Bradford Bulls boss supports players after reshuffle chaos

As if playing Trinity was not hard enough, Bradford just about cobbled together a squad of 17 fit and available players, including four forwards on the bench.

But Jorge Taufua (concussion) and Lee Gaskell (hamstring) were forced off at Belle Vue, the former in the opening 10 minutes, and with no backs to replace them, Bulls had to try some completely untested combinations to see the game out.

At one point in the second half, full back Billy Jowitt was out on the left wing, centre Jayden Myers stood on the opposite flank, young forward Harvey Wilson was in the centres and hooker Mitch Souter had to play in the halves alongside Jordan Lilley.

O’Carroll told the T&A after the game: “That was the moral of the story, there was nothing else we could do selection wise.

“But look, we could have done some things better during that reshuffling period and we’re not a team that will make excuses.

“This is rugby league, people get injured, it’s unfortunate. We don’t want to see it, but it happens.

“Sometimes people have to go above and beyond and fill in in positions they’ve not played in before.

“The team did that tonight and did really well but you have to know that’s going to hurt you.

“I would have picked a spare back on the interchange bench if we had one, but I’ve basically picked the 17 first-team lads I had available to me tonight.”

Eamon O'Carroll was barely able to put a side out to face Wakefield, and he lost Jorge Taufua, Lee Gaskell and Dan Okoro, the latter with a broken jaw, during the game as well. (Image: Tom Pearson.)

A fully-fit Championship side would have their hands full trying to stave off the threat of Wakefield half-back Mason Lino, with the 30-year-old having played in the NRL and at international level with Samoa.

He was imperious last night, playing a crucial role in most of Trinity’s seven tries.

Discussing Lino essentially dictating the game, O’Carroll said: “I think we played our part at times in that, but we lacked a lot of energy because of the work we were having to do, with the number of lads having to play out of position.

“I thought in the second half we sat back a fair bit and struggled to win the ruck.

“When that happens against exceptional quality like that, you’ll have problems.

“I’ve seen enough from this squad to know we’ll be alright. We’ve hopefully got some troops back in the next couple of weeks and that’s exciting.

“That’ll be a huge boost for us and, complement that with some of the things we’re trying to do and get better at, we’ll be okay.”

Taufua and Mitch Souter were both sin-binned last night, the latter for his part in a post-try scuffle which also saw Wakefield’s Max Jowitt yellow carded.

But it was ill-discipline elsewhere that annoyed O’Carroll, who had no issue with what two Australian natives had done to be sent from the field.

He said: “I don’t know what Jorge could do, he’s tried to save a try and gone off with a head knock.

“I’m fine with the lads getting into a few scrapes with the opposition too and protecting their team-mates.

“The ones (discipline issues) that frustrate me are when we contest for a kick, when it’s something we’ve spoken about during the week, and make contact with someone in the air competing for it.

“Those are the ones hurting us at the minute, but again, with Jorge, I’ll back him every day of the week on that.

“He was just trying to save a try and ended up getting a yellow card and not knowing about it, being sparked out and not returning.

“I don’t know what more Jorge could have done there.”