Guest Column - Jamie Langley: Injury to Orford key to Bulls' failure to make the play-offs

MISSING out on the play-offs for a second successive season is not what any of us envisaged at Bradford. We finish at Wigan tonight just looking to end on a high, whether that be a victory or not, as long as we perform well. Getting a win over Wakefield in our last match, putting an end to that 12-match losing run, was crucial and it was more of a relief than anything else. Given the way we started the season, so promising and up to fourth at one stage, we were really confident of being able to secure a top six spot and being in those play-offs next week. Unfortunately, it has not worked out and the main reason has been the loss of injured Matt Orford. Losing such a key player like that has really hurt us. He is our scrum-half and we never had anyone to replace him. We have pretty much struggled on with no half-backs since and that is no disrespect to the guys who have done their best to fill the gap. If we had not have lost Orford, I do feel we would have been up there but now we just have to crack on towards next season. It is good to see our old Bradford pal Paul Deacon doing so well at Wigan. I'm glad it's worked out for him there. He struggled with a few injuries early on but has returned great and is playing consistently well. Deacs is probably a huge part of what Wigan are currently doing and he has helped them to capture that League Leaders' Shield. At half-back, he is a calming influence who gets the team around the field – just the sort of player we have missed at Bradford. Wigan have been really strong this season with lads who have been in Super League three or four years now starting to mature and come to the fore together. It is similar to what happened at Leeds a few years ago with Rob Burrow, Danny McGuire and Matt Diskin and something we have missed out on for the last four or five years at Bradford. With the exception of Sam (Burgess), we've not had much youth development coming through here but that is changing now. We've seen Elliott Whitehead really kick on, James Donaldson, too, and plenty of others on the fringes. Hopefully, in a couple of seasons they will all be seasoned pros, too, and, with Mick Potter coming in as a new coach, everyone is looking forward to 2011. The club has made a lot of announcements about new signings already – Chev Walker, Shaun Ainscough and New Zealand Warriors' Patrick Ah Van – and there are more to come which is exciting. It has been tough as it is my testimonial year at Odsal and, with the club not being as successful as it was during my earlier years here, it has been hard attracting interest. You have to be realistic, though, and if we're not performing that is understandable. But we have some more events planned for the next few months including some poker evenings, a Ladies' Night and, hopefully, a testimonial match in January but I will be speaking to Mick (Potter) about that when he arrives. The main thing is we want to finish well this evening, especially as there are a few guys who will be playing with us for the final time. Interview by Dave Craven.