Matt Diskin has delivered a stinging assessment of the Bulls’ recent form: Not good enough.
Despite a much-improved performance in Thursday’s derby at Odsal, the former Leeds ace expects higher standards.
Defeat to his former employers was Bradford’s third in succession and Diskin admits patience is beginning to wear thin.
Injuries have not helped – Brett Kearney becoming the latest long-term casualty after breaking his hand – but there will be no room for excuses as the Bulls travel to Catalan Dragons this afternoon.
“There’s no faulting the effort by the boys but we’re still not delivering the goods and it’s not good enough at the moment,” said Diskin.
“There are encouraging signs but there have been encouraging signs for several weeks now. We’ve got to start picking up the two points and we’ve got to start doing it soon.
“It’s a tough one. Believe me, if we could put our finger on what’s going wrong we would do. We’ve got to deal with the adversity and become a stronger team from it.
“We know we’ve got to improve in some areas. Against Leeds we defended exceptionally well for long parts of the game and then conceded some really soft tries from dummy half. That’s not good enough and we know that’s not good enough.
“We are working hard. You can see there’s a lot of effort out there and we’ll get there.
“But at the moment it’s frustrating and the boys are just absolutely gutted and angry as well that we’re not coming up with the goods.”
Bradford sit tenth in Super League ahead of today’s clash in France but Diskin’s faith in their ability remains unshaken.
The veteran hooker is still confident of securing a play-off place but admits it will be a different matter altogether delivering on that promise.
Diskin said: “We have got the potential to really kick on and achieve things. We’re not lying in a great place in the table right now but the players are kicking on to correct that.
“We’re hopeful and we’ll try our best to be in the play-offs come the end of the year. We have the potential to beat the big sides but we just can’t string together an 80-minute performance at the moment.
“It will come. I don’t want to be sitting here in two weeks saying the same things, so we have to start picking up the two points.”
Diskin also hopes the Bulls fans can play their part in a potential revival after more than 19,000 flocked through the turnstiles for the 30-22 defeat to Leeds.
He said: “I was playing in the early 2000s when Bradford were knocking these crowds out every week. To see that back at Odsal was great and we have to give the fans a big round of applause.
“You speak with the majority of fans and I think they know this club’s in a lot better place than it has been for the last two or three years. They have a big part to play.”
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