Potter believes Bulls magic can pile pressure on Leeds

The accepted landscape has certainly changed ahead of the traditional Easter Thursday meeting of the West Yorkshire neighbours.

While Bradford do hope to attract their biggest attendance at Odsal for some years, with upwards of 18,000 expected this evening, the customary brashness and confidence of clubs who for so long dominated Super League is clearly missing.

Both enter the fixture desperately hoping to avoid a third successive defeat, Potter’s Bulls reeling from an embarrassing 56-10 annihilation at Salford City Reds and fallen champions Leeds given an equally searching lesson by Huddersfield Giants, seen by many as the county’s next major force.

For Potter, his focus is on swiftly remedying the mistakes from the Bulls’ weekend humiliation.

They dropped the ball a startling 16 times at The Willows but the positive for the Australian is that he knows such errors were elementary and if they are eradicated, his team – who should have defeated Leeds on the opening day – are more than capable of causing damage of their own

“We conceded 12 penalties as well so gave Salford 28 extra sets,” he said.

“That’s not on and we can’t

afford to be doing that against any team but they were fundamental things we can change instantly.

“Some things were out of character for some of our players – the high shots, hand on the ball and decisions we made with the ball.

“We know we can do better. We’ve only had five days and not long to practice but we have been able to reflect and we can turn it around.”

For the full story see Thursday’s Yorkshire Post.