Matt Orford feels like he’s been here before.

The criticism, the disappointment, the soul-searching that followed the Bulls’ 38-6 defeat to St Helens – all of it is far too familiar.

When seeking answers to Bradford’s disappointing start to the season, Orford can draw on an all-too-recent experience.

Last year, his Manly side seemed on the verge of catastrophe early in their season, off-field issues combining with poor performances to leave the Sea Eagles ailing.

Despite coming off the back of an NRL title campaign and a World Club Challenge victory against Leeds, Manly couldn’t buy a win, dropping their first four games to sit rock bottom.

The Sea Eagles finally broke their duck with a win over Wests Tigers in round five but spent the majority of the campaign languishing in the lower reaches of the table before making a late surge to finish fifth.

So, in preparing to help Bradford avoid a third straight loss, Orford is aware of exactly what will be required from him and his team-mates.

“You do get the criticism but you can’t let that get to you too much,” he said. “The wins aren’t just going to happen, you need to work hard at training and hard in the game.

“To do that you need to be a disciplined team and work on areas of weakness. If we do that and blokes are trying their guts out at the weekend and doing everything they can, but we still get beaten by two points by the better team then that’s easier to accept.

"But we can’t be beaten like we were on Sunday.

“That was a poor performance, and that’s why everyone was down. You probably won’t see that performance again this year.”

As captain, Orford copped for plenty of flak due to Manly’s early-season failings in 2009.

Seen as the figurehead and talisman, the 31-year-old scrum half was expected to lift his team to greater heights and did play a huge part in their eventual revival.

Although Orford does not wear the armband at Odsal, he still feels plenty of responsibility for the team’s struggles and, as a senior figure in the squad, he intends to set a positive example for his team-mates to follow.

He said: “I think the best way the senior players can help turn things around is by actions not words. You have to lead by example and not let that happen again.

“If you have to do all the little dirty jobs, you just have to do them and lead the way, then hopefully the rest of the group will follow.

“But everyone takes responsibility within this group. No-one likes losing, so everyone’s worked hard this week to put things right.”

That role becomes particularly significant in attempting to translate the lessons learned on the training paddock onto the pitch.

Orford said: “I can’t fault how we’ve been training – we prepared great against Saints.

"The combinations have been working fine but we haven’t transferred it.

“Against Saints, when you give up that much ball and defend that much, it’s going to chew up a lot of juice because the pitches are heavy at the moment. So when you get the ball you don’t have as much power to carry that ball through.

“We need to work hard and show discipline. There’s still plenty of work to do and I’m very confident those combinations will come sooner rather than later.”

Combinations have become a major talking point.

Orford is attempting to strike up a new partnership with Brett Kearney in the halves, and the two of them are trying to exist within the framework of a new team and environment.

Although Orford arrived at Bradford with a giant reputation, considered as one of the greatest scrum halves never to play Test rugby, he insists the onus is on him to learn as much as it is his team-mates.

“I need to learn as well,” he said. “We’re training well and combinations are coming together. We’re not too far off but I have to learn to play with them as much as they need to run off me.

“Hopefully people will understand we’re only two games into the competition. Every fan hates their team losing but it’s a long year.

“Leeds have been the champions for the last three years now and they’ve won one from three. We’re definitely not losing any faith or down on our ability as a team.”