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Bradford Bulls coach Mick Potter mounts case for the defence

7:30am Monday 13th February 2012 in Bulls By Ross Heppenstall

Tom Burgess is engulfed by team-mates after his try and Luke Gale’s subsequent conversion extended the Bulls’ lead to 12-0 at half-time Tom Burgess is engulfed by team-mates after his try and Luke Gale’s subsequent conversion extended the Bulls’ lead to 12-0 at half-time

Mick Potter hailed the collective desire of his side as the Bulls kick-started their season with a gritty 20-12 win at Castleford.

Bradford had been awful in losing their Super League opener at home to Catalan Dragons a week earlier but they bounced back in style yesterday.

Tries from Jarrod Sammut, Tom Burgess and Brett Kearney secured the points in a performance characterised by defensive strength.

“I think the players themselves were pretty determined to have a better outcome than last week,” said Potter.

“It was about hard work. They worked their bums off and our try-line defence was excellent.

“We were under a whole heap of pressure either from our own doing from losing the ball or getting marched downfield from penalties.

“Our players defended so well on our try-line to keep Castleford out for long periods. A week makes a big difference.”

Full Potter reaction in today's Telegraph & Argus

Comments(20)

Steampig says...
8:00am Mon 13 Feb 12

excellant result and much needed after last weeks poor showing. , we need to keep working hard and the rewards will surely come, but one win does not a season make and we must not become complacent, but continue to improve week in week out.
It has often been said that defence wins games and i am a firm believer in this, but better ball control and discipline would also benifit us as we often put unnecessery preasure on ourselves. but very happy with this win and the effort and desire shown, and looking forward to this weeks game now.

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Schoey 2 says...
8:21am Mon 13 Feb 12

Was at the game yesterday - and while I agree in not getting carried away as it is only one game - credit to the lads as they stuck to their task and ground out a very hard fought win in tough playing conditions.

Must say that Whitehead brought some added steel to ther pack and was inspirational, and Langers for me was MOM.

Gale and Sammut I think will hopefully go on and forge a solid partnership, and was also nice to see Koppy having more gametime.

Shame about Donno cos he has impressed me this year so far, and we still have likes of Lulia, Pryce, Nas & Elima to feature yet!

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birkybull says...
8:29am Mon 13 Feb 12

I thought Langley & sibbit were outstanding yesterday. I Sibbit kept shutting down the cas Right attack with some quality hits. We would have put 35points on Cas had we not given away a stupid amount of penalties. But all credit to the lads when they looked about to score Brett Kearney hauled them down inches short. Scruton & Hargreves both worked there nuts off in Defence and Tom Burgess was outstanding going forward with the ball in hand.
James Donaldson was also having a stromer when he came on at 13 until injoured. Has to be said. When they were under the pressure the extra fitness told as you could hear the players talking in defense. Luke Gales kicking game was outstanding and he is really organising the bulls forwards. Something we have really being missing. They stepped up to the plate yesterday and dominated the cas pack. They will need to step up another level to compete on Sunday. Were off n Charging.....

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birkybull says...
8:37am Mon 13 Feb 12

One thing though is we need Keith Lulia fit for sunday and Karl Pryce stick them both in the right centre and wing because at the minute Chev Walker is looking out of his depth. his first 3 carries yesterday resulted in errors inviting pressure.

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Schoey 2 says...
9:05am Mon 13 Feb 12

Agree Birkybull - Chev was a bit of a week link yesterday and is only a shaadow of his former self.

This area will get tightened up with Lulia and or Karl Pryve, plus we have Ainscough for some speed on the wing if needs be.


That said Crookes for me scored in corner which would have been a good finish. Ref (Fat Ben) and linesman got that one wrong.

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birkybull says...
9:44am Mon 13 Feb 12

I think Crookes has done well since he came in to the team, him and Elliot Kear took plenty of work off the forwards yesterday. Anyone know how bad Donaldsons injury is and how Purtell is?

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murphyslaw says...
10:10am Mon 13 Feb 12

We can't ask for anything more than genuine effort. I agree with all the comments about the workrate from Langley and Donoldson who is so unlucky as when he injured his knee a couple of years ago he was starting to look good and it set him back. I think next week we will be able to judge whether the season really is kick started as that pitch was a leveller yesterday and Wigan are physically a much bigger side than Cas as were Catalans. Our problem is that we havent put in that effort week in week out recent seasons and with some massive games coming up that will need to improve. Top marks for the hard work though keep it up.

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HANLEY IS A LEGEND says...
10:58am Mon 13 Feb 12

Schoey 2 wrote:
Agree Birkybull - Chev was a bit of a week link yesterday and is only a shaadow of his former self. This area will get tightened up with Lulia and or Karl Pryve, plus we have Ainscough for some speed on the wing if needs be. That said Crookes for me scored in corner which would have been a good finish. Ref (Fat Ben) and linesman got that one wrong.
No it was'nt.I was stood in that corner.
Official's got it wrong.
"Crookes" lost posscession of the ball in mid -flight ,but they say he was in touch. Still was'nt a try but good effort from the lads.

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Bone_idle18 says...
11:19am Mon 13 Feb 12

Can't ask for much more at this stage of the season, with so many new players. This is the sort of gritty performance we need, just hope we can keep it up. They'll be a lot of games where we need to play for each other in defence like that.

Cas's last try came off a massive forward pass by the way, suspected it was at the time, but it was blatant when I saw it back on Sky last night!

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birkybull says...
11:46am Mon 13 Feb 12

Most pleasing thing was how good our goal line defense was and how much the pack grafted.

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Schoey 2 says...
12:22pm Mon 13 Feb 12

Our goal line defence and tackling was in a different league to that of Catalans, even though Cas looked threatening near our line at times with English Rangi and Danny Orr running things.


Wigan looked very impressive on Sat against Leeds and are very quick in three quarters with Tomkins, Charnley, Goulding, Richards etc - so will have our work cut out for sure. That said Giants turned them over with quite a few first team regulars unavailable I understand, but our defence will need to be at its best.

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Bone_idle18 says...
12:42pm Mon 13 Feb 12

Leeds looked poor on Saturday, they waste too much energy niggling, whinging and trying to get their own way, and not enough energy actually just getting on with it.

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graham smith says...
12:58pm Mon 13 Feb 12

IMO referee Ben Thaler didn’t really take into account yesterdays playing conditions and was too quick on the whistle.
The BULLS seemed to be constantly pinged for holding down when IMO Cas were laying on just as much or if not more than us but they were allowed to get away with it.
The conditions did play a part in the game and some of our handling suffered because of it and our discipline could have been better.
Next weekend it’s the Worriers and they are masters at slowing down the ruck and getting away with it, my only hope is the man in the middle recognises this and judges both teams the same, or am I expecting too much, after all it is Wigan.
COM’ON YOU BULLS.

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Bone_idle18 says...
1:19pm Mon 13 Feb 12

Have we got a ref for next week yet? that could make a massive difference to the game.

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Bull4eva says...
1:28pm Mon 13 Feb 12

Donno is out for 4-6 weeks with medial knee damage. Not sure about Purtell though.

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graham smith says...
2:55pm Mon 13 Feb 12

On the subject of the ref this is how the penalty county panned out this weekend :-
BULLS v Cas 11-5
Wigan v Leeds 9-6
Wildcats v Hull KR 12-9
St Helens v City Red 6-5
Wolves v Broncos 10-7
Giants v Vikings 6-8
You can all form your own opinions on the BULLS game, I’ve already got mime.
COM’ON YOU BULLS.

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O ye of little faith says...
4:44pm Mon 13 Feb 12

On the subject of match officials the Bulls seem to get the thin edge of the wedge when it comes to decisions.For instance at yesterdays game Cas seemed to be well within the ten metres at the play the ball,and they didnt get penalised once,and I agree with a previous poster on holding down which again Mr Thaler and his assistants seemed to favour Cas.You dont expect every decision to go the Bulls way but we same to suffer more than most on the penalty situation.Still we won and were the best team overall,with regard to the defence and the enthusiasm of the team,in the very last seconds of the game Luke Gale illustrated this when he tackled Rangi Chase into touch as though his life depended on it,so well done lads ,all of you, keep up this improvement.For those who didnt go you missed a treat.COYB

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O ye of little faith says...
4:44pm Mon 13 Feb 12

On the subject of match officials the Bulls seem to get the thin edge of the wedge when it comes to decisions.For instance at yesterdays game Cas seemed to be well within the ten metres at the play the ball,and they didnt get penalised once,and I agree with a previous poster on holding down which again Mr Thaler and his assistants seemed to favour Cas.You dont expect every decision to go the Bulls way but we same to suffer more than most on the penalty situation.Still we won and were the best team overall,with regard to the defence and the enthusiasm of the team,in the very last seconds of the game Luke Gale illustrated this when he tackled Rangi Chase into touch as though his life depended on it,so well done lads ,all of you, keep up this improvement.For those who didnt go you missed a treat.COYB

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HANLEY IS A LEGEND says...
5:54pm Mon 13 Feb 12

Bull4eva wrote:
Donno is out for 4-6 weeks with medial knee damage. Not sure about Purtell though.
He just looked ill to me rather than injuried?

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t'old man says...
6:15pm Mon 13 Feb 12

graham smith wrote:
IMO referee Ben Thaler didn’t really take into account yesterdays playing conditions and was too quick on the whistle. The BULLS seemed to be constantly pinged for holding down when IMO Cas were laying on just as much or if not more than us but they were allowed to get away with it. The conditions did play a part in the game and some of our handling suffered because of it and our discipline could have been better. Next weekend it’s the Worriers and they are masters at slowing down the ruck and getting away with it, my only hope is the man in the middle recognises this and judges both teams the same, or am I expecting too much, after all it is Wigan. COM’ON YOU BULLS.
True bout them slowing the ply the ball down,noticed against Rhinos that Wigan were very quick to fall to their knees when tackled when hitting the Rhinos defensive line not letting them get them fully on the ground enabling them to get quick play the balls but when defending managed to get the Rhinos on their backs and really slowed them down ...similar style to what Potter was on about Catalans doing I think..hope they come up with way to cope with this tactic this week...

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