Whitehead finds himself outnumbered as four Dewsbury players latch on to him Elliott Whitehead finds himself outnumbered as four Dewsbury players latch on to him

Francis Cummins saluted his players after the Bulls destroyed Dewsbury 48-6 in their opening pre-season friendly yesterday.

Elliott Whitehead scored four tries and produced a brilliant assist for debutant Matty Blythe, while Heath L’Estrange, Matt Diskin and Manase Manuokafoa were also on target.

New signings Blythe, Adam Sidlow and Jamie Foster, who kicked eight goals from as many attempts, all impressed while rookies Jobe Murphy, Sam Wood and Curtis Naughton made their senior bows.

Cummins – who reported no injury worries after the game – said: “It’s huge to have the 80 minutes under our belts.

“I knew that we had been training well but you can never tell until the team has played and we were pretty good.

“Elliott was very good and he can go where he wants as long as the middle men are working well, which they were throughout.

“It’s great to see the lads just getting game time and there are no real bumps or bruises either.”

Cummins, who admitted his men can expect a far sterner test at Leeds on Sunday, added: “One thing we are going to have to do is stick together. Strength in unity is something I keep harping on about, but it’s true because we simply haven’t got the numbers.”

Comments(10)

vikksy says...
10:01am Mon 14 Jan 13

Takes FOUR to hold Elliott. Bring it on.

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Solomon Grundy says...
12:06pm Mon 14 Jan 13

Sounds like a good start but I simply cannot fathom FC going into the season with a squad so thin. I think it's an utterly false economy and we'll pay a price for it.

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Prycey says...
12:52pm Mon 14 Jan 13

I can’t remember Franny ever saying we have spent the full cap. He always says we have spent up to the budget. Maybe Omar had enough money to save the club but doesn’t have the spare cash to throw at the club this year to allow us to spend up to the full cap. We are about £600k short from central monies which is a good 4-6 decent players. I think we are well under the cap this year. We will just have to accept this and hope we don’t get too many injuries.
I thought the players did well yesterday. You can only judge individual performances but the new lads looked decent players. Scruton was charging in well and looked fit – as all of them did. I even thought Diskin had lost his spare tyre and looked sharp. With Purtell and Blythe on one wing and Foster and Lulia on the other we could have a strong back division. Foster has a good pair of hands when he joined the line. Overall, a lot of very good individual run-outs but it gets a lot harder from now!

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theviking62 says...
1:07pm Mon 14 Jan 13

Solomon Grundy wrote:
Sounds like a good start but I simply cannot fathom FC going into the season with a squad so thin. I think it's an utterly false economy and we'll pay a price for it.
Solomon Grundy, think before you post. False economy,if the cash isn't available then we have to make do with what we have. I don't think FC had, due to afore said, any choice in size of squad.I would like to believe that there are more loan signings to come.

Leeds next week will be a marker as to how far this squad has come together. If they carry on with the TEAM ethic, that they showed last season, " one for all and all for one ". We will finish winning more than we lose, finish in top 8.

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VICTIMISATION says...
2:11pm Mon 14 Jan 13

I have said the leeds game will be the marker although depends on the team fielded by leeds. No trophies handed out in pre season.

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Solomon Grundy says...
2:48pm Mon 14 Jan 13

theviking62 wrote:
Solomon Grundy wrote:
Sounds like a good start but I simply cannot fathom FC going into the season with a squad so thin. I think it's an utterly false economy and we'll pay a price for it.
Solomon Grundy, think before you post. False economy,if the cash isn't available then we have to make do with what we have. I don't think FC had, due to afore said, any choice in size of squad.I would like to believe that there are more loan signings to come.

Leeds next week will be a marker as to how far this squad has come together. If they carry on with the TEAM ethic, that they showed last season, " one for all and all for one ". We will finish winning more than we lose, finish in top 8.
I have thought before and after and think the same thing.

An already thin squad, hit by injuries will mean some real tonkings in this league, and lead to a loss in attendances and therefore income.

Hence I contend that the weakness of the squad is a false economy.

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fraternise says...
2:50pm Mon 14 Jan 13

Solomon Grundy wrote:
Sounds like a good start but I simply cannot fathom FC going into the season with a squad so thin. I think it's an utterly false economy and we'll pay a price for it.
It's probably due to available income versus expenditure and the fact that in September most of the Players seeking other clubs had already signed..coupled with the lack of the Monthly SKY TV rights payments and other constraints we are not aware of, that has created the circumstances and the outcome.
Personally I applaud what has been achieved in the time scale available.

That's what logic tells me !

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-HCK3R- says...
3:23pm Mon 14 Jan 13

No matter where we finish in the league I for one am glad we still have a team which to be honest looked very doubtful at times last year......

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Tricky Dicky says...
3:46pm Mon 14 Jan 13

The Bulls are in that 7 to 11 position group of SL clubs. No point in naming the top 6. Money and good governance talks. Where the Bulls finish in that middle group will have a lot to do with injuries, or lack of them. Given the right bit of luck, we can compete for a top 8 slot but, with such a small squad, it means going through the season with few major injuries. There are interesting times ahead but we are there, still there, competing with the big boys so no one can be unhappy with that.

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AdeyG'man says...
10:39pm Mon 14 Jan 13

Doesn't matter if we finish 1st or 12th...we still have a club, we still have a core and we should be thankful of that. 2013 will be a benchmark year for the club to work from. A lot will depend on how good the business plan is. If the players stay fit, they can trouble anyone....literally anyone. But it's doing it week-in, week-out that's the difference and we don't have the depth to win Super League, but that doesn't mean we're not gonna give the likes of Leeds, Warrington and Wigan a run for their money. We have some young and very skillful lads this season. Cummins, Khan and Sutcliffe have done a sterling job so far and long may it continue!

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