On previous episodes of Super League Pod bad news stories from both Wakefield and Bradford have been a common occurrence in our news round ups.
One interesting sideline to the game is the recent release of Jarrod Summut to join the Wildcats from the Bulls. Tom isn't too disappointed - he thinks his Bulls need solid, consistent and determined players who will work hard in defence as well as attack. In short, he isn't bothered Sammut has gone.
On the flip side, Wakefield needed attacking flair with Tim Smith gone and fans criticising the pedestrian nature of the half back combos they've had play in the trial games. Now with Sammut and Godinet, they should be able to complement the grit and determination that Richard Agar has instilled in his team in the past with a bit of skill.
Last season
Bradford had the better of things in the Super League meetings last term. The Round 1 win was as dominant as they would be all year in terms of metres gained and was the game that they saw the most possession of the ball over the course of the season. It didn't matter on this occasion that the Bulls tackling was woeful because they hardly had to do any of it. The attacking kicks numbers suggest most of the game was played close to the Wakefield sticks, but it isn't hard to understand why. High numbers of errors and penalties by Wakefield gave Bradford plenty of opportunities with ball in hand. Bradford were making so much ground with a very high 24 successful offloads putting Wakefield on the back foot and making them work even harder.
The reverse meeting was a closer affair on the scoreboard and Wakefield had much more of the ball than the first encounter. Most of the numbers that were skewed in favour of the Bulls in Round 1 were much more even in Round 23. In the end, the big difference was the missed tackles by Wakefield - their defence wasn't strong enough and it allowed Bradford to outscore them...just!
Form guide
Both sides had some disappointing trial games that give us a clue that these clubs will, as was already expected, struggle in 2014 and be in or around the relegation zone before restructure.
Bradford fans would say not to read too much into the Dewsbury game as it was a very young side that ran out there, but the Castleford trial game was an ominous scoreline. Things weren't quite so bad in the repeat fixture for Round 1, but Bradford still lost and that will put extra pressure on them for this big clash. By all accounts it was a lack of concentration and execution in the second half that saw Castleford take control and Bradford run out of steam.
Wakefield may also say not too much should be read into the trial games, as they didn't have any of their new signings yet. Something can be read in to their season opener though, which really they only lost from poorer goal kicking on the day, and Ali Lauititi was convinced he should have had another try but we were too far away to judge. What we did see is Reece Lyne drop a great chance to score near the end. Wakefield showed flashes of threat in the first half and controlled the second half against Salford. They looked further ahead of where we expected them to be with a quarter of their squad only just getting on board, but debutants Pita Godinet and Matt Ryan imposed themselves on the team and grabbed tries, with Paul McShane also very impressive.
Wakefield certainly played the full 80 minutes and its something Bradford will have to match them on if they are to take anything away from this early season relegation four pointer. It should be tense and enjoyable for the restricted attendance that will be in town. If you're going to the game, we'll see you there!
Other games in Round 2
21/02/2014 20:00 Leeds v Warrington *live on Sky Sports
21/02/2014 20:00 St Helens v Hull FC
22/02/2014 15:00 London v Salford
23/02/2014 15:00 Huddersfield v Hull KR
23/02/2014 15:30 Castleford v Catalan
TBA Wigan v Widnes *re-arranged due to Wigan playing in WCC, live on Sky Sports 22/02/2014 09:30
Listen to our predictions on Episode 5 of Super League Pod.
Thursday games
We saw a few Thursday night games at the end of the 2013 Super League season and they've been brought in as a more regular feature in 2014.
Despite them being played for a number of seasons in the Championships, bringing them to Super League has brought a whole lot of discussion from fans.
Mark thinks they should be a good thing for the sport commercially, as TV coverage is significant for club revenues if the sport is to progress and this will give the game exposure with less direct opposition from football, six nations rugby or prime television than Saturday evening games give us. The only real drawback he sees is it started the marginalisation of the Championships that resulted in that competition getting no live TV coverage in 2013 sadly. The moans of fans not being able to get to games is a less significant factor for Mark, its no different to a Friday night game for post-work travel issues and away followings aren't huge all across Super League anyway. Also, many of the announced Thursday night games are local affairs, and others have been announced long enough in advance that people can book their holidays appropriately if they feel they can't miss a game live. Maybe, it might have an impact on the amount of young kids that will be able to go to these games, but then again, its only one game a week and a couple of games each team.
We put the question of Thursday night games out on Twitter and here are some of the opinions you gave:
Ady Heaton @wiganadheaton: Good for sky only.
Andy Barden @Electric_gig: Good for the Sky Sports viewer, if its a big fixture. Also easier to watch then weekend afternoon games. You try watching afternoon games with Wife and Kids.
Paul @mozza_Leeds: I personally think Thursday and Monday games are good. The only stipulation is that they should be derby games only. Cross Pennines games and London/France home games are not fair on the core fans, SL seem to forget about core fans.
Alan Cale @shoddynmungo: Gives us a clear chance to showcase the game with little competition from other sports, let's see how attendances hold up
Martin Ramshaw @martinramshaw: They're more conducive to a happy marriage than Friday nights!
andrew @nuttyboyzok: Rubbish and stupid idea worse than Monday night games. The atmosphere is usually flat as not many away fans make it especially from Yorkshire
Listen out for us discussing all this and much more on Episode 5 of Super League Pod.
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