It's a bit strange to make a statement like this unless they are trying to get an improved offer from Leeds, I doubt it will work i.e. Lunt

With regards to the player himself, cant say I noticed much of him last year but the bradford fans certainly want to keep hold of him

Nail. Head. Etc

Revealing an approach to a key player in the public domain simply alludes to one thing, negotiation. Players are approached throughout the season, most of which, never reach the public domain and certainly don't inflame an official reaction (and from an ex-Rhino fan).

He is clearly for sale at a price. Whether GH wished to meet our valuation, is another thing. He is an outstanding centre.

As a jigsaw piece, he could be a final piece in your quest for in-season consistency. But then what's the point when you can pull the rabbit from 5th.

not necessarily, it could be a statement from Bradford to tell clubs thay they don't need to sell now.

Yep, or a reassurance to fans that they don't need to sell good players.

This is how I read it. Season tickets are on sale, it sounds like a message (along with the Bateman one) that there isn't going to be a fire sale.

We didn't reveal the approach though. Dave Parker did that in the league weekly. We rejected the offer and then announced that to quash the rumour mill. Bit of a different scenario. Don't think Leeds will be increasing the generous offer they already made, which was midway between the figures being bandied about to buy whitehead or Bateman earlier in the year.

We don't need to restructure/reduce the old debts. They went completely when OK bought the club. As for investment there are a string of sponsorship deals still to be announced including shirt and main sponsor. Obviously we're going to take a hit over next two season while we aren't receiving the full sky money but our salary cap spend is reduced a lot until we bring new players . Can't see us bringing any expensive players in at this stage of the game as the quality simply isn't available this late in season. Well bring in a few squad fillers on 1 yr deals this year then bring better quality in next year.

I think it's also to do with the new owners being transparent and sharing information with fans unlike the liars of old hood and caisley

Lulia is a good SL player but would he be any better than Abbo or Watkins?
We don't need anymore squad players, we need players that can improve our starting 17

The only player that i would be seriously interested in signing from the Bulls is Bateman as IMO he is the only player that would improve our side

I am very happy that the Bulls have been able to hang onto their best players for the good of our competition.The Bulls best two players Bateman and Gale deserve big raps for their loyalty to the cause by staying at the club

X2

Lulia....pfft



Moon....pfft



You're all barking up the wrong tree....next season Ryan Hall will be bedded in at LC with the new budding left wing star, Chisholm, outside him.

Just left the relevant bit in. Whatever's in the bottle you're swilling from probably comes labelled "for external use only."

I remember saying to G1 a couple of years ago that I could envisage Hall in the no 4 spot.
G1's response was that he was fine where he was, why move him? ... And that was fair enough, why move him for the sake of it?

But I still rather fancy he'd be very good in that role.

Hall's big and powerful, but he's a finisher and runner. I haven't seen anything that suggests that he's a player who will make space and opportunities for a winger playing outside him, which is what a good centre should do. On the other hand he's among the best in the world at what wingers do. I can't see any case at all for moving him from the wing.

With some of Halls positional play in defence you'd think he was the centre.

Sticking boot into our (Leeds + Englands) premier winger. Classic gobe BB

Although I wouldn't move Hall to the centre, who says a centre has to be creative. If Hall was to move to centre, he would be likely to get earlier more quality ball which could make him more devastating. If he is finishing chances and scoring 30+ tries then I wouldn't see the problem in it. Sometimes wingers can be anonymous because they aren't getting the opportunities, bringing them in field can make them more effective.

I personally think Hall would be more effective on the wing than centre though, although it'd be interesting to see him play at centre a couple of times and see how it goes.

Lots of fans weren't happy when Hardaker scored lots of tries at centre without creating much for his wingman. Why would we be happy for Hall to take up this role instead?

Let's leave Ablett there unless a better replacement can be found elsewhere, or if Keinhorst is able to step up.

I think the rejected offer for Lulia was made public simply to reassure the remaining Bulls fans that they mean business next year.

Bradford desperately need an upward turn in their revenue streams and the ONLY way to sustainably do this is with on-field success. If you sell all the family silverware you end up eating with your fingers.

...and all this 'Hall to centre' nonsense!!

There's a reason he's called the "Worlds Best Winger" and it's not because he should be playing at centre. Maybe in a few years when he's lost a yard or two of pace but next season???? Really???

Being entirely serious this reflects my train of thought.

Hall is a fabulous finisher perhaps lacking a bit of pace (but then that never did Alan Smith much harm), but as with Watkins, Leeds need to find a way to put the ball into his hands more often.

(Hall outside Watkins on the right would at least guarantee Hall getting increased quality ball).

Personally I would be seriously indifferent to Leeds signing any centre other than somebody of the quality of Ingliss of course. Ablett and Keinhorst offer plenty enough for SL in the LC position IMO. Leeds need to focus more on the shape of the future pack this coming season........and I don't mean with a hooker who cannot defend down the middle.

For me, having Hall and Watkins on one side does sound excellent. However, I think its a bit of a case of eggs in one basket. Teams can plan better if the 2 main strike players are on the same side. With them separated the threat comes from both sides, with the effort and impact more level left to right.

Also, increasing the amount of ball a strike player gets won't increase the output in a linear fashion. Watkins is a quality player who makes tries happen. Doubling his workload could arguably result in him becoming less effective. Get the ball to him in the right situations and he will make tries

re: moving Hall to the right, BJB it must be remembered was the 7th highest tryscorer in all competitions last year, he's certainly no slouch. Only Tomkins, Charnley, Hall, Riley, Monaghan & Wellens scored more tries. And with McGuire, Watkins & Hardaker all getting past the 20-try mark as well, he's got plenty of competition for finishing.

As for a breakdown of next year's 1-5 in this year's tryscoring:

1. Hardaker: 21 tries
2. Jones-Bishop: 23 tries
3. Watkins: 20 tries
4. Ablett: 13 tries
5. Hall: 33 tries.

Outside the back five, McGuire got 22, Burrow got 12, Lunt got 9 and Sinfield got 7.

Lulia ? no thanks

Anyone who thinks he would be an improvement on the hugely underated Ablett are kidding themselves , big Carl by plenty .

Lulia offers a lot more in attack and would put Hall in for a lot more tries but Ablett is very strong defensively, is hard to stop from 10 metres out and is very capable of drawing his men and putting Hall into space. I wouldn't mind Lulia but it isn't a necessity. A hooker or a massive human wrecking 2nd row would be more ideal!

There are plenty of not-so-creative centres in SL. This is chiefly because we struggle, nationally, to rpoduce anything else. Moving another pacy powerhouse finisher there doesn't really help.

Really good centres are the ones who can score, yes, but who create chances for their winger. Watkins is the best prospect of this kind English RL has produced in a long time. Ablett is actually better at it than people give him credit for and I think is a better centre than many who are highly rated (Yeaman, Welham, Cudjoe) for that reason. I'd have no issue with him being at centre again next year, but I don't know whether he feels the same.

If he was happy there, it'd need to be real class that we brought in, because I can't actually see many centres running around in SL at the moment. The ones that there are (Atkins is one who seems to have really worked on his creative play, in a more Senior than Lyon way -ie hit the line and slip an offload out of contact) are like rocking horse s**t and their clubs are not going to be too keen on releasing them.

Totally agree with areas needing improvement. Talking of switching positions Keinhorst actually played wing before coming to Leeds to play ....maybe game time outside Watkins.....