MEADOWS PRAISES RESILIENCE IN DONS WIN

James Meadows believes the Bulls’ efforts in pre-season bore fruit in Sunday’s 30-22 win over Doncaster at the Eco-Power – with Brian Noble’s side having to overcome adversity to maintain their winning streak in the Betfred Championship.

The 26-year-old returned from a wrist injury to make his 16^th appearance of the season in our seventh straight league win, having joined in the off season from London Broncos. 

The Bulls lost key trio James Donaldson, Kieran Gill and Jordan Lilley throughout the Round 12 clash, but showed immense resilience to score two tries in the last seven minutes to seal victory over an in-form Doncaster outfit. 

“It was a good win, it was a bit of a mad one at times there were things that led to us moving away from the way we wanted to play at times but ultimately it was a good, tough win at a tough place against a team who have been playing really well recently,” said Meadows, who is sponsored by Damian & Chloe Green/PD Decorating Services. 

“Our focus after half-time was just getting back to the way we wanted to play, we did a lot of really good stuff there were just little moments that relieved pressure, with the way we finished some sets and transitioned. 

“After a good start going a couple of scores up some of those areas let them off the hook so it was about getting back to our game plan as 40 minutes is a long time in Rugby League. 

“Doncaster have a lot of threat, they are a good team no doubt about it, we had to be really good up until the end. We went behind but we did a lot of work in pre-season about building resilience both physically and mentally and you learn throughout the year how to win these games as a group and that helped us today, there are still things we need to improve but it was nice to go and win that one. 

“We know our goals as a group but we have our processes we need to follow to get there and our focus is very much on doing what we need to do to get that right and then it will take care of itself. We know where we are trying to go and we need to continue to work week to week, we now have a few days to collect our thoughts and look ahead again.” 

Sunday not only saw a return to the side for Meadows but a return to a full-back position he last played in August 2023 at Batley Bulldogs. 

The 26-year-old produced a confident display under a diverse range of kicks from Connor Robinson and Craig Hall to stave off threats from the home side.

“Jumping to full back is something I’ve done before at different points of my career, I am familiar with the role and had a bit of time in the week to work in that position and knowing the system we play here I was just trying to copy the great work Luke [Hooley] had been doing since coming to the club. 

“I have been jumping in there at different points of training incase we need to make that switch, we have two really competent full backs in Tom Holmes and Luke Hooley but if I am asked to cover them that is the role I will do.”