FUMING Mark Dunning accused the Bulls of “disrespecting” the derby occasion after their 34-6 drubbing at Keighley.
Bradford conceded six tries - four of them in a 10-minute burst in the first half - on an afternoon of misery at Cougar Park.
It was a painful watch for the large away contingent in a bumper crowd and Dunning was pulling no punches about his team’s pitiful display.
“We’ve represented our club, our shirt and the fans behind the sticks and disrespected it,” he said.
“We’ve not been willing to get into a grind and an arm-wrestle.
“We’ve looked to do things the easy way and when they’ve gone wrong, we’ve looked for easy solutions instead of rolling our sleeves up.
“We’ve prepared all week really well. We understood the magnitude of the game but actions speak louder than words - and our actions were poor today.”
The Bulls trailed 24-0 at the break and also lost top scorer Kieran Gill with a hamstring injury. Liam Tindall scored their only try four minutes from the end.
Dunning added: “We completed at 46 per cent in the first half. You don’t win any games doing that.
“We didn’t try to earn the right to do anything. The first set of the game we came up with a play-one error in an off-load that wasn’t part of the plan.
“We failed to complete the first three sets. We repelled them defensively but we did that much of it, that it took its toll.
“The amount of tries they scored off the back of our errors is not on.
“You can’t keep making errors against good teams in this league and think you’re going to get away with it. Keighley have given us a smack right on the chin.
“I’ve just told the players that if anyone thinks that was acceptable, they need to come and see me next week.”
It was the Bulls’ third defeat of the season - all away from Odsal - and came a week after they beat third-placed Sheffield.
Dunning said: “They’ve put their hands up straight away to say it wasn’t good enough. But we can’t keep doing that.
“We did that after York and said it was a bad day at the office. Four or five weeks later and we’re here again.
“I thought we lacked real leadership and direction at times.
“There’s got to be some accountability. There’s been some honest chats in there and there will be more to come this week.
“Some players probably overtried at times but I can’t pull any positives out of that performance.”
Luis Roberts, the newest dual-reg arrival from Leeds Rhinos, had a tough debut on the wing after being preferred to David Foggin-Johnston. Ben Blackmore was also left out again as he recovers from a recent knee problem.
“David Foggin-Johnston probably thinks he should have played,” said his head coach. “The lads that have come in haven’t deterred that.
“We’ll dissect what happened and absolutely scrutinise it. If some people find themselves out the team, they’ll be loads of reasons why that they can call on from today.
“We’ve got to look at how we can change things up and hold people accountable. We’ve got to get back on the horse as soon as possible.”
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