Match thread: Championship Round 3. Featherstone Rovers v Bradford Bulls. Sunday 7th April 2024.

9 minutes ago, jamescolin said:

Bad referee again. Decisions against us but only now and again against them

The ref was just poor in general . I think he pulled Lilley up for being offside and he had collected his own kick.

46 minutes ago, plug said:

Sorry to say this but that was painfull to watch maybe we'v been spoilt the last few years let's hope when we get a full squad to pick from the games will be easyer to watch

Definitely been spoilt, first defeat against Bradford in 11 games going back to our last defeat 27-26 in    2019 !

A slow ruck made for what felt like a dull game to me, though at least with a level of interest that for much of the game there didn't feel too much between the sides. Bradford clearly started stronger, we came right back into it and early in the second half felt like we could get on top. The miscommunication between Aekins and England felt like the turning point however, we just seemed to step up with more errors after that.

A lot of one man rugby as well throughout, when we didn't have the biggest of packs for that game plan. Hopefully that's circumstance through lots of chopping and changing, and not the game plan for the rest of the year.

WE are obviously short of money and it showed. As an earlier post said why do we need 4 HR players . 2 OK but 4 when Aydin and Wallace are  not even League 1 quality. Whats wrong with playing Harris, Wynne and Farrar.

This was a painful game to watch, I just hope things can get better or we are going to be in the relegation dog fight.Too much 1 man rugby, mostly sideways. Bradford were no great shakes, but they did a job on us .If we do not do better against Donny next week  we are definitely on a very bad downward situation.

9 years since we last won at post office road both teams missing players in key spots better team on the day won but both be better when players come back.

see you in the return fixture where be two totally different line ups and good luck with rest the season.

5 minutes ago, Bullmania said:

9 years since we last won at post office road both teams missing players in key spots better team on the day won but both be better when players come back.

see you in the return fixture where be two totally different line ups and good luck with rest the season.

2015 last time Bradford won at Featherstone  40-4 ,best team today .

     Just echo what most posters have said.We lack pace apart from Jones and without half backs can't create chances for our backs.Before the game i didn't think we would win and Bradford were by far the better team.Although the ref let them get away with slowing the ball playing down.Poor attendance i expected more from Bradford.

4 minutes ago, sentoffagain2 said:

     Just echo what most posters have said.We lack pace apart from Jones and without half backs can't create chances for our backs.Before the game i didn't think we would win and Bradford were by far the better team.Although the ref let them get away with slowing the ball playing down.Poor attendance i expected more from Bradford.

With Gorman and Wacokecoke, I'd have said we have more pace than we've had for some time. Not necessarily in the right place at the right time though. We are struggling half back wise, and that's not to knock either Turner (who seems to be a runner, not an organiser) and Bowes (young lad, out of position) when we really need a general to organise plays and get us around the park. Addy is doing that well, but need halfback support.

Bradford attendance about what I expected, similar to previous years. 

I would seriously consider not turning up if Aydin is in the team again.  Not interested and a liability.  We'd be better off naming 16 players.  He did his best to lose us the Batley game as well.  The whole DR thing is a joke.  There must be players out there we can give trials to who are better than the dross we are getting from HKR.

That aside and forgetting the injuries and suspensions there was something very wrong today with the desire and attitude.  The ptb's were painfully slow for us but to be fair we never gave the incompetent-as-ever Mikalauskas any reason to penalise Bradford as we didn't look like we could be bothered to get up and play it.  Even some of our 'better' players i.e. Aekins / Addy looked uninterested today.  Connor Jones was excellent as usual but not a lot else to take from today.  

The promising start to the season well and truly ended today for me and any hopes for the season have plummeted.

1 hour ago, Bullmania said:

9 years since we last won at post office road both teams missing players in key spots better team on the day won but both be better when players come back.

see you in the return fixture where be two totally different line ups and good luck with rest the season.

This is the closest to my reflection of the game.

1 hour ago, haskey said:

As an earlier post said why do we need 4 HR players . 2 OK but 4 when Aydin and Wallace are  not even League 1 quality. Whats wrong with playing Harris, Wynne and Farrar.

 

Exactly - I'd be much happier watching our own fringe / younger players.  If they fall short well its still better than watching HKR players mess it up.

My two penneth. I'd much rather have young lads on DR wanting to prove a point, such as Tennison, Fishwick and Gorman than the absolute garbage that Aydin and Wallace served up today.

Our pack was completely out muscled which just slowed everything down. No quick ball, nothing for the backs to work off. Springer, Day and Bussey all massive misses and losing Hardcastle disrupted us further.

I think it's time for Wacokecoke to come out of the firing line, although when his confidence appeared shot, I'm not sure getting an absolute serve from our captain helped, especially as he was having a stinker himself. Wynne should play next week.

I feel for Bowes playing out of position, but he's just not a half. Unfortunately our spine of 1, 6, 7 and 9 at the moment are all runners of the ball, there's very little direction or guile when it comes to passing or kicking.

Hopefully Lacans isn't out for too long and can build a meaningful partnership with Turner.

On the positive side, Connor Jones was his usual impressive self and stood out a mile as best performer.

There's no excuse for being out-enthused no matter who plays. We appeared nonchalant how we chased kicks or when we were catching the ball from kicks. Aekins appeared slow to react in the first half when he was tackled in to touch in the corner,  then England and Minikin got in the way of each other collecting a kick. Communication and 1 person shouting mine that's all it needs. Forwards were taking the ball standing still, even near Bradfords line. I've no idea why that happened. Does anyone know why Josh Hardcastle came off and is he ok.

37 minutes ago, wasginger said:

Does anyone know why Josh Hardcastle came off and is he ok.

I heard shoulder injury, though on the terraces at the time so can't comment on validity. No idea how bad.

Even with players missing, im not as confident as some on here that much will change. I just cant see it 

The only difference i see when they are back is maybe the scoreline is switched the other way round in our favour - & we will win by 10pts 

With this years best 17 available (which i also dont think we will see once this season) i see victories by 4-10pts, with not a lot of points in the game & a lot of scraping by wins

What we look to be serving up, I dont think we have a team this year that is capable of recording a comfortable win

At the same time i also see a lot of potentially narrow defeats too

We wont blow teams away like years gone by, but we wont get blown away either

Everyone best get prepared for it - its going to be a very up & down year

On 01/04/2024 at 11:21, The Phantom Horseman said:

We've had a string of very tough games with a thin squad and my concern is whether we can keep showing up as admirably as we have been doing. The first 20 minutes at Batley I definitely thought there was a lacklustre legacy from the brutal Wakefield cup game. Bradford will be desperate to finally put one over on us.

We should be stronger the following week with Day set to return and Bussey and Massey possibly back in contention, but it will take a big effort to beat Bradford this weekend.

If we can match them in the middle of the field I'd like to think one or two of our playmakers might do enough for us to nick it, but after so many gruelling games lately this is another tough task for a team that's still at a very formative stage.

 

Judging by the post-game comments this result came as more of a surprise to some fans than I'd have anticipated. We were really lacklustre and it was a very disappointing performance, but the ingredients for it were there and Bradford were highly motivated after going so long without beating us at POR.

Hasn't really changed my view on the season so far. We've had a couple of games where we've probably overachieved and in the Bradford game we definitely underachieved. We don't have the personnel to dominate teams like we did physically for much of last season, and especially not when we're missing Springer, Massey, Day, Bussey and Tanner.

I don't really get the vitriol towards a couple of the DR players, there were plenty of our own players who have been standouts for us this season who had their least effective game of the year. We literally had no other forwards who weren't injured or suspended which is why we used three from HKR, do people really think that Charlie Harris or Oli Farrar (our only 2 available players who didn't play AFAIK) were an alternative to Aydin at prop?

I was really disappointed with our performance yesterday but not especially surprised, we looked lethargic after several really tough games and disjointed after a large number of changes, only 4 of yesterday's team were with us last season (and one of those went off injured), . Bradford played pretty well especially around the ruck area and thier loanees from Huddersfield, McGowan and Carr both had outstanding games, especially McGowan.

Our stated aim is to try and make the top 6 this season, I'm sure there will be plenty of ups and downs because we won't steamroller teams like we did last year, but it should be very interesting.

30 minutes ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

I don't really get the vitriol towards a couple of the DR players, there were plenty of our own players who have been standouts for us this season who had their least effective game of the year. We literally had no other forwards who weren't injured or suspended which is why we used three from HKR, do people really think that Charlie Harris or Oli Farrar (our only 2 available players who didn't play AFAIK) were an alternative to Aydin at prop?

Obviously I wouldn't expect this. My point was more of disappointment that the younger lads on DR, Gorman, Tennison and Fishwick, have seemed to give much more effort and had better results than their more experienced colleagues in Aydin and Wallace. 

6 minutes ago, Michael Bates said:

Obviously I wouldn't expect this. My point was more of disappointment that the younger lads on DR, Gorman, Tennison and Fishwick, have seemed to give much more effort and had better results than their more experienced colleagues in Aydin and Wallace. 

I don't think either Aydin or Wallace are any better than what we've got when all our team is fit, and I think they will both be playing Championship next year. The three younger lads you mention are all seen as potential genuine SL 1st team players of the future at HKR. I think they just have more talent.

I didn't think effort was lacking from Aydin (who played 65 minutes) or Wallace, they just didn't have much impact, but then very few of our team did in this game.

4 minutes ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

I don't think either Aydin or Wallace are any better than what we've got when all our team is fit, and I think they will both be playing Championship next year. The three younger lads you mention are all seen as potential genuine SL 1st team players of the future at HKR. I think they just have more talent.

I didn't think effort was lacking from Aydin (who played 65 minutes) or Wallace, they just didn't have much impact, but then very few of our team did in this game.

I think Tennison especially will become a good super league player. I was disappointed when he went off. When he bulks up he will become a good asset to any team. Gorman too has potential and both played well. A win at Featherstone will give Bradford fans hope for the season but they too with their injuries lacked any real spark and only time will tell what positions these two teams will occupy at the end. Its early doors and given that Toulouse lost at home to Swinton and with Batley yet to post a win despite a good performance against us makes this season more difficult to predict.

22 minutes ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

I don't think either Aydin or Wallace are any better than what we've got when all our team is fit, and I think they will both be playing Championship next year. The three younger lads you mention are all seen as potential genuine SL 1st team players of the future at HKR. I think they just have more talent.

I didn't think effort was lacking from Aydin (who played 65 minutes) or Wallace, they just didn't have much impact, but then very few of our team did in this game.

A fair assessment I think.

I think what annoyed me the most I'm that game was communication. No one talked and boy did it show.

Danny Addy is our captain. Unfortunately not once behind the sticks did he get around the lads to get them going. Looked more feeling sorry for ourselves. Lacking a leader and a voice.

Returning kicks was abysmal in communication. I'll leave that one there.

I think there needs to be some changes next week against a Donny team that will be dangerous and plenty of out old players will be wanting to prove them selves.

itll be a fast field that we need to make the most of, bowes isn’t fast enough for a 6 and his defence in the edge has been woeful 

Wacokecoke needs to be dropped for wynne and hopefully if we have more middles back we can send Aydin and Wallace back to KR I’d keep tennison and Gorman tho.

i think I’d have Gorman back at 1 with aekins and turner in the halves just so we have some attacking threat 

After coming round from yesterday. There's one glaring aspect that allowed Bradford to dictate the game. The ruck speed. It reminded me of how Batley played in that play off game. Players could have struggled to fight the defenders off but would have been penalised, especially by yesterdays ref.

Every coach in the comp wants quick ruck speed in possession and slow in defence. The ref just tries to provide a medium speed to both sides. My only issue was with his definition of a professional foul. McGowan being tackled illegally 10m from the line by the last defender was not a yellow but Souter interfering at the ruck but with other defenders available was a yellow. 
 

Other than that, Wakefield will come top as they are a properly Full time team. Everyone else is playing for 2nd. I think Bradford, Fev, Toulouse will be somewhere there or thereabouts. 

9 hours ago, TrueBull said:

My only issue was with his definition of a professional foul. McGowan being tackled illegally 10m from the line by the last defender was not a yellow but Souter interfering at the ruck but with other defenders available was a yellow.

Souter's yellow was dissent