Matty Blythe has urged the Bulls to wise up tactically as they bid to get their season back on track at Salford this weekend.
Francis Cummins’ men have lost their last three Super League outings and were bundled out of the Tetley’s Challenge Cup at London Broncos last Friday.
Cummins could not fault the desire of his players at the Twickenham Stoop but he bemoaned their lack of guile and accused them of “playing naively” and “disregarding possession”.
On-loan centre Blythe admitted: “Tactically we’re just not there at the moment.
“We had a really strong feeling about the cup and what we wanted to achieve.
“But it’s just not happened and we were knocked out by the better team on the night.
“We’ve not learnt from our mistakes but we need to and we need to do it quickly.
“We’ve got a lot of spirit and character in the team but we’re using it too much and we need to be more tactical and sensible with our defence and attack.
“It was shown on Friday that if you can stick to a plan like London did then you can come away with victory.
“No disrespect to London, because they had a great game-plan, but we were nowhere near at our best.
“We’re looking for a bit more smartness in defence and attack – starting at Salford on Friday.”
Salford, now under the guidance of former Bulls coach Brian Noble, lie bottom of the table and were well beaten by Warrington in the cup on Sunday.
Blythe said: “I think any game is good to bounce back in. Even if we played Wigan, it would be a game where we thought we could win.
“We’re working really hard with each other to put right some of the things we’ve done wrong.
“It doesn’t matter who we are playing – it could be Salford, Wigan or Warrington – we need to put those things right so we can kick on in the second half of the season.”
Blythe played his second game back after an eight-match injury absence at the Stoop and added: “I feel miles better than I did against Leeds.
“I was a bit tired against Leeds but I felt a lot better against London. It’s just hard when you lose and that’s the same in any game.”
Cummins is hoping to secure the services of a prop forward on loan ahead of the trip to Salford.
* London Broncos prop forward Antonio Kaufusi has been charged with a grade C reckless strike on Bulls back-rower James Donaldson on Friday. He has until 11am today to submit an early-guilty plea.
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