Match thread: Championship Rd 24. Bradford v Featherstone Rovers. Sunday 3rd September 2023.

[jamescolin]

Some people are only happy when they are causing trouble. It makes them feel important when somebody responds. Just ignore them.

[elppaxr2i]

5 hours ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

James Ford talking after the game suggested Johnno might be available for Newcastle but definitely for Toulouse which suggests he wants to put a marker down in that game even though it's 100% a dead rubber in every aspect bar the possibility that we might meet them again in the playoffs.

Ford might be fit, but surely is not risked on Newcastles pitch?

Edited September 4, 2023 by elppaxr2i

[The Phantom Horseman]

30 minutes ago, elppaxr2i said:

Ford might be fit, but surely is not risked on Newcastles pitch?

His words were "do I think he'll be available for Newcastle? maybe. Do I think he'll be available for Toulouse? Definitely." It wouldn't be surprising if his next appearance is in Toulouse. Same with Koppy with his creaking knees.

Also, if the plan is to bring Hau back in at that left edge position, he won't be available for the Newcastle game so it's not as if it would be useful in terms of practising combinations for the play-offs.

[POR]

4 minutes ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

. Do I think he'll be available for Toulouse? Definitely." It wouldn't be surprising if his next appearance is in Toulouse.

Personally there's no way I'd let the TO players get hold of him before the playoff's so widnes at home for me

[Wolfey Rovers]

Problem for John ford is he's missed so much of the season. He's a great player no doubt. But he's played about 4 games and we can't guarantee he wont be injured again before the finals. I've seen tougher sugar glass. 

I'd keep aekins and build someone around him is the safest bet. Personally I'd like to see lacans and chiz have a bash together.

[Wolfey Rovers]

Brad Day have an immense game coming back. Picked some really sharp lines and always runs hard. It's a huge boost going into the playoffs getting some bodies back

 

[RobLambert]

Comment from Bradford forum

Don't normally comment on the off-field trouble but enough is enough now.
It's not all Fev fans, Phantom on here is great to have RL debates on

Well at least that's a start.  (Rest of us are #### though)......

 

[The Phantom Horseman]

7 minutes ago, RobLambert said:

Comment from Bradford forum

Don't normally comment on the off-field trouble but enough is enough now.
It's not all Fev fans, Phantom on here is great to have RL debates on

Well at least that's a start.  (Rest of us are #### though)......

 

Trust me, there's one or two Bradford fans think I'm a #### too.

[J Phil Loxton]

4 minutes ago, RobLambert said:

Comment from Bradford forum

Don't normally comment on the off-field trouble but enough is enough now.
It's not all Fev fans, Phantom on here is great to have RL debates on

Well at least that's a start.  (Rest of us are #### though)......

 

What they probably don't understand is that had Bradforward actually won the game then perhaps there would have been a lot more escorted out of the ground BUT I doubt if a Bulls fan would have noticed any trouble then. Perhaps salivating more over the game itself.

[Fevrover]

11 hours ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

A few more random thoughts on the game...

I'm not sure we're any nearer to knowing who will partner Ford at half back when he's fit. neither Aekins nor Chisholm stood out in attack yetserday, although half backs really aren't going to have much chance to shine on their narrow pitch. Chisholm actually defended as well as I can remember seeing him, I know Bradford reckon Arundel scored in the corner and we'll have to wait to see what thier video evidence shows but regardless Chisholm did well to stick with him as you might have expected Arundel to just brush him off.

We had an unusually ineffective spell from our bench, Moors, Davies and Jones are normally good impact players but I didn't think any of them were near their best yesterday and we looked much stronger during the periods Springer, Lockwood and Wildie were on. probably helped that Bradford didn't have Rogers to come back on after he failed his HIA, but that's happened to us a few times this season too.

Lee Greenwood's post-game reaction seemed to be "at least we showed we can compete with them" which was puzzling, I thought this was a perfect storm for Bradford, they came into the game on a roll after a few wins, were at home in front of a partisan crowd, were facing a Fev team that had 8 missing (including 6 likely starters) and this was a relatively meaningless game for Fev on the back of a well-publicised difficult week. I would have thought they would have been a bit disappointed with their performance.

If anyone wants a laugh, have a look at the comically one-eyed Telegraph & Argus match report at https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/sport/sportlatest/23764679.bradford-bulls-narrow-defeat-featherstone-rovers/, which said the referee was "doing his best to make enemies with the home faithful".

No issues with the officiating from me but a bit rich to be complaining about the decisions that went against them when there was more than one questionable one when it looked like we should get the ball inside Bradford's 20m and possession was awarded to them instead. Bradford got a few home advantage calls I thought especially from the touch judges which is part of the game, one disadvantage to having most of the Fev fans situated where they were ie behind the sticks miles away from the action is that they're not in a position to react to events on the pitch and possibly influence the officials, that will be different with home-field advantage in the play-offs.

James Ford talking after the game suggested Johnno might be available for Newcastle but definitely for Toulouse which suggests he wants to put a marker down in that game even though it's 100% a dead rubber in every aspect bar the possibility that we might meet them again in the playoffs.

 

 

 

 

Packed Odsal 4000+ ?  

[Fevrover]

5 hours ago, POR said:

Personally there's no way I'd let the TO players get hold of him before the playoff's so widnes at home for me

No way would i play him against Toulouse look what happened last time we played them.

[RobLambert]

50 minutes ago, Fevrover said:

Packed Odsal 4000+ ?  

Yeah that T&A report starts with a description of a 'packed' Odsal -  immediately losing all credibility - then continues with further wildly inaccurate 'facts' 

[POR]

10 hours ago, Fevrover said:

Packed Odsal 4000+ ?  

Her you go F

Bradford Bulls

@OfficialBullsRL

72' - ATTENDANCE - Today's official attendance is 4,567.

 

[Gooleboy]

A far cry from the Bullmania days.

[sentoffagain2]

55 minutes ago, POR said:

Her you go F

Bradford Bulls

@OfficialBullsRL

72' - ATTENDANCE - Today's official attendance is 4,567.

 

                   Out of a population of 450000.

 

 

 

 

[Fevrover]

4 hours ago, POR said:

Her you go F

Bradford Bulls

@OfficialBullsRL

72' - ATTENDANCE - Today's official attendance is 4,567.

 

 

Cheers how many from Fev roughly?

Edited September 5, 2023 by Fevrover

[Tubby]

5 hours ago, POR said:

Her you go F

Bradford Bulls

@OfficialBullsRL

72' - ATTENDANCE - Today's official attendance is 4,567.

 

True or not, it helps with IMG points. 4,567 though?  You'd think they could be slightly more imaginative...

[POR]

4 minutes ago, Tubby said:

True or not, it helps with IMG points. 4,567 though?  

Well they been posting big crowds all season GOT more when they played whitehaven, barrow and Fax but only 2000 against TO

Funny thing though  T they were expecting 5500 against us  but unlucky for them we don't take many away supporters   

[J Phil Loxton]

14 hours ago, RobLambert said:

Yeah that T&A report starts with a description of a 'packed' Odsal -  immediately losing all credibility - then continues with further wildly inaccurate 'facts' 

Think Gledhill loses credibility too Rob. Just watched first half of his commentary on YouTube. Smith is Day. Davies down injured becomes Chisholm. Smith becomes Day again when he scores. " the ref missed that knock on by Day as other players blocked his view" Day was no where near the imaginary knock on. Their try was the try of the season NOT just a lucky bounce. AND SO ON......Can't wait to watch the second half.

[Tubby]

2 minutes ago, POR said:

Well they been posting big crowds all season GOT more when they played whitehaven, barrow and Fax but only 2000 against TO

Funny thing though  T they were expecting 5500 against us  but unlucky for them we don't take many away supporters   

Absolutely, and I appreciate how big Odsal is, but the crowds look a little inflated from what I've seen.

[The Blues Ox]

5 minutes ago, Tubby said:

Absolutely, and I appreciate how big Odsal is, but the crowds look a little inflated from what I've seen.

When we played there Bradford were in a bit of a bad spot and I would be amazed if there were actually more than 2000 people in the ground. Included a couple of photos which does not include the far seating area but there was maybe 100 or so in that at most. It does not take a rocket scientist to know that there is a lot less than the 4k+ that was given as the attendance.

[georgeb1]

4 hours ago, sentoffagain2 said:

                   Out of a population of 450000.

 

 

 

 

Nowt to do with population, it's the genuine RL support in the city you're targeting 

[sentoffagain2]

2 minutes ago, georgeb1 said:

Nowt to do with population, it's the genuine RL support in the city you're targeting 

  i think all Rugby League have missed out on not trying to get the Asian community involved in the sport.Bradford has about 150000 and i would think only the odd ones attend games.

[POR]

6 minutes ago, georgeb1 said:

Nowt to do with population, it's the genuine RL support in the city you're targeting 

Agreed G but you forgetting they claim to have the best home and away support in the league 

[RobLambert]

7 hours ago, J Phil Loxton said:

Think Gledhill loses credibility too Rob. Just watched first half of his commentary on YouTube. Smith is Day. Davies down injured becomes Chisholm. Smith becomes Day again when he scores. " the ref missed that knock on by Day as other players blocked his view" Day was no where near the imaginary knock on. Their try was the try of the season NOT just a lucky bounce. AND SO ON......Can't wait to watch the second half.

Ha ha .  To be fair I thought Day had scored - from 200 yards away mind - just based on where Smith took the ball. 

I don't know anything about this Gledhill who I keep hearing about on here.  Although it seems that he represents the views of many of the Bulls fans.  On Sunday it was ridiculous how they were demanding a penalty from every single play and the majority of comments on their forum suggest they think we had the ref on our side.  I've played it back and (sad I know) replayed some of the more debatable calls and I can't find one where Bradford were wronged.  Especially the alleged forward passes -  laughably the Davies 'forward' pass which was met with ironic cheers wasn't even close.  In fact the comedy calls all went against us.  3 times I reckon we should have had 6 again but the ref gave it back to the Bulls.  The last one at 8-10 could have been massive - when a Chizzy kick to touch was clearly played at and handled into touch by the Bulls.  The TV replayed missed it but you can hear Hau's disbelief on commentary.  Also if anyone can explain how the ref took us back 20 yards nearer our line to play the ball after a Bradford knock-on - please let me know.

Anyway its all water under the bridge now but as with the Fax game its seems a bit more than coincidental that the 'ramping up' of dislike towards us from opposition fans coincides with us being favourites for promotion.  In fact It does make you wonder if their warped interpretation of what's happened on the pitch is  reflected in recollections of off field incidents - which could really damage the club.