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Greenwood reviews Bradford defeat

Dewsbury Rams head coach Lee Greenwood has had his say following the Rams recent defeat to the Bradford Bulls on Sunday.

Dewsbury lost 10-34 to the Bulls, however despite the defeat the Rams did confirm their Championship status for next season.

On the loss to Bradford Greenwood said: “They dominated us for large parts of the game, they got the better of us physically and I don’t think we were good enough. That is a team that spends a lot of money and 50% of their team are full time, their quality moments were just better than ours too. If you look at both teams on paper you’d probably expect that to happen and that’s what I’m looking to change.

“We’d almost have to play the perfect game to have gotten anything out of that today, and unfortunately it was far from the perfect game.

“Look at the tries they just flopped over the line for a lot of them and that just shows the physical miss match. More than likely that Bradford side will finish 7th in the division and that’s a mid-table side, I have just told the lads in the dressing room that, that shows how much the division has gone up in quality. That is a mid-table team in the Championship now, spending a lot of money and are mainly full time.

“That is the benchmark now that little clubs like us have to battle to work up to and compete with, your batting way above your average just to stay in the division now.

“We wanted to get over the line on our terms and certainly in the last two home performances against Fax and Fev who are similar type sides to Bradford we thought we could have given the Bulls a game. However like I said you have to play the perfect game to get anywhere near these sides. I thought we did that more or less against Fev and Fax but today we made too many mistakes and gave away too many penalties which put pressure on us.

“Recruitment is a big part of it and a challenge in it’s self, that is my next task now to recruit well and have a better pre-season than last year which at times I could see what sort of season we were going to have and how tough it was going to be. I am hoping that I will see an improvement right at the start of pre-season, right from day one and not just going through the season.

“Someone gave me a stat the other day saying that 11 of the games this season we have been within six points of our opponent and out of those 11 games we have only won one game. We have been largely competitive this year but hopefully we can win more of those tight games next year and not be in this position. We maybe would have not been as nervy looking over our shoulder at Barrow if we would have won more.

“Players can come here, work hard, play well and maybe move on to bigger and better things by doing the right things on and off the pitch. I think that’s where we need to get it right here, and that is what I am trying to change. I am not an old coach, I don’t want to just be here ticking a box and picking my wage up, I want to be at Dewsbury and to make it a success. I am not here to use the club just as a stepping stone, but maybe some people have used it as that.

“For me this is a great place to come and I didn’t know too much about the place when I arrived. We talk a lot about the facilities and for me it’s a great family club and you know you are going to get paid here at the end of the week or month where as at other clubs you don’t know that. It’s a good stable club to be at and for me it should be a really enjoyable place for players to come and work, and that is what I want to change to make it a better place to be around.

“Behind the scenes going into next season we’ll be making sure we are a tight nit team that enjoy each others company, including on field and off field staff.

“There is a hell of a lot of work to put in, but whatever decisions I make are best for the club and not just for me, but any decisions made are in the benefit for the team and the club as a whole.”