Ferocious Aardvark wrote:Two things arising from that game -
First, we had two teams that were pretty evenly matched in most departments (more later).
Second, the Bulls will do nothing this year as our half-backs (even though Jeffries played far better than his previous efforts) seem to be a spent force, and this was the obvious difference.
The Bulls still made too many mistakes, but that is not unexpected when you are chasing a game, and have to try to force things, but in general, you would have to say that the pack more than matched Hull's pack, and while they did not beat Hull's pack, it was an entertaining 80 minute contest.
But the one shining beacon in this is why, given that we now obviously realise we need a creative halfback (Bird anyone?) did we lump ourselves with a Jeffries/Deacon partnership for 2009, when it just does not offer enough to be better than most of the other teams. As I keep saying, Jeffries never was a No. 6 yet we are persisting with that, and sadly at the moment Deacon is a busted flush. The things he used to be good at for many years, little dabs through, kicks for touch, into the corners, organising the pack and directing play, seem to be a memory now.
IF we knew we were short of some creativity then why the hell did we not snap up Thorman when he became available/
And therein was the difference. Chris Thorman, esq. Take out his brilliance, creativity and opportunism, pace, and balance, and it is an even game. Swop sides and we win easily. Thorman was majestic.
Sheriffe also proved he can't run, when a ball-carrying Yeaman pulled away from a "chasing" Sheriffe.
Enjoyed the game, loved watching Torman and the excellent Manu, and in general a fair performance by the Bulls. Just baten by the Thorman difference.
I disagree that Thorman was the only difference, I felt we looked much fitter than Bradford, and we really should have killed the game off.
as for Jeffries, at best he has always been inconsistent and at worst anonymous, he really wasn't the calibre of player a team like Bradford should have bought in a key position.
I think it is going to take a year or two for Bradford to sort your side out to be honest, the squad is far too geared towards the forwards with a poor backline, whereas in the good years you had the solid Withers, Hape, Vainikolo etc to score the chances. You had no problem matching our pack today, but soon as the ball went out wide to the backs it fell apart time after time.