30-31 Mar: The Coral Challenge Cup 4th Round Match Thread

[spanishknight]

A good win for the Knights second string at Barrow, well done lads.

[fearnowt]

1 hour ago, FearNothing said:

I don't know....would it actually help, or should it be  a case of it's time to knuckle down and sort out the issues. Give it a couple of months (no game for 3 weeks now) and re-assess. Grady hung on too long while he was here, and that wasn't helpful, need to avoid similar this time but by the same count Muzza should be able to turn it around (unless there's something going on we don't know about)...

I don't think it would help either, but we have to win our next game against West Wales Raiders.

Murray's reaction on the club website.

http://northwalescrusaders.com/news/anthony-murray-reaction-to-thatto-heath-cup-defeat/

[fearnowt]

8 hours ago, Sparse Attendance said:

What is the money clubs get for being knocked out of the cup in each round. I remember years & years ago programmes for cup games, would show how much clubs got for being knocked out of RD1, RD2 and so forth. Then how much the winners & RU got

I don't know about prize money, knowing our luck, we're more likely to be fined £2,000 by the RFL for not displaying that giant flag they gave us. 

[The Blues Ox]

Another abject performance by Fax but in the bag for the next round. Really can't be long before Marshall is put out of his misery now.

[Hopping Mad]

58 minutes ago, fearnowt said:

I don't know about prize money, knowing our luck, we're more likely to be fined £2,000 by the RFL for not displaying that giant flag they gave us. 

What's with the giant flags? Do they do anything for anybody (apart from give ball boys and girls something to think about before the game starts)?

[Wolford6]

The Bulls treated their fans to an absolute feast of one-man-rugby. Two good wingers so thought best not give them the ball. Could have lost but for some outstanding bomb-defusals by Ethan Ryan. Someone needs to tell Elliott Minchella that he's got the deceptive footwork of a chieftain tank, so give up trying something individual in just about every set of six.

Predictably, Kear is in the paper today saying that the players' attitude stank (it didn't ... there was no lack of effort across the board) and there would be wholesale changes next week. I thought our best forward on the day was John Magrin, who Kear hasn't picked for weeks.

No mention of the juggernaut tactics not working. Strange that.

Well played, Keighley. Your boys tackled their hearts out. As usual, great atmosphere in the crowd.

[Bramstein]

2 minutes ago, Wolford6 said:

The Bulls treated their fans to an absolute feast of one-man-rugby. Two good wingers so thought best not give them the ball. 

 

Agreed. I thought Bradford had space every time they moved wide and didn't do it enough for me.

Realistically they shouldn't have given Keighley a chance here. But fair play to the Cougars. Outstanding tackling and making sure they got the basics done kept them in it right till the end.

[Jemmo]

4 hours ago, fearnowt said:

I don't know about prize money, knowing our luck, we're more likely to be fined £2,000 by the RFL for not displaying that giant flag they gave us. 

We checked in our last round...luckilly you don't need them for the cup.

Where do other clubs put them? At Donny we put them in a stand, but we have 15,000 seats to play with. Some other grounds are a field next to a ditch, where do they go?

[Gav Wilson]

24 minutes ago, Jemmo said:

We checked in our last round...luckilly you don't need them for the cup.

Where do other clubs put them? At Donny we put them in a stand, but we have 15,000 seats to play with. Some other grounds are a field next to a ditch, where do they go?

They only have to be displayed on the pitch before kick off. Ours goes straight back in the bag after that.

[Gisburn]

2 hours ago, Wolford6 said:

Could have lost but for some outstanding bomb-defusals by Ethan Ryan.

I thought the kicking game was the weakest part of the Cougars play, a string of high and hope kicks which Ryan took most of quite easily.  The one that worked for the Cougars by Alfie Seeley did look something special though.

[RLNew]

12 hours ago, fearnowt said:

I don't think it would help either, but we have to win our next game against West Wales Raiders.

Murray's reaction on the club website.

http://northwalescrusaders.com/news/anthony-murray-reaction-to-thatto-heath-cup-defeat/

3 games into a season not that long, air they beat Keighley in cup after being behind 24-6 at half time, bit different to Thatto. But that’s history and the West Wales game is big and could be a positive turning point 

Not sure what affect the couple of weeks break will have? May be a good thing to refresh everyone and get them ready to go 

[Bulliac]

Thought Keighley played really well and no-one could have complained if they'd won. Bulls' defence was very strong and well organised (fortunately..)and we just held out, but attacking ides seemed like gold dust. Throwing cut-out passes out to the wing without making any effort to compress the defence  is not really the way it should be done imo, but then what do I know.

Incidentally, to correct someone up the thread who claimed the "Bulls were fulltime", this isn't exactly true. It would have been more accurate to say that the Bulls have some full time players, mixed in with the part timers. I'd guess that most of the team on Sunday were actually part time. None of which detracts one iota from the Keighley performance which was a credit to them given the circumstances.

[HaxbyKnight]

You always get very defensive about your full time players. Isn't it, 22 full time, 14 part time. plus an academy that gives you a squad  in the region of 60? That is far more than most Championship teams.

[Bulliac]

20 hours ago, HaxbyKnight said:

You always get very defensive about your full time players. Isn't it, 22 full time, 14 part time. plus an academy that gives you a squad  in the region of 60? That is far more than most Championship teams.

No-one is being "defensive" just pointing out errors which, whilst hardly being major, do give a wrong impression. 

I've no real idea of the mix - you seem to be more interested than I am, but I do know that there are regular first teamers on part-time contracts, so not all are full time. You missed out that we have a reserve grade team too, as well as youth and academy sides - I guess that gives us s squad of around 90....

[HaxbyKnight]

1 hour ago, Bulliac said:

No-one is being "defensive" just pointing out errors which, whilst hardly being major, do give a wrong impression. 

I've no real idea of the mix - you seem to be more interested than I am, but I do know that there are regular first teamers on part-time contracts, so not all are full time. You missed out that we have a reserve grade team too, as well as youth and academy sides - I guess that gives us s squad of around 90....

The ratio of full time/part time players is openly available in various comments on the Bradford Forum.The point I, and others are making, is that Bradford have a large squad, and a lot of full time players,  which is far more than the majority of Championship clubs, so why try to deny it?  I'd also point out, if you have full time players who are left out of the side and replaced by part timers, something seems wrong, Bradford are wasting money. Then again, they'll try to regain that by ripping off the fans.

[Bulliac]

On 4/3/2019 at 11:37 AM, HaxbyKnight said:

The ratio of full time/part time players is openly available in various comments on the Bradford Forum.The point I, and others are making, is that Bradford have a large squad, and a lot of full time players,  which is far more than the majority of Championship clubs, so why try to deny it?  I'd also point out, if you have full time players who are left out of the side and replaced by part timers, something seems wrong, Bradford are wasting money. Then again, they'll try to regain that by ripping off the fans.

Mate, any forum comments should be taken with a pinch of salt when dealing with "facts". I have NEVER denied that the Bulls have more full time than part time players, only CORRECTED inaccurate statements trying the  twist facts - like saying the Bulls have a "full time" squad, when they don't; it's only partly full-time.

You may be fortunate to never have injuries at your club but unfortunately, sometimes our full time players get injured and, guess what, they are replaced by part-timers. We prefer that to D/R. There are also a couple of part time players who refused full time because they have good jobs outside the game and they are also regulars.

I won't finish with a barb aimed at York because, actually I have a lot of respect for the club, so I'll just wish you all the best for the season, except when you play us, of course...