When Whitehaven and Bradford square up on Sunday at the LEL Arena both coaches will be looking for a response from their team after poor shows in the last game.
Bradford’s Interim Head coach Lee Greenwood has challenged his side to respond at Whitehaven on Sunday after their 31-14 defeat at Widnes on Monday.
Haven’s Jonty Gorley was bitterly disappointed and embarrassed by his sides 30-12 defeat at rock bottom Newcastle.
Greenwood insists lessons need to be learned ahead of a Cumbrian clash at the week-end when he expects Jonty Gorley’s men to respond as well after their defeat by rock bottom Newcastle.
Gorley will certainly want his side to respond in what continues to be challenging times for the club.
Three forwards – believed to be Liam McAvoy, Guy Graham and Tom Walker – have walked out while the club’s injury list includes Karl Dixon, Marcus O’Brien, Callum Phillips and Alex Bishop.
They were down to the bare 17 on Sunday against Newcastle and it’s likely to be a similar situation against the Bulls.
In the face of adversity, though, every effort is being made to produce some much needed cash and with Bradford likely to bring good support they can top the 1,200 crowd regarded as a break-even figure.
So far, it has raised over £7,600.
An auction of the official Whitehaven shirts for the Summer Bash raised £1,200 and significantly there was a rallying call from one of the senior players, James Newton.
The Millom-based hooker took to social media to declare his commitment to the cause by saying that as a group the players are proud to represent the town and its people and will fight to the end of the season.
“We will do everything we can to keep a team on the pitch. This club is a huge part of the town and we all need to muck in together for the rest of the season.”
But he says it’s understandable that some players might want to leave the club and find employment elsewhere. They have families to feed and mortgages to pay.
Bradford are no strangers to cash problems over the years and have almost disappeared from the rugby league scene in the past.
It makes for an intriguing clash, worthy of at least the 1,200 that Whitehaven need as they fight on in these troubled times.
