I remember Matthew Elliott saying it was easier to weed out people you didn't want in a sports team than in an office environment. You can't sell Dave from accounts to another firm





I think it's harder to build a decent roster of players in the championship because the player pool is so small and the best will always end up in SL. We're left with players who for a variety of reasons aren't wanted by SL teams. I used to admire the culture at Batley a few years back as they used to punch well above their weight. We need to do the same, at a higher level. It'll be harder because we'll keep losing our best to SL.

Bulls 21 man squad. Dan Smith is back from injury and could feature:

I've been lucky to be able to meet and listen to some great coaches and leaders from across sport in my work and one that sticks out in my mind was a presentation by Sir Clive Woodward who shared his experience of building the team morale in the England team prior to their 2003 World Cup win.



He explained that talented teams fail because they make allowances for Sappers... those kind of people that sap all the energy from a room because of their negativity. You can have all the talent in the world, but you stand a better chance of success by having a group of less talented team players working towards a shared goal than you do with a group of gifted but difficult individuals.



There is one very good example of a player who played for us not so long ago, who was Man of Steel but never got a look in at international level (for England) or even at a top competing SL side.



It doesn't take a rocket scientist that we have had our fair share of those Sappers and still do. Some have left during this season but I can name 2-3 more that are still in there who are not bringing the right energy needed.



EoC needs to keep weeding these players out otherwise our culture won't change for the positive.

Danny Brough?

Smith back is a real boost. Was underwhelmed when we signed him, but he looked good early in the season and I think we've missed him. We've plenty of explosive players in the team, we need a few experienced calmer heads in there now and Smith is one of those.

I reckon so.



See also Dec Patton and Ant Walker.

So Fev beat Toulouse last night to go level on points with Bradford. The fight for the top 4 is starting to look very crowded - need a performance today as we know Doncaster can pull out a performance.

Seems like every team (apart from Wakey) are lacking consistency. A real opportunity (again) for the Bulls to up their game, or risk being also runs.

Win, and we've got a vulnerable Toulouse side on our sights with bottom side Dewsbury up next. Lose and suddenly we're just a defeat from falling out of the play-offs all together with Fev & York hitting their straps. Not sure if we we'd recover from a defeat today. Fine margins.

Seems that way. There was a period earlier in the season when we looked really strong (especially defensively), whether we can find that kind of form again remains to be seen.

The good news is, you look at the players we've got to come back Gaskell, D. Smith, Gill, Scurr, Baldwinson, we've got some real quality who will be fresh at the business end of the season. Toulouse are currently full strength every week. It's just whether we put ourselves in a good position to capitalise on that.

If Gaskell does make it back to fitness before the season is over, do we want to change the half back pairing at that point in the season? Who do you drop Sammut or Lilley? Lilley to hooker perhaps, but Souter has been solid. I think Gaskell on his day makes a massive difference, but is it worth the risk? Either way its EOC's call and I'm sure he'd be glad to have the choice/dilemma.