7:00am Tuesday 9th February 2010
By Connor Murphy
Now the dust has settled on the Bulls’ opening-day defeat, Steve McNamara is buoyed by a renewed optimism.
The Bradford boss admitted he was “bitterly disappointed” in the immediate aftermath of Friday’s 24-12 loss at Huddersfield, when a string of basic errors proved his side’s undoing.
But, even though McNamara admits his side did not meet their own exacting standards, a second viewing of the game revealed plenty of positives.
“We played very positively and I think there were two good sides playing against each other,” he said.
“We showed resilience to come back and there were a whole lot of positives we can take from it.
“Our physical contact was good and, if you look at the stats, we made 1,336 metres and they only made 1,001, which is very encouraging.
“We had no trouble getting to the other end of the field, we just need to execute better.
“The errors we made came from some of our senior players, which was unexpected.
“Some things we can accept but we have set high standards for ourselves and that involves not committing errors in our own half.”
The Bulls boss also rubbished rumours linking him with a move to Sydney Roosters as assistant to mentor Brian Smith when his Odsal deal expires at the end of the current campaign.
“There’s nothing in that,” he said.
Huddersfield prop Andy Raleigh has been charged with a late tackle on Bradford scrum half Matt Orford during Friday’s game, while Bulls hooker Heath L’Estrange was cautioned for a swinging arm on Giants’ Luke Robinson.
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