[Bullseye]

: Mon Mar 09, 2009 12:25 pm  

Wigan Bull wrote:

I still think it's too early to boot out Macca, however Saturday's performance was a huge backward step.
I fear there is a bit more going on behind closed doors than we know about.

The most disappointing element was the lack of fire and enthusiasm being shown by pretty much all the players.

I took 5 people to their first live RL game. They were genuinely excited about going, had adopted the Bulls, were making up songs beforehand etc etc. 60 mins in one of them said "I thought this was going to be a good game? We're getting battered. Can't we support Wigan instead?"
That about summed the evening up for me!

I like others have mentioned think it's time for some honesty from our club.
I could live with finishing bottom of the table if I understood the reasons behind it and was given some confidence about future plans.

After all we've seen in Australia the club finishing bottom go on to win the title the following year. This demonstrates what can be done with the right set up off the field as well as on it.

Is the whole sporting village drama distracting everyone?
Is there no respect for Macca from the players?
Do the players believe they are good enough?

I'm afraid at the moment; there are more questions than answers for me.

Good post Wigsy, you sum up how I feel too. I can't help but feel there's more going on than we know about on here. Some straight talking would probably help and stop a few knees jerking (including mine!)

I'm not for a change in coach unless the new guy would be a definite improvement and the names mentioned so far by others don't get me enthused.

: Mon Mar 09, 2009 12:41 pm  

Wigan Bull wrote:

I took 5 people to their first live RL game. They were genuinely excited about going, had adopted the Bulls, were making up songs beforehand etc etc. 60 mins in one of them said "I thought this was going to be a good game? We're getting battered. Can't we support Wigan instead?"
That about summed the evening up for me!

Well every cloud has a silver lining as i talked one of my friends from Wigan to go to the game. It was her first game and she loved it.

All she said to me was "i thought bradford were ok."

I was that wound up i even said i hope the Rhinos batter you next week.

: Mon Mar 09, 2009 12:52 pm  

Bullseye wrote:

It struck me on Saturday night that our re-building process is likely to take much longer than that we went through in 98. Cas's re-building process has taken years and a visit to NL1 on the way. I remember Leeds going through a similar terrible period between 99 and 2003/4. In some ways we're rather like that Leeds side of 2001. A lack of quality, a young coach playing gcatch up and the kids not ready yet to come through. Meanwhile the fans called for Powell's head and bemonaed the poor recruitment they made.

There are comparisons with Cas, though we never had the success of the Bulls to build on. A succession of average or crap coaches damaged the strcucture & goodwill of the club. But we survived 2 relegations & the break up (rape) of a potentially outstanding core of players. Cas are a smallish club who do not expect success as a right & are prepared to stand for a period of failure partially because we know there will always be a nucleus of outstanding youngsetrs coming through. All that is needed is someone at the helm to direct the ship. Matterson is proving better than I expected, even though I would rather see a British coach (& I admit to liking Cullen) there would be a queue of ex Aussies down Manchester Road if the Bradford job came up.

: Mon Mar 09, 2009 3:08 pm  

af wrote:

I think that was a pretty decent Wigan performance that would probably have seen of most sides in the league, albeit not by 34 points. It was a thumping of the sort most sides suffer every now and then but we've generally avoided in the McNamara era.

I disagree - Wigan were certainly up for it but Bradford's defence was appalling, particularly one on one and close to the line. Once Wigan broke the line it looked like the rest of the team had given up.

I could be wrong - we'll see next weekend when Wigan come to Headingley

: Mon Mar 09, 2009 5:22 pm  

Bullseye wrote:

It struck me on Saturday night that our re-building process is likely to take much longer than that we went through in 98. Cas's re-building process has taken years and a visit to NL1 on the way. I remember Leeds going through a similar terrible period between 99 and 2003/4. In some ways we're rather like that Leeds side of 2001. A lack of quality, a young coach playing gcatch up and the kids not ready yet to come through. Meanwhile the fans called for Powell's head and bemonaed the poor recruitment they made.

Obviously there were a number of factors behind our success during the 90's and early 00's, but it owed much to a number of inspired signings. Players such as Paul Anderson, Danny Peacock, Withers, Forshaw & Gartner were real bargains and huge successes. The likes of Les and Hape maybe cost a bit more but were still gambles. We "out-recruited" every other club during the period 1996 to 2003.

Morrison aside I cant remember the last signing that has really come up trumps, that has made fans of other clubs question why they hadnt gone for him. The signing of Harris by Noble obviously started the rot, but MacNamara's recruitment record has been extremely disappointing. Solomona has been a costly failure and his other signings have generally done no better than was expected and usually far worse.

The lack of effort on Saturday was hugely disappointing, but probably more worrying in the longer term is the fact that the current squad doesnt have that much more to offer. And I really cant see things improving until we have a coach, or someone else in the club, who can identify and recruit better players than Jeffries, Platt, Sheriffe, Nero, Sykes & co without breaking the bank.

[Bullseye]

: Mon Mar 09, 2009 6:33 pm  

Cibaman wrote:

but probably more worrying in the longer term is the fact that the current squad doesnt have that much more to offer. And I really cant see things improving until we have a coach, or someone else in the club, who can identify and recruit better players than Jeffries, Platt, Sheriffe, Nero, Sykes & co without breaking the bank.

Recruitment hasn't been great and we've got a real imbalance in the squad as well as a lack of quality.

It seems to me that unless McNamara can suddenly start to work some magic then you're right, we'll be stuck with mediocrity at best, and I don't think that's going to be sustainable for very long. Performances like the one at Wigan will see gates go through the floor.

Given the lack of finance to bring in top quality players (I'm taking it as a given that we can't really compete for the big names anymore despite the assurances from Peter Hood) it looks like we'e going to need a new coach at some stage who can get more out of limited players and develop the kids. Who this new messiah is I do not know!

: Tue Mar 10, 2009 7:40 am  

mystic eddie wrote:

Your opinion is like a 1/2p coin. Completely worthless and of no interest to anyone, ever.

The irony of the above is not lost on me... An honorary Scotsman and Yorkshireman, and the only reference you can come up with involves money...

Of course, your statement is inaccurate... most people's reaction when finding a ha'penny in their change is "Wow, I haven't seen one of these in a while." and as I'm sure you're aware, people pay more than ha'penny to get them in their collections.

So comparing my opinion to a ha'penny is actually saying "Your opinion is like a 1/2p coin. People who actually know a bit about what your saying are genuinely interested and you're like a little surprise popping up every now and again."

: Tue Mar 10, 2009 8:53 pm  

The answer is not Paul Cullen

: Tue Mar 10, 2009 11:47 pm  

ex Bull Dog wrote:

The answer is not Paul Cullen

Well not any more!

: Wed Mar 11, 2009 10:38 am  

The great thing to come out of the Bulls mini-crisis is the return of Adey, FA & AP to the site. One more loss & we could see Green Vigo & Eddie Szymala back giving us their wisdom.