John Kear: ‘Instinct took over rationale’ prior to Halifax loss

Bradford boss John Kear took some of the blame for their loss to Halifax at the Summer Bash, admitting that he shouldn’t have named a near-unchanged side.

The Bulls beat local rivals Leeds in a memorable Challenge Cup clash just seven days prior, but despite that, they fielded most of the same squad at Bloomfield Road.

Simon Grix’s side stunned the four-time Super League winners, coming from 14-12 down to seal victory, and Kear admits that fatigue could’ve played its part given the heavy workload his players had endured.

“Perhaps I should have rotated the squad a little more but, I wanted to reward the players that played so well against Leeds,” Kear said. “Perhaps that was an occasion where my instinct took over my rational.

“We got sucked into a certain type of game. It was very stop-start. We’ve got to learn quickly as next week we have a very tough game against Featherstone.

“We’ll have the luxury of an eight day turn around; hopefully we’ll be energised for the full 80 minutes.”