paulwalker71

I agree. Why would Lingard want to go to the Bulls? Frankly, right now, it would be a step down

We DID get liquidated 5 years ago. The "new" Bulls ended up with yet more penniless owners hand selected by the guy who is - surprise surprise - now the current owner. I don't know if he has "delusions of grandeur" because he's basically said nothing about his plans or vision for the club - beyond the usual platitudes - since he took over. Now would actually be a good time for Nigel Wood to tell us all what he envisions for the club, because I don't think any of us have a clue

https://www.bradfordbulls.co.uk/article/1446/kear-leaves-by-mutual-consent Official statement says 'mutual consent' but as always there'll be speculation over how much that was the case. His contract was up at the end of the season anyway, and I doubt another one was to be forthcoming. Perhaps he decided taking the pay off and concentrating on his TV work was better than getting the grief from Bulls fans? Either way, he deserves our grateful thanks for coming in when the club was a total shambles and steering us to promotion and then the playoffs. He can't affect the problems that Shropshire Bulls mentions - the ground, the lack of money, the infrastructure - but he did a good job on the field and was a good ambassador for the club off the field Thank you John Big decision coming up for Big Nigel now. And the appointment will tell us lots about the ambition of the club going forward.

That being the case, do you have concerns about what might happen should the football club rise up through the leagues and regain football league status? Genuine question

Well, we (Bulls) have had multiple people who've done just that!

You and me both. And I started the thread! My premise was that, perhaps, Oldham Athletic had descended to such a parlous state of affairs, that just maybe they might put aside petty historic differences and work together to benefit BOTH sports. But, no, it seems like both football and rugby would rather take a fast-track to extinction than collaborate. And, from the looks of it, neither are that far off Sad, really

I was just watching a piece on BBC Breakfast about Oldham Athletic getting relegated down to non-league. Inevitably it focussed on the gradual decline over a 20 year period - and of course the rugby club has had a decline which mirrors it. Remember the Oldham Bears were in Super League back in those days! The football fans are agitating for new ownership because it won't be a given that they'll bounce back - plenty of other teams have fallen down that trapdoor and not come back. My question to the Oldham RLFC fans here is whether there is now any possibility that the football and rugby clubs could get together, share the ground and for both teams this might be a new beginning? Or could the local council bang their heads together and get them to work together? Because, right now, it doesn't look like Oldham RLFC are going anywhere

Fair enough. I think over the season those four will come Top 4 - but York are certainly in line to finish in the Top 6, yes

I would say Leigh, Featherstone, Halifax and Batley are definite for the Top 6. The other two teams will be making up the numbers and will almost certainly get knocked out in Week 1 anyway. The four teams above are clearly better than the rest - with Leigh and Featherstone another notch above still.

I liked him at the Bulls, apparently the players and staff all loved him. Yes, that final game agaInst Featherstone was a shambles but rumour has it there were off field issues brewing. Shortly after the game the club went bust again, and the owners (Chalmers) decided he wanted Toovey as coach for some inexplicable reason and dispensed with Smith. The point being that he never really had a fair crack with the Bulls due to our usual basket case off field nonsense. Whether he’s the right appointment for Leeds only time will tell. It could be a stroke of genius, or a total disaster. It be interesting to watch it play out

Exactly this There's no such thing as "Super League" beyond the clubs who make up the organisation. He should be addressing this to his own club chairman

His ban has been served, he played in this game to regain some match fitness. He'll be back with the Bulls now.

Well, yeah, I guess DFJ was sent to you guys to regain match fitness after being suspended. That will be a one-off. Marcus Green is a reserve player, he might stick around. Still seems a bit odd that we didn't send those two to play for Cornwall - not that it would have made much difference to the result today

I'm confused We've announced a DR partnership with Cornwall-- and then promptly sent two players to team up with their opponents for this afternoon. ** head scratching **

Well I've been to Dewsbury a few times obviously, and it's definitely a better viewing experience than Wakefield's ground. But, that's by the by, the obvious answer to your question is that the RFL make it up as they go along. The rules that apparently apply to Dewsbury or Whitehaven were ignored when London went into SL and played out of a glorified sports club.

That ship sailed when they stood back and let London play at Ealing. And that's before we start on Wakefield's (current) "stadium"

Can anyone give us an up-to-date squad list for Cornwall? I've seen stories that they are making signings, but their first match is only about two weeks away. Do they have a full squad of players yet?

Not bad given they had to move the game at short notice to some random place miles away from their base.

Looks like I stirred the pot a bit with my comments about Leon Pryce. First, the term 'colour commentary' is very commonly used and anyone who even suggests I used it in any way as a racially motivated term needs to give their head a shake, frankly My issue with Leon, and it's not his fault, is that he tends to mumble into the mic. Combine that with a fairly strong Yorkshire accent (and I'm Yorkshire myself) and you've got something that's incomprehensible to a lot of people. I feel the same about Jamie Jones Buchanan Kyle Amor was very good the previous week, although I fully understand why they didn't use him yesterday. There are plenty of articulate ex-players of the sport that could be employed in that role.

Another good presentation, but I'm not a fan of Leon Pryce doing the colour commentary He was fine last week doing the punditry, but he mumbles too much into the mic to be a good colour commentator. In fact, he was so incomprehensible most of the time, I couldn't tell you if what he said made any sense!

But that's the hand that Super League has to deal with. It's not an excuse SL clubs get a massive slice of their income from TV. You can't then use the TV schedule as an excuse for lower than anticipated crowds. You've got to find a way to get crowds in. I'm not picking on Leeds, because this is something we hear from most SL clubs. Even Leigh fans are doing it now because they have to play a couple of games on Mondays. 'We would get bigger crowds if we could have all our games when it suits us' (whether it is Friday night or Sunday afternoons). Well, you know what - he who pays the piper calls the tune.

Bit late to this, but Bulls vs Sheffield was 3547 Those who skipped it didn't miss much

There's some proactive clubs there Barrow seem to be doing plenty right, and reaping the rewards Dewsbury and (possibly) Batley swelled by decent away followings Leigh - yeah, decent considering it was against a team with a small away support Even London did the business (for once) when it came to getting a crowd! Hopefully a big crowd at York tonight

I'll probably get shot down for this, but wouldn't it make more sense to simply accept the reality and have Broncos in the Championship with Skolars as their development / 'reserve/ feeder team playing in L1?

Historically, there have always been better crowds for the Bash on the Saturday, but this year it looks like they've given up on the Sunday. The stadium is going to look really empty on the Sunday with a couple of coach loads from Cumbria rattling around in there.