Beating Bradford Bulls special for Keighley Cougars coach Lovegrove

That’s the view of coach Rhys Lovegrove after Sunday's 34-6 dismantling of their local rivals.

The Aussie believes the long-awaited victory will be one that the supporters can look back on for years.

“It’s huge,” he said. “It’s about experience, the fans will remember this.

“We’ve spoken about this since I’ve been here and started this journey. We spoke about creating memories for fans to look back on and remember.

“When people look back and think about your Phil Larders, Daryl Powells and Nick Pinkneys and Cougarmania, we wanted there to be a new chapter for Keighley.

“There hasn’t been much luck in the last 20 years and we wanted to create that batch of memories in old fans and obviously new ones.

“I’m really happy that’s something that hopefully these guys will remember and still be talking about in 15-20 years’ time.”

The Cougars ran in six tries, four in a devastating 10-minute spell in the first half, to blow away the Bulls.

Rhys Lovegrove said the Cougars' display had been coming (Image: Charlie Perry)

Mark Dunning blasted his own side for “disrespecting” the occasion but Lovegrove was understandably delighted.

“I’m really proud. They stuck to the things we’ve been working really hard on during the week and since November last year.

“They haven’t been able to hook it up in an 80-minute performance yet but this was pretty close.

“We weren’t perfect in every area of the game but that’s no problem because the boys worked hard for each other. They grafted and then covered up those cracks with hard work.

“This has been coming to a certain extent - probably not the scoreline but the performance.

“They’ve really dug into what we’re trying to do here and the guys who didn’t understand it before have really embraced what we’re doing.

“They went all in. We’ve been there at times during the year but either opposition quality or fatigue has just knocked us out of our rhythm.

“Everything clicked, the fatigue element was mitigated by how well they were executing. They had more clarity of thought so they could move the footy a little bit better.”

Former Bulls duo Dane Chisholm and Luke Gale clicked in the halves - and Lovegrove had special praise for ex-Bradford centre Jake Webster.

His assistant coach, now 39, played his first game of the season and set up the Cougars’ fifth try for winger Charlie Graham with a sensational break.

“He looked up and didn’t realise how far the try line was,” said Lovegrove. “But he had a cracker.

“It’s a testament to the professionalism of Jake Webster and the sort of person that he is and how he approaches not only footy but his life.

“He’s managed to be coaching this team as part of my staff for the last six months and then within a week take off the headphones and go put in a performance like that against top opposition.

“Hats off to Jake, he deserves all the plaudits he gets.

“We had a very carefully laid-out plan for the game and understood how far we wanted to get Jake.

“We discussed the different areas he needed to be careful of and where he could expend his energy. I thought he was brilliant.”