Bradford (H)

[Wakefield Ram]

Well it's the big kick off tomorrow.

Hard to predict what will happen but hoping for a win.

[NickD]

18 minutes ago, Wakefield Ram said:

Well it's the big kick off tomorrow.

Hard to predict what will happen but hoping for a win.

Ditto 

[Blind side johnny]

Hopeful but not expectant. Bradford have spent a fair amount of brass on their squad so it depends which team gels more quickly. Also Thaler is refereeing so they will be allowed to get away with SL-style forward passes.

Bulls by 8.

[Sir Jekyll Stocking]

11 minutes ago, Blind side johnny said:

Hopeful but not expectant. Bradford have spent a fair amount of brass on their squad so it depends which team gels more quickly. Also Thaler is refereeing so they will be allowed to get away with SL-style forward passes.

Bulls by 8.

Are you implying that Thaler won't let your lot get away with SL-style forward passes?

[coolie]

Let's not forget

Thaler was out enemy vs toulouse battering us with 6 again on tackle 5

But

Redeemed himself against Batley at Batley... 

Fingers crossed its our turn again

[Crown Flatter]

1 hour ago, Sir Jekyll Stocking said:

Are you implying that Thaler won't let your lot get away with SL-style forward passes?

I’m dead certain he is and I agree. Saw some of that agin HKR. 

[Piggy's mate]

Can't see you beating them tbh 

Sheep 12  Bullocks 28

[myview]

I’m quietly hoping for our first win at home. Difficult for coach to pick a team as everybody is good enough to play. With a bit of luck and good goal kicking we could sneak it. Hoping we put our strongest team on the pitch - but we won’t know what that is until we have played a few games. Just hoping to get it right first time.  14 - 12 to Rams

[graham fisher]

Hard game to start with,that said theirs no easy games in the championship. Going to be difficult for Lee to pick his first 17 players as I think all the players have put their hands up to play. 
I'm going for a win tomorrow

Rams 18 Bulls 14

fts Gabriel 

mom Beharrell

att 1650

[Crown Flatter]

It must be hard to select a team for the first proper match of the season. I have seen the 19 (or should ther be 21?), but wonder if the 17 will be:

1 Jake Sweeting

2 Andy Gabriel

3 Adam Ryder

4 Davey Dixon

5 Lewis Carr

6 Alex Smith

7 Matty Beharrell

8 Harry Kidd

9 Reiss Butterworth 

10 Jimmy Beckett

11 Keenen Tomlinson 

12 Michael Knowles

13 Jordan Schofield 

14 Dom Speakman

15 Dale Ferguson

16 Jon Magrin

17 Chris Annakin

 

18 Brad Graham

19 Ross Peltier

———————-

20 Ollie Greensmith 

21 Aaron Hall

I am optimistic for this season, but think we might just lose this one, unless the Bulls haven’t gelled.

Dewsbury 18-22 Bradford

FTS: Schofield

MoM: Beharrell 

Att: 1632

[NickD]

Ouch…..

[Wakefield Ram]

Firstly, Bradford looked very good, took their chances very well,  they've obviously recruited well and think they'll be top 4 material on that showing.

Thought our forwards put a big effort in esp Jimmy Beckett and Harry Kidd  who thought were outstanding today. And we played some rugby and finished strongly. Think this league will be in 2 groups, the top 6 and the rest. We will be in the rest. 

Great finish from Carr for his try and the Butterworth/Kidd kick through should get us a few tries this season. 

Only things could do is show a bit more composure near the opposition line and the inside drop off balls are so obvious they are easy to read. 

[KC Ram]

A tough first game. Thought the forwards played well, but we lacked creativity and pace at the play the ball to put pressure on their defence and create space for line breaks or the opportunity to get the ball out wide. Left side defence is vulnerable to kicks and clubs will learn to exploit it.

still I think there are positives for the coach to build on.

[silcoates]

Terrible start.A b ig side Bradford -you have to match fire with fire.Our fire was sat on the bench.Playing 2 sl teams did the side no good at all."Finishing strongly" is no good.We started playing and scoring a few tries at the end. It showed what they could do . But the coach should have been sacked last season.

[Bullmania]

First good opening win for us didn’t expect that score thought we could win not like that.

i was shocked how far of the pace dewsbury looked I know it’s opening game but we looked so much stronger faster and wanted it more.

Good luck for the rest of the season nothing is won or lost after round one.

nice 2241 there aswell not bad for end of January 

[myview]

Wakefield ram has got to post my views before me. Definitely agree about Beckett being our best forward but although the team put in lots of effort we seemed to be off the pace and sometimes sluggish. When we did get going we looked dangerous and Carrs try took skill and ball control - well done to him. Sorry to see that the problem is still there on our right wing where we do seem to get drawn in field and cannot recover when opponents move ball out wide. This needs urgent attention. Altogether an interesting afternoon, ( where I could only recognise about 2 of the past players due to no field introductions ) but disappointing also due to result. Hoping for a steady improvement in team pace and ball movement.

[silcoates]

Just heard Lee on Radio Leeds. Good of him  at least to admit that Dews,were dreadful. 

[Sir Jekyll Stocking]

On 29/01/2022 at 13:44, Crown Flatter said:

I’m dead certain he is and I agree. Saw some of that agin HKR. 

No, don't tell me, let me guess....

Thaler allowed the Bulls eight SL-style forward passes, and they scored off every one??

[Piggy's mate]

4 hours ago, silcoates said:

Just heard Lee on Radio Leeds. Good of him  at least to admit that Dews,were dreadful. 

Yeah, it didn't sound good from the interview, "men vs boys" I think he said. Will have to pick your battles and aim to be "best of the rest"!

[John_Don]

Wasn’t great in the slightest. The last 15 mins or so we showed abit of promise with Sweeting on, looked like Beharrel and Sweeting were able to organise better and put some creative plays together. I must say, it looked frustrating for Beharrel they were times he tried to set plays up but went the opposite way. Or somebody else putting daft kicks in when wasn’t necessary. 
 

And all this business about going down the middle is utter nonsense! Does the coach not realise you can’t bully your way through the middle against big forwards, got to be more creative then that especially when the opposition are a lot bigger than your own team. Them tactics simply aren’t going to work against the likes of York when you’ve got big horrible forwards. 
 

We’re in desperate need of another Hooker, the squad looked alot fast pace and they were times nobody would be there for hooker! Get there! We’re in desperate need for a FB ASAP. None of this swapping and changing position’s, then we would gel more have much more consistency too. Poor Gabriel he had a nightmare, every touch the ball. Wasn’t his night. 
 

The arguing with one another behind sticks needs to stop asap though. To many voices, to many old heads need to give those in important roles their opportunities. First game of the season, Can’t be arguing blaming one another. What type of team morale/spirit is that! 

We show promise in area’s, and have potential but we lack leadership. Whether that’s down to like I said; new players coming in and remaining players sticking to there old ways rather then listening to new orders from new people. I’m not sure! But somethings got to give. Because that won’t cut the mustard for me. 

My opinion. 

 

[Crown Flatter]

12 hours ago, Sir Jekyll Stocking said:

No, don't tell me, let me guess....

Thaler allowed the Bulls eight SL-style forward passes, and they scored off every one??

Spot on!

[silcoates]

11 hours ago, Piggy's mate said:

Yeah, it didn't sound good from the interview, "men vs boys" I think he said. Will have to pick your battles and aim to be "best of the rest"!

Fantastic win for Batley i'm very jealous.Long time since i saw Dews.turn round a game like your lot did.

[Therein73]

Whilst that was a VERY bad day at the office, I think it's crucial that we don't throw the baby out with the bathwater..... I don't think anyone will be hurting more than Lee Greenwood and after two promising displays pre-season, I don't think anyone saw such a poor performance coming....... I firmly believe we are much better than what we saw yesterday but we have to learn and learn quickly....... This is a 'new' team coming together with a Coach who is still learning his trade, and we knew that when he was appointed. Since then we've had all sorts of things to contend with but ultimately we are still in the Championship though, yes, I would say this is a 'make or break' season for LG ..... The back-up team he has is very experienced but we need the elder statesmen on the field to pick up the baton and guide these young lads -- NOT be the main culprits in giving away stupid penalties at crucial times....... The penalty  after 4 tackles just before half time leading to a Bradford try meant it was game over for sure ...... And you can't blame a coach for that.... What needs to happen is make sure we don't do it again. Bradford, under a VERY experienced coach, executed their game-plan to perfection and received more assistance than they could have hoped for in the first twenty minutes..... Both from us and the man in the middle. 

We're always going to have days like this as Dewsbury fans...... Could be worse -- we could be Oldham or West Wales supporters.

Well played Bradford .... You look set for a good season  

[Crown Flatter]

It was a game of two halves (aren’t they all!), but both halves were the same-bad for us, just perfect for Bradford. The Bulls were far better with their big forwards cutting through, then crisp passing and fast backs, simply cut open our wayward defence. 
I have to say it, they did get some help from the official, allowing Bradford to lead with the elbow a few times and choosing not to see obstructions a couple of times, but all in all, cannot grumble at the enterprising play from the visitors. 
 

The League Express report, like always these days, fizzles out and go no Indication of how Carr scored his try and that paper said we won the penalty count 12-9. I very much doubt we were ever in front in that either; I made it 5-9 in their favour. Peltier did what I suggest he was brought in for, to score tries, like he did by yesterday, barging over from close range. 
 

I am still in a positive frame of mind, but will that change next week after the York match? Probably, unless our defence improves markedly. 

[NickD]

Do we have a captain?   We’ve been lacking a leader for some time and although I couldn’t make the match yesterday I observed in the friendlies that we seemed to lack someone who took the lead on the field, both verbally and by example.