Rhinos Defeat the Bulls In Season Warm Up : Sun Jan 29, 2023 4:15 pm  

Rhinos Defeat the Bulls In Season Warm Up One of Superleague's fiercest rivalries was reignited at the Emerald Headingley Stadium this afternoon as the Leeds Rhinos took on the Bradford Bulls in a pre-season friendly match, the inaugural Keith Howard Foundation Trophy. Mark Dunning´s side had a tough task ahead as Leeds coach Rohan Smith named a side with a blend of youth and experienced as he continued to tinker with the fringes of his squad after last weekend´s defeat to the Leigh Leopards. The Bulls outing last weekend against the Huddersfield Giants fell foul of the big freeze, so this was a final opportunity ahead of their start to the regular season against Whitehaven next Sunday. The ground in front of the Western Terrace looked more like a sandpit than a rugby field as the two sides took to the field on a cold winter afternoon. READ MORE ON THIS STORY...

Rhinos Defeat the Bulls In Season Warm Up One of Superleague's fiercest rivalries was reignited at the Emerald Headingley Stadium this afternoon as the Leeds Rhinos took on the Bradford Bulls in a pre-season friendly match, the inaugural Keith Howard Foundation Trophy. Mark Dunning´s side had a tough task ahead as Leeds coach Rohan Smith named a side with a blend of youth and experienced as he continued to tinker with the fringes of his squad after last weekend´s defeat to the Leigh Leopards. The Bulls outing last weekend against the Huddersfield Giants fell foul of the big freeze, so this was a final opportunity ahead of their start to the regular season against Whitehaven next Sunday. The ground in front of the Western Terrace looked more like a sandpit than a rugby field as the two sides took to the field on a cold winter afternoon. READ MORE ON THIS STORY...

Re: Rhinos Defeat the Bulls In Season Warm Up : Sun Jan 29, 2023 5:34 pm  

Some good stuff in there after a scrappy first 20 minutes or so where we seemed to push the pass a bit much.

Evaluating the new lads.

Lisone looks like the prop we were missing and his work rate is better than I expected.

Roberts looks a real handful albeit a little raw.

Tindall looked far more direct than last year.

Ruan good ball in hand but defensively a bit naive.

Liked Gibbons involvements. Sinfield also looked far more physically ready for first grade. I know it won’t be to everyone’s liking but Smiths approach to pre season clearly appears to be to try things out, contingency plan and give everyone a run while also trying to protect the first team a bit.

Re: Rhinos Defeat the Bulls In Season Warm Up : Sun Jan 29, 2023 10:43 pm  

hi leeds fans im not here on a wind up but i think you are in a lot of trouble this season with the your squad you have - you will struggle to get on the front foot so you will have to fight the bottom clubs to save yourselfs a bit of credibility.
i think you know this is true but you really will have to fight really hard to keep that credibility. i do think you will keep your credibility to go into a better 2024 season, but be warned you are up against it.

Re: Rhinos Defeat the Bulls In Season Warm Up : Mon Jan 30, 2023 1:10 am  

knockonknockon wrote:

hi leeds fans im not here on a wind up but i think you are in a lot of trouble this season with the your squad you have - you will struggle to get on the front foot so you will have to fight the bottom clubs to save yourselfs a bit of credibility.
i think you know this is true but you really will have to fight really hard to keep that credibility. i do think you will keep your credibility to go into a better 2024 season, but be warned you are up against it.

Based on 2 friendlies where we’ve chopped and changed players and had basically kids playing for the majority?

Give over.

Re: Rhinos Defeat the Bulls In Season Warm Up : Mon Jan 30, 2023 6:45 am  

knockonknockon wrote:

hi leeds fans im not here on a wind up but i think you are in a lot of trouble this season with the your squad you have - you will struggle to get on the front foot so you will have to fight the bottom clubs to save yourselfs a bit of credibility.
i think you know this is true but you really will have to fight really hard to keep that credibility. i do think you will keep your credibility to go into a better 2024 season, but be warned you are up against it.

Thanks for the warning. We'll make sure to pass that on to Rohan and hopefully he realises that the pre-season games determine how you'll do in the season. Obviously ignoring playing different combinations, players out of position and not the teams we'll line up with.

Re: Rhinos Defeat the Bulls In Season Warm Up : Mon Jan 30, 2023 9:50 am  

knockonknockon wrote:

hi leeds fans im not here on a wind up but i think you are in a lot of trouble this season with the your squad you have - you will struggle to get on the front foot so you will have to fight the bottom clubs to save yourselfs a bit of credibility.
i think you know this is true but you really will have to fight really hard to keep that credibility. i do think you will keep your credibility to go into a better 2024 season, but be warned you are up against it.

That post was brought to you by the word 'credibility'

Re: Rhinos Defeat the Bulls In Season Warm Up : Mon Jan 30, 2023 12:16 pm  

Myler
Fusitua
Newman
Macdonald
Handley

Austin
Sezer

Oledzki
Leeming
Tetevano
Bentley
Martin
Smith

O’Connor
Lisone
Gannon
Sangare

So out of this fully fit probable 17, how many have actually played together yet? If that side is going to be staving off relegation I’d hate to see how some of the other ones in SL get on.

Re: Rhinos Defeat the Bulls In Season Warm Up : Mon Jan 30, 2023 1:08 pm  

knockonknockon wrote:

hi leeds fans im not here on a wind up but i think you are in a lot of trouble this season with the your squad you have - you will struggle to get on the front foot so you will have to fight the bottom clubs to save yourselfs a bit of credibility.
i think you know this is true but you really will have to fight really hard to keep that credibility. i do think you will keep your credibility to go into a better 2024 season, but be warned you are up against it.

Credibility???
Our last competitive game was the Grand Final.
Yours was in the Championship.

Re: Rhinos Defeat the Bulls In Season Warm Up : Mon Jan 30, 2023 2:30 pm  

Simmo71 wrote:

Credibility???
Our last competitive game was the Grand Final.
Yours was in the Championship.

Not another Leigh Lopords fan, what’s wrong with them, they all seem really insecure

Re: Rhinos Defeat the Bulls In Season Warm Up : Mon Jan 30, 2023 2:41 pm  

The strongest side we have put out in preseason was in the first 40 against Leigh and even then it wasn't really really strong.

In all honesty, when looking at the two lineups yesterday that started the game I was expecting more from Bradford.