BULLS loose forward Sam Hallas admits he and his team-mates "were rubbish" last Friday at Newcastle, and accepts that every game is now "must-win", starting on Saturday at home to London Broncos.

He insisted though that praise should go to last week's hosts, particularly their inspirational captain Josh Woods, who was playing just days after the death of his younger brother.

Addressing that bleak 53-10 defeat, Hallas said: "We were off the boil, and there's no hiding from it, we were rubbish across the park.

"But as bad as we were, Newcastle were exceptional.

"There was a lot of emotion around, largely because of what had happened to Josh. I can't imagine what he's going through, it must be awful.

"I thought their whole team played with high emotion, and it ended up being the perfect storm.

"We were really off it, and they were brilliant."

Hallas played with Woods earlier this season when he was still at Newcastle, and he said: "Josh is skipper for a reason.

"He's a fantastic leader and that's what he showed with how he went about his business on Friday.

"It was one of the best performances of leadership I've ever seen.

"They've put together a good group at Newcastle, and they really pulled together last week.

"But we didn't handle the occasion at all, and we were off the pace."

Hallas was seen kicking the ball away in anger after one of Newcastle's tries, but asked if the defeat hurt more coming against his old club, he said: "Not really, because I don't like losing at the best of times, especially when I'm off the boil myself.

"I dropped the ball a few times and I gave some soft penalties away.

"It wasn't going our way and it was a frustrating day.

"No-one wants to lose or play badly, but that's sport, we all have those days, and players will have had them before me and will continue to do so after this.

"We were all frustrated, but we need to avoid dwelling on it and instead look to the London game."

New head coach Mark Dunning said "it was an attitude-based thing" in the second half at Newcastle, in which Bulls conceded 29 points and didn't score any.

Hallas said: "We do have to look ourselves, because we were way off, but that goes for the first and second half, though we were especially terrible in the second.

"It's never good to be put to the sword, like we were against Featherstone and Leigh, but if you're not at the races and the other team is on a high that day, these results can happen against anyone.

"It's not easy losing, but there's no point in remaining negative. We have to move on and can this Saturday."

As for Saturday's game at Odsal against the Broncos, Hallas said: "Every game is must-win now if we want the play-offs (Bulls are currently five points off them).

"Barrow, Batley, York and Halifax are above us and are all winning plenty of games, and then you've got Widnes and Newcastle starting to come good too.

"There's real competition for those play-offs and obviously we've had two bad weeks in a row.

"It's easy to fall into a negative mindset when that happens, but we just need to relax, because everything is still up for grabs.

"We will be fine, because we've shown how we can play, and we'll find form again.

"Hopefully we can show that with a win on Saturday."