McNamara has second thoughts about Giants defeat (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Sydney sounds perfect Macca, the further away from Bradford the better!

i agree that whilst there were a lot of positives there were also a lot of errors, but there is definately something to work with. It seems to me though that the 5 drives and a kick are still very much the main stay of Macca's attacking plans. Then last week we had Hood saying we need to play entertaining rugby, then we have orford telling us it was going to be up the jumper at Huddersfield, I feel that with the three quarters we have we are more likely to see the forward battles than fast flowing free scoring rugby league at odsal., The problem is as we found at the Giants it is very difficult to score against a good defence playing that brand of Football. The other problem is untill we learn to catch a ball there is little point in throwing the ball around too much. But having watched the game back again there were some positives and i reckon given a couple of games it should start to happen for us. i just hope it happens this week against Saints, we need to turn all the positives in to points and in turn in to a victories, for all the talk of a good start to the season it really is actions that count and we dont want to be playing catch up again this year.

Timbuck wrote:
Sydney sounds perfect Macca, the further away from Bradford the better!

Glad you are staying Steve. Prove these negative idiots wrong. What do they know about managing a arm chair, never mind a very professional rugby league team. All the best against Saints. COYB

Couple of points:-

the right side defence was at fault for two tries, not just Reardon, but the whole team were in the wrong position, no way Reardon could have stayed wide as the gap would have just been slightly more in field. However, this was fixed during the game. I doubt we'll be exposed like that again all season.

secondly, we all knew that they were going to be a bit cautious in this game, Orford had already said that. they tried a few things and some came off, others didn't, but this will come with time. Remember that we have two new halves and one has only played 2 games for the Bulls so far.

Finally, at the end of the day we lost to a team who finished 6 places above us last season, by 4 tries to 3. The signs are there, we just need patience.

Agree entirely with you Bone_idle18 . Rearden was very good to say he has been out for so long and not entirely his fault Huddersfield had two easy tries on the left side! Should be a cracker against Saints.

Yes the left side. My mistake, never right good with left and right!

Even in losing we looked a whole lot better than we did for the majority of last season. I'm not worried yet, I'm expecting us to really hit out straps in time for the Leeds game when we should be in excellent shape!

Great to see your post bone_ idle.
At last somebody who understands the game. Reardon was indeed hung out to dry by his team mates. The fact he looked so badly exposed was because he had to fill a gap which should have been taken care of by others. Certainly NOT Reardons fault at all.
I agree with Macca on this matter of taking the positives and there were plenty. As has been said the side looked better in defeat from a technical point of view than they did all last season.
I would voice one word of caution to Connor Murphy. I have already called you the best scribe since Brian Smith, but watch out with headlines like "Macca changes his mind" its just fodder to many on here who wish to put Macca down and berate the club in general.

Haitch.

It is debatable as to who was at fault.

It was Reardon's wingman that scored, a player he should have been marking. A sliding defence will not slide if there's no place to slide to.

Even as juniors, you coach the winger to mark the winger, his centre marks his centre. It's then up to the SO or second rower to slide and mark.

Reardon's wingman walked in twice untouched. If it aint mainly Reardon's fault, then who the chuff taked the blame?

reardon was not exposed. By the mere definition it means 'on it's own'. Reardon had drifted into the park, along with others.

He should have stayed on his touch, forcing his centre to pull across, in turn forcing the next man.

You never give the oppo wingman the outside. Never.

There were positives but we need to stop playing flat rugby and start running from deeper then maybe we will break the line...

Iwould just like to add that Steve is right with what he says.
i mean look at hull fc saturday they were fantastic would anyone of thought they would beat the saints.
also castleford

Lets all get behind the Bulls rather than been negative it does not help the players or the coaching staff.

it upset me on saturday to here saints fans boo there players but they still turn out week in week out

if you hate seeing bulls win dont go easy isnt it

if you want to support them do so whatever the results

KEEP STRONG BULLS!!!! XX

Well said big boobs, lets hang them out to dry i.e Saints on Sunday.

I think the point that I would make about Fridays game is just how good a team the Giants are. Once they have intergrated their new players and get the injured players back they are going to have a very strong squad and are going to be very difficult to beat particularly at home.
Defending close to their line they did look outstanding.
The first two tries were Reardons fault, you could see from his body language that he realised this and Orford was encouraging him afterwards.
If we had played this game at this stage last season we would certainly have not scored a try and would have been on the end of a bigger scoreline than this.
You could see that the players had little idea what Orford was going to do hence the dropped passes when we were in good positions.
I think that the Bulls will come good but Macca needs to give Orford his head on the training field to get the team working around him.

haitch wrote:
Great to see your post bone_ idle. At last somebody who understands the game. Reardon was indeed hung out to dry by his team mates. The fact he looked so badly exposed was because he had to fill a gap which should have been taken care of by others. Certainly NOT Reardons fault at all. I agree with Macca on this matter of taking the positives and there were plenty. As has been said the side looked better in defeat from a technical point of view than they did all last season. I would voice one word of caution to Connor Murphy. I have already called you the best scribe since Brian Smith, but watch out with headlines like "Macca changes his mind" its just fodder to many on here who wish to put Macca down and berate the club in general.

As far as I know, it's usually not the journalist who writes the headlines but the sub-editors so very much doubt it's the writer's fault. You're right, this one doesn't seem to reflect the piece though.

steve mac has not changed his mind,
he's just giving us the same old lines he used last year.
"I'm so dissapointed," that was his excuse all lst year.
Well i'm not dissapointed because i never expected any better. I always said the players brought in are no better than the ones we let go.
early days i know,but anyone noticed how jeffries and morrison are making wakefield tic, suppose we'll see when they meet who's best.
could beat saints next week as it looks like they could have half thier team missing through injuries.

flashdonut wrote:
Haitch. It is debatable as to who was at fault. It was Reardon's wingman that scored, a player he should have been marking. A sliding defence will not slide if there's no place to slide to. Even as juniors, you coach the winger to mark the winger, his centre marks his centre. It's then up to the SO or second rower to slide and mark. Reardon's wingman walked in twice untouched. If it aint mainly Reardon's fault, then who the chuff taked the blame? reardon was not exposed. By the mere definition it means 'on it's own'. Reardon had drifted into the park, along with others. He should have stayed on his touch, forcing his centre to pull across, in turn forcing the next man. You never give the oppo wingman the outside. Never.

As you say, "it's debatable" There has been some very good wing men beaten on the outside. The decision has to be made. If the inside man has gone walkabouts, be it the centre or whoever and its a walk in try as happened at Giants it would have been equally as bad for Stu to have stayed on his wing, in fact worse as the try would have been scored much nearer the posts. I do understand what you are saying but your theory can only ever be correct if the rest of the side do their job too.


I give great credit to Huddersfield for the way they sucked in a rather naive defence leaving Stu 2 men to mark. Of the options he was left with he was right to come in and push the try scorer as wide as possible. So many do not understand this.

franklyn wrote:
steve mac has not changed his mind, he's just giving us the same old lines he used last year. "I'm so dissapointed," that was his excuse all lst year. Well i'm not dissapointed because i never expected any better. I always said the players brought in are no better than the ones we let go. early days i know,but anyone noticed how jeffries and morrison are making wakefield tic, suppose we'll see when they meet who's best. could beat saints next week as it looks like they could have half thier team missing through injuries.

Well you've certainly decided Bulls won't get a fair go either way. Never saw Jefferies make the Bulls 'tic' whilst he was there. Morrison is a worker but hardly likely to make a side 'tic' and is likely to be out injured. Should Bulls beat Saints it will be beacause Saints have men injured and nothing to do with Bulls efforts. Didn't hear anyone making these excuses for Bulls last season when they were missing Morrison and Solomona , with Langley Newton. and Burgess all needing or recovering from surgery. I'm surprised also you dont recognise the world renowned quality of Matty Orford.

I wonder what Macca's plans are now.If he not going to Australia.If the Bulls are going to offer him a contract they should announce it.I believe he needs help,perhaps a older head to advise him.Bescause the Bulls have been going downhill since 2006 when we lost the play-off game at Hull.Now its time for us to bounce back before its to late!!!!

haitch wrote:

flashdonut wrote: Haitch. It is debatable as to who was at fault. It was Reardon's wingman that scored, a player he should have been marking. A sliding defence will not slide if there's no place to slide to. Even as juniors, you coach the winger to mark the winger, his centre marks his centre. It's then up to the SO or second rower to slide and mark. Reardon's wingman walked in twice untouched. If it aint mainly Reardon's fault, then who the chuff taked the blame? reardon was not exposed. By the mere definition it means 'on it's own'. Reardon had drifted into the park, along with others. He should have stayed on his touch, forcing his centre to pull across, in turn forcing the next man. You never give the oppo wingman the outside. Never.

As you say, "it's debatable" There has been some very good wing men beaten on the outside. The decision has to be made. If the inside man has gone walkabouts, be it the centre or whoever and its a walk in try as happened at Giants it would have been equally as bad for Stu to have stayed on his wing, in fact worse as the try would have been scored much nearer the posts. I do understand what you are saying but your theory can only ever be correct if the rest of the side do their job too. I give great credit to Huddersfield for the way they sucked in a rather naive defence leaving Stu 2 men to mark. Of the options he was left with he was right to come in and push the try scorer as wide as possible. So many do not understand this.

True.
Huddersfield exploited us to perfection. Wingmen walking in untouched is as good as it get's. They spotted the error and capitalised.
I know it can't be up to reardon what the rest do, but it has start somewhere. If Reardon is on his flank, then that's one less out of position. If his centre follows then happy days.
There were 3 or 4 out of position, but Reardon has to bite the bullet and make that choice first. Otherwise the rest will never slide wide.

Problem is, if Reardon had moved out, then the giants would have just strode through on his inside! This is why I think it was a breakdown in tactics. We were aiming to play them down the middle, but a few ineffective tackles in the middle let them get the ball wide.

Still, we recovered and it looked like we fixed the problem. So that's a positive!

Come on lads don't start making excuses for us possibly beating Saints due to their injuries. We had them last year and now it is someone elses turn. We can beat them on Sunday and I expect them to do just that. Each game we will get better. The comments above have been interesting about why they scored two tries on the wing. Whoever was at fault we will put it right and Reardon will show everyone he is a classy player. We do clearly need a couple of centres but this is life and we need to make the best of what we have.

Franklyn, are you serious about the players brought in are no better then their predecessors?? Do you watch much NRL......if you did you will appreciate the qaulity of the 4 aussies recruited. Ox won the Dally M above players like Billy Slater and Greg Inglis in 2008, he had a very good season for the Sea Eagles last season also, as did L'Estrange and Hall.

Granted Kearney was injured for all of last season, but when he is fit he is toatally fearless with ball in hand taking on the line and is a very good playmaker. I also feel Reardon will be a very shrewd signing, as will Sculthorpe, who yes, does have the odd brain explosion, but has the ability to take on the line and then offload the ball in the tackle probably better then the rest of the bulls props.

I think I am speaking for a number of people on here when I say we need to get behind the Bulls rather than constantly being negative. It was the first game of the season, and in truth, how many fans who know about Rugby League would have tipped us to beat the Giants. They are a very good outfit, expecially in defence. Dont forget the bulls had the key players at 6,7, and 9 all making their competitive debuts.

I am confident it will come good. We will have a season far better than last year.

Now lets get Saints out of the way on Sunday.

Thanks Eddie for that great report putting a few misconceptions right. Your lucky to have Burgess over in Oz he should star, hope he comes back to Bradford, but we have his twin brothers who look awesome.

Ashbourne Bulls Supporters Club wrote:
Thanks Eddie for that great report putting a few misconceptions right. Your lucky to have Burgess over in Oz he should star, hope he comes back to Bradford, but we have his twin brothers who look awesome.

Thanks Ashbourne. Burgess will go well downunder, he made his debut on Sunday, got a 20 minute run out, put a hit on which shook the stadium and then scored after 11 minutes. The Souths fans love him already.

You are right about his two "little" brothers, from what I gather they are very impressive.

It could be a good season for the bulls.

Hi Eddiethepom, it's a while since you posted (I believe) but nice to hear from you again. Good sound comments and great to hear your support for our new signings especially as you have been watching them first hand.

Bone_idle18 wrote:
Problem is, if Reardon had moved out, then the giants would have just strode through on his inside! This is why I think it was a breakdown in tactics. We were aiming to play them down the middle, but a few ineffective tackles in the middle let them get the ball wide.

Still, we recovered and it looked like we fixed the problem. So that's a positive!

At last someone who understands the game. There is not a side in Super League who do not operate that kind of defensive plan. For the first try Reardon actually comes in to tackle the Centre. If he doesn't then the Centre gets the ball and strolls in. It was the same with Sykes in the World Cup. He was exposed because inside him Gareth Ellis 'wedged'. It suited the scribes - although not all of them - to blame Sykes because Ellis was too valuable to knock. Smith didn't stick up for him but Phil Clarke did. He spotted exactly what had happened and wasn't afraid to say so. Reardon had no option but to go inside. Now what I don't know is who is in control of the game plan. Is it the 'inside' men's job to 'push everyone out or is it the Winger's job to pull everyone across. It certainly didn't happen on the night but once the middle defence didn't come over Reardon was in a no win situation. Give credit for the quality of the pass and kick from Hodgson who saw wast was on but buy the same token give Orford credite for his pass and kick for 2 Bulls tries. For Reardon's first there was just as much room outside Cudjoe has there had been outside Reardon and where was the winger for Sheriffe's try: I'll tell you trying to snuff our Sykes from Orford's kick. There was enough room outside Sheriffe to get a bus trip in! That's because the Giants use the same defensive pattern as every other side. Cram the middle and slide out. Now sometimes it doesn't work, as it didn't for Quins who conceded 5 tries to Riley but it certainly wasn't the Quins' wingers fault. team effort. Same with Bulls and Giants. Wingers left with too much room to defend is the fault of those inside.

haitch wrote:
Hi Eddiethepom, it's a while since you posted (I believe) but nice to hear from you again. Good sound comments and great to hear your support for our new signings especially as you have been watching them first hand.

Hello Haitch, it has been a little while since my last post. I felt I had to say something as all the majority of what I have read since the Giants game is negative comments from so called fans, and, of course, the odd wind up merchant.

I was pleased with the progress we have made since last season. If a few more of Ox's short balls had stuck close to the line we wouldn't be complaining. Its called gelling together as a team. Unfortunately some "fans" do not understand that any team with a brand new triangle running the show will take time to get it together.

I am happy to say I will be at Odsal on Sunday supporting the bulls. I think we could see a very good performance, surprsing a few of the critics hopefully.

Eddiethepom wrote:
Franklyn, are you serious about the players brought in are no better then their predecessors?? Do you watch much NRL......if you did you will appreciate the qaulity of the 4 aussies recruited. Ox won the Dally M above players like Billy Slater and Greg Inglis in 2008, he had a very good season for the Sea Eagles last season also, as did L'Estrange and Hall. Granted Kearney was injured for all of last season, but when he is fit he is toatally fearless with ball in hand taking on the line and is a very good playmaker. I also feel Reardon will be a very shrewd signing, as will Sculthorpe, who yes, does have the odd brain explosion, but has the ability to take on the line and then offload the ball in the tackle probably better then the rest of the bulls props. I think I am speaking for a number of people on here when I say we need to get behind the Bulls rather than constantly being negative. It was the first game of the season, and in truth, how many fans who know about Rugby League would have tipped us to beat the Giants. They are a very good outfit, expecially in defence. Dont forget the bulls had the key players at 6,7, and 9 all making their competitive debuts. I am confident it will come good. We will have a season far better than last year. Now lets get Saints out of the way on Sunday.

it's not a case of how well these guys play in the N R L. It's how they perform for the bulls what interests me. watching R/L for nigh on 50 years i've seen em come and go , so called aussie superstars, Some have been great, some not so good. We all have to wait and see how our current bunch work out .
I hope for the sake of the club it does work for the good, heaven knows steve mac has gambled his job on these guys.
still don't think bulls going to be strong enough in 3/4 line. although reardon despite his going a bit asrtay friday defensively,has looked best of new bunch so far.

franklyn wrote:

Eddiethepom wrote: Franklyn, are you serious about the players brought in are no better then their predecessors?? Do you watch much NRL......if you did you will appreciate the qaulity of the 4 aussies recruited. Ox won the Dally M above players like Billy Slater and Greg Inglis in 2008, he had a very good season for the Sea Eagles last season also, as did L'Estrange and Hall. Granted Kearney was injured for all of last season, but when he is fit he is toatally fearless with ball in hand taking on the line and is a very good playmaker. I also feel Reardon will be a very shrewd signing, as will Sculthorpe, who yes, does have the odd brain explosion, but has the ability to take on the line and then offload the ball in the tackle probably better then the rest of the bulls props. I think I am speaking for a number of people on here when I say we need to get behind the Bulls rather than constantly being negative. It was the first game of the season, and in truth, how many fans who know about Rugby League would have tipped us to beat the Giants. They are a very good outfit, expecially in defence. Dont forget the bulls had the key players at 6,7, and 9 all making their competitive debuts. I am confident it will come good. We will have a season far better than last year. Now lets get Saints out of the way on Sunday.

it's not a case of how well these guys play in the N R L. It's how they perform for the bulls what interests me. watching R/L for nigh on 50 years i've seen em come and go , so called aussie superstars, Some have been great, some not so good. We all have to wait and see how our current bunch work out . I hope for the sake of the club it does work for the good, heaven knows steve mac has gambled his job on these guys. still don't think bulls going to be strong enough in 3/4 line. although reardon despite his going a bit asrtay friday defensively,has looked best of new bunch so far.

I agree with respect to all that matters now is the way they perform for the Bulls. However, you gave the impression that you had judged them on the basis of a pre season hit out and one competitive match.

You could say exactly the same about players with Super League experience. Solomona for example looked a class act for Wakefield, however, flattered to decieve at the Bulls. Fielden was the best prop in the world at Bradford, yet cannot recapture anywhere near this form for Wigan. Saying that a number of Aussie superstars have dissapointed is true, but so have big signings from other super league clubs.

With the quality the new recruits I feel they will be very good additions to the bulls. In my opinion the only player we lost last season who will be missed is Burgess, so in my opinion the incoming players will be better for the squas then their predecessors.

You are right about the 3/4 line though, I feel a class centre and winger would be welcome additions.

Hope all goes well Sunday and you have a good time at Odsal. Didn't realise you were over here enjoying the winter!!

Yes the halfbacks are the 'engine room' of any side along with the L/F where we seem to be also chopping and changing. I would love to see young Donaldson given the opportunity to make that position his own quickly so that the three can start bonding. I haven't been so excited at the prospects for some years and fully expect big improvements after the initial few weeks and once the grounds harden up a bit.


Readingbullette...We are certainly on the same wavelength re Stu Reardon. You see it exactly as I do! COYB!!

haitch wrote:
Hope all goes well Sunday and you have a good time at Odsal. Didn't realise you were over here enjoying the winter!! Yes the halfbacks are the 'engine room' of any side along with the L/F where we seem to be also chopping and changing. I would love to see young Donaldson given the opportunity to make that position his own quickly so that the three can start bonding. I haven't been so excited at the prospects for some years and fully expect big improvements after the initial few weeks and once the grounds harden up a bit. Readingbullette...We are certainly on the same wavelength re Stu Reardon. You see it exactly as I do! COYB!!

Sorry didnt press the 'quote button' this reply was to Eddie!!

We all know what sliding defense is.

But we have never mastered it.

Go back to Wigan in the play offs. 30-6 we were winning. Then Wigan crawled back. It was the flanks they beat us on. Saints in CC semi final a few years back. Who can forget St Hilare running about like a lost chicken.
Fair enough sliding defence is what most teams use, be it professional or top amateur. But we don't do it right.

The most important stat is the scoreline but unfortunately we are at the wrong end of that too frequently since Steve Mac has been the coach. I seem to remember similar quotes this time last year and the rest is history.

montoya6 wrote:
The most important stat is the scoreline but unfortunately we are at the wrong end of that too frequently since Steve Mac has been the coach. I seem to remember similar quotes this time last year and the rest is history.

I think deep down its what worries us all but at the end of the day Haitch , Adey & co are correct in their summing up it is only the first game of a long season. I hope Macca`s doubters including me are proved wrong & we start off by beating saints on Sunday.The problem is if we lose the presure starts to mount on the coach , squad & club but time will tell. I hope we get a good crowd any guesses ? 9600 is my guess.

i think we all accept that friday was a bit of a let down. however, as they say no trophies are won or lost until much later. giants are no mugs and well coached. the bottom line is that we do have new players in key positions and clearly this will take time to gel.

fingers crossed for sunday. with the exception of quins/salford/crusad
ers i think everyone else is in the mix. just look at cas and hull. any of the rest who keep injury free are well and truly in the pot.

lets see where we are at round 6 as a gage for where we are at.

top 5 finish still on for me.

Whats this obsession about The Dily M?

Haitch,still here,problems with P.C.stopped me posting but all present and correct now.Was dissapointed on Friday night but on reflection have to agree with Macca plenty of positives.Threequart
ers look like could be a big problem and still not convinced about Full Back,however lets give it another couple of games before we start getting worried.Laugh if you like but I think Sculthorpe could do a good job for us this season,with his unpredictability could be just the man to unlock the tight defences that we will face this season.Also I predict the Giants and Warrington will be challenging for top spot this season so an away defeat to Giants is not a major catastrophe as long as we learn to cut out junior school mistakes.

"there's nothing in that" says Macca.
No course not,so wheres it come from then?

Course theres something in it,...
its called contingency plans in the making,
should a new contract not be forth coming at the end of this season!

Who do we think Are our Contenders For the UK Man of Steel? Sky say Hodgson and Brough again and the Mercurial Brad Drew! Bring on the Dally M!!!!!!!

Rweardon is Hopeless pension him off the Keighley Cougars or Birkenshaw ARL