BRADFORD BULLS went down 40-28 to Castleford Tigers at the OneBore Stadium, but head coach Kurt Haggerty insists it is not a ‘reality check’.
The Bulls conceded seven tries – with five of those coming in 12 minutes – and Haggerty admits his side didn’t get it right in defence.
“It’s not a reality check, we are on a journey, we are a brand new team and we are learning a lot about each other,” Haggerty said.
“We didn’t quite get it right tonight systematically. We are ok, we will move on. We are very disappointed in the changing rooms.
“If you score 28 points in a Super League game, you should win but we didn’t get it right systematically on the edges.
“It will be a learning curve for us, we have not really faced that. I thought the play before they threw a shape at us, they won the ruck but we didn’t quite react to it well.
“When they got the ruck speed, the detail in their shape was very good.”
Connor Wynne was once more left out on the wing, with Luke Hooley being preferred.
And with Jason Qareqare scoring a hat-trick down Hooley’s side, Haggerty was asked about the decision to play Hooley over Wynne.
“It was purely around last plays. Connor has not been there in his last plays and we have conceded tries there.
“Connor was first class in how he responded to not being played, but it’s always tough.
“Luke Hooley has been fantastic. He has been a good soldier, he is multi-skilled.
“He didn’t always get it right tonight but he will fix it.”
There was a moment in the game when Waqa Blake scored to make it 40-28 with 12 minutes to go, but the try was chalked off for an obstruction.
And Haggerty believes his side could have kicked on from that moment to win.
“As poorly as we played defensively, the try when Loghan Lewis’ line was called off as obstruction, I still feel we could have won the game.
“I don’t understand the decision he came to, I think if we got that we could have kicked on.”