Bulls boss feels pain

The Bulls conceded seven tries in a 44-10 defeat at Wigan and are third from bottom of the table after picking up just a point from their first three matches.

"It hurts like hell," said McNamara. "I won't deny that. I'm desperately disappointed with the performance. In the first two games there was a whole host of encouraging signs but this is a big setback."

He added: "We were way off. It was one of those nights where everything went wrong. We were poor in every department. There is a lot for us to look at and fix up.

"The Grand Final is a million miles away at the minute from where we're at now and it seems a millions miles away.

"But I've been involved in sides before where got backsides kicked by bigger scorelines than that and come back and won competitions."

Steve Menzies and Rikki Sheriffe both scored their first tries for the Bulls but they were little more than consolation efforts and their misery was compounded by a suspected broken leg for hooker Wayne Godwin.

While the pressure increases on McNamara, it has lifted significantly on his old Bradford boss Brian Noble, who has watched his Wigan side claim back-to-back wins after starting with three straight defeats.

Noble chose to give local boy Sam Tomkins his first Super League start in place of Australian half-back Tim Smith and the youngster repaid his faith with an encouraging display in an impressive overall effort.

"I'm really pleased for the players," said Noble. "It shows what we're capable of when we get our fair share of the ball. "Some of the things we've been working hard on in practice came off for us."