Steve McNamara reckons fatigue finally caught up with his Bulls side as they crashed to an “embarrassing” thrashing against Warrington.
They played their third game in eight days last night and finished on the end of a 58-22 hiding against a side second-bottom in Super League.
Bradford now fall into that position having lost their seventh game of the year but McNamara – booed by fans during the Odsal debacle – believes the busy schedule played its part. They stunned Leeds Rhinos on Good Friday but lost at Wakefield on Easter Monday and suffered another defeat last night when Warrington ran in ten tries.
“It is not nice to concede that many points and at home that is an embarrassing scoreline,” he said.
“It’s like having your teeth pulled out with no anaesthetic.
“It can be a cruel game at times and we put in a very flat performance, which is very unlike us.
“Seven days ago practically that same 17 went out on that field and put in a very energetic strong performance against if not the best, then the second-best team in the competition.
“From beating Leeds 10-6 we’ve gone to last night’s display. I’m not happy with that or the performance but maybe therein lies the problem – the same group of players have had to go Friday, Monday, Friday.
“We made some tired decisions, some decisions which we never made seven days ago and probably not on Monday either.”
While the Bulls’ injury problems saw them hand a debut to Tom Olbison, 18, Warrington were able to freshen up, bringing in Lee Briers, who produced a man-of-the-match display, as well as England World Cup forward Ben Westwood.
But disillusioned Bulls supporters voted with their feet.
A disappointing crowd of just 8,643 turned up at Odsal and many of them started walking out as early as the hour mark when Chris Hicks fended off some feeble tackles to walk in for his hat-trick, putting Warrington 58-16 ahead.
There were chants for McNamara to be sacked but he said: “They’re entitled to their opinion.
“No one hurts as much as the players and coaches.
“I respect the fans and their thoughts but personally I always knew I wanted to be a coach and night’s like last night probably re-affirms I really want to do this job.
“In a strange sort of way, painful as it is, it just makes me want to do it even more.”
“It’s not about proving them wrong but people look at jobs in sport as glamorous. There’s a dark side to them as well and I embrace the challenge of doing what we need to do now.
The Bulls were 22-0 down inside 20 minutes and McNamara admitted the game was over by that stage.
“I think with it being the third game in short space the side that gained asendancy would have a big advantage,” he added.
“We lost the toss and went into the wind first half and Warrington kicked very well.
“They played very well. They were very clinical, got on back of couple of penalties, got in front and made the most of it.
McNamara - who takes his side to table-toppers St Helens next Friday - did not blame his players and added: “It is never lack of effort.
“They tried but there was nothing there from some of them.That was plain to see. Some of our senior players looked like they did not have a lot left in the tank.”
Victory lifted Warrington above Bradford from 13th to 11th in the table and was a fine response after losses to Salford and Castleford last weekend.
Coach Tony Smith said: “They had a good start and played well. It was attractive rugby league from the start.
“I’m pleased for them. It should build confidence and hopefully we can build on that.
“It was the third game in eight days and everybody is going to have some flat performances in that period. Bradford had their's tonight.
“They came up with a great victory last week but to come out with a flat performance was not unusual. We had one on Monday.”
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