Bradford Bulls gave themselves hope of avoiding the wooden spoon as they comfortably beat a woeful Castleford Tigers in the wet at Odsal.

The Bulls won their first game since July 10th as they won 32-22 to add more despair to Castleford, who did improve after the break after one of the worst 40 minutes of any side all season.

It’s a result that means the Bulls pull level on points with three others though they still prop up the table thanks to their poor points difference, whilst Castleford now find themselves vulnerable to drop further down the table across the weekend.

Riley Dean, Connor Wynne, Caleb Aekins, Dan Russell and Waqa Blake all scored in the first 40 with Louis Senior’s try the Tigers’ only response. Castleford would score first in the second half through Krystian Mapapalangi but Ebon Scurr crashed over to put the game out of doubt before an Alex Mellor and a second for Mapapalangi served as consolation scores.

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Bradford Bulls and Castleford Tigers talking points

Castleford truly a club in crisis

The term ‘club in crisis’ has been banded about a few times and for a few different clubs this year but it really is apt for Castleford at the moment.

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The actual state of the club and the situation probably needs a deeper dive article but the basic facts are that they don’t have a head coach, they’ve conceded the most points in Super League, they collapse and ship swathes of points every other week, and right now their fans are turning on them.

And you wouldn’t really blame those fans because there is a serious lack of anything to inspire and or motivate for the future. Yes, they have made a host of signings but even those recruits aren’t guaranteed with Tyrell Sloan very publicly speaking about his desire to stay in the NRL.

In what was supposed to be a celebration of a centenary year, Castleford have put up one of their most disappointing seasons in a string of bad years, and the off-season looks like one with a mountain of work to do.

Off-contract man shines

Rather than conducting a half time team talk, Kurt Haggerty could well have been on the phone to Chris Atkin’s agent to see if the club could renegotiate a new contract, such was the performance of the utility playmaker.

Castleford were awful, we’ll make no bones of that, but Atkin was masterful in the first half as he tore apart his former team with his assists for Dan Russell and Waqa Blake both showcasing his skill.

Atkin was one of several off-contract Bulls players that the club confirmed they would not be keeping but as a player capable of playing any position in the spine, there would be a seriously strong argument to reconsider that should Bradford have the cap space. And if they don’t, then tonight’s performance will have done the 33-year-old plenty of favours in securing a deal elsewhere.

Bradford’s ironic chant

It was the question that plenty of those watching will have been wondered and the Bulls fans summed it up perfectly as they burst into song at half time, asking Castleford fans: “How s**t must you be, we’re winning a game.”

Whilst Odsal has been a happy hunting ground for the Bulls in 2026 given that they have won five of their six matches at home prior to tonight, they last won at Odsal in early June when they beat York.

They’d won just once in 12 games since then but the Bulls were assured of the win by the half-time hooter and that led to their quite incredible chant.

Wooden spoon race heats up

By winning tonight, Bradford Bulls have given themselves a chance of avoiding the wooden spoon as they move onto 14 points alongside Hull FC, Huddersfield and York Knights.

Kurt Haggerty spoke to the media in the week to explain what a big motivation it was to avoid a 14th-place finish and the club have now completed step one in avoiding the spoon.

They must now beat York on the road next week but even then, that might not be enough as the Knights could well win on Saturday against Catalans, whilst both Huddersfield and Hull have two more fixtures to pick up points in and the Bulls comfortably have the worst points difference.

Either way, the fact we now have a race to avoid the spoon is massive. It’s just a shame that we don’t have an on-field relegation battle to go with it, otherwise we could have been in for a survival shootout, a la Million Pound Game, between York and Bradford next Thursday.

Ban the Captain’s Challenge

We don’t have the technology to make it perfect, referees will mistakes and they will typically even out, and most importantly in games like tonight that are low quality, fans don’t need to be subject to more delays to prolong the suffering.

Castleford’s challenge in the 78th minute when they were down by 16 points was a prime example of how infuriating and pain-inducing the process is.