ROCHDALE 0 BULLS 82

WHEN the hangovers ease from the final-day points binge, the reality of moving to Dewsbury will start to sink in.

The hooter that sounded at the Crown Oil Arena felt like a clarion call for the Bulls to step into the unknown.

Season 2020 is going to feel very different for every fan and player in the red, amber and black.

Andrew Chalmers appeared in the Rochdale press box at half-time to give an update on the special measures currently imposed by the RFL.

Leaving Odsal to become lodgers 10 miles along the M62 represents a major gamble from the Bulls chairman. As the clock ticks, it’s his neck on the line.

The block on announcing signings for next season, however short term, does not help to spread a positive message among a sceptical public.

A large travelling turn-out made it feel like a home game at the long-relegated Hornets and the mood in the stand was bubbly. But beneath the surface, the uncertainty grows.

John Kear had called for one last hurrah from a squad that will inevitably change over the winter. Though, of course, any additions will have to remain on ice while the RFL shackles are in place.

There are also the current players to sort. Eight of the 17 on duty on the last day are coming out of contract, but club sources suggest most of them are expected to stay.

It’s fanciful to hope that Ethan Ryan will be one of them, although Hull KR – his expected destination – face a do-or-die Friday in Salford to stay in Super League.

Ryan led the team out to mark his 100th appearance, a fitting honour on what most anticipated to be his farewell for the club that will always regard him as “one of their own”.

Ryan scored just once as the Bulls ran up 15 tries in this Lancashire romp, spreading them around 12 players.

That took his tally for the year to 20, although his potential finale will be remembered more for an incredible back-heel that set up one for Ross Oakes.

After the tears at saying goodbye to Odsal, this was the wild after-party as Kear let his men off the leash to do their thing – and how the Bulls did it justice.

Admittedly, Rochdale have been the division’s whipping boys, losing all but one of their 27 games.

They had conceded 48 points a week on average – the Bulls virtually matched that by the half-time hooter.

And for the third game running, they had failed to come up with a single point themselves.

But the result emphatically put the seal on an above-average return to the Championship for the Bulls.

A sixth-placed finish represents more than consolidation that Kear had first talked of, even if the play-offs were tantalisingly out of reach.

The Bulls at least signed off with the four wins on the spin that the coach had asked for following their last defeat against league champions Toronto.

He had made only one change from the emotional Odsal farewell. With Jy Hitchcox sidelined through a sternum injury, Dalton Grant stepped in for his first senior game since mid-June – and marked his return with a hat-trick.

The Bulls needed less than two minutes to get off the mark. James Green made big strides to get into scoring position before Joe Keyes sent in Matty Storton for the opening try.

After a fumble by Kyle Shelford killed a rare Rochdale attack, Jake Webster struck again in the corner with Keyes landing the goal from the touchline to broaden the smiles among the coaching staff.

Quick-thinking from Elliot Minchella then exposed Rochdale’s left edge to send Ryan powering in for the Bulls’ third try.

The Bulls were clearly enjoying themselves and James Green became the most popular scorer with number four – his first of the season. He was promptly submerged by team-mates as a chorus of “no nudey run” belted out from the stand.

If that was loud, the roof nearly came off with the next try after some outrageous quick-thinking by Ryan. Fielding an angled kick from Keyes with his feet, he trapped the ball and then backheeled it for Oakes to run past a stunned defence.

“Are you Messi in disguise” sung the Bulls faithful at the sheer impudence of the winger.

Brandon Pickersgill raced in from 30 metres as the carnage carried on unabated before Jordan Lilley did his best Superman impression to dive on to a Keyes grubber kick before it could roll behind the in-goal.

All the party tricks were coming out amid a carnival atmosphere as Grant became the eighth different Bull to cross. For once, Keyes missed the conversion – the only respite for Rochdale in a first half blitz.

But the hooter offered no immediate let-up. Dan Abram was dragged into the in-goal soon after the restart as he smothered a low kick and the Bulls cashed in from the drop-out.

Keyes added a first try to his growing goal collection with a darting run beneath the posts.

Everyone wanted to be on that scoresheet and it was Ross Peltier’s turn next, the forward charging through like a truck as Rochdale’s resistance wilted.

Minchella was still to get off the mark and thought he had when he broke with Lilley, only to be dragged down a couple of metres short. But the Bulls finished the set with an 11th try with Grant grabbing his second from close range.

The winger soon had his hat-trick with the simplest of the three after good work to whisk the ball wide from Rhys Evans.

Connor Farrell put his name on the expanding list of try scorers with the Bulls’ 13th of the afternoon, almost strolling his way through a non-existent defence.

Rochdale were staring down the barrel of a third straight shut-out – and the Bulls refused to give up any favours as they stood firm from successive goalline drop-outs.

Ryan saw another try chalked off for a forward pass but Matty Wildie sent in Keyes for his second with the Bulls continuing to score at will.

And the hooker made it a dozen players to cross the whitewash when he dived under the sticks for the 15th and final try after Steve Crossley span out of a tackle.