right iv had my Breakie now so here's the full article

" Semi Tadulala is to leave the Bradford Bulls, and will become the latest super league star to switch codes and join rugby union.
"LE" understands that Tadulala who played for Fiji in the WC , will join either Bath or Gloucester, with the salary cap mean that the bulls are unable to compete with the money being offered to him by the other code.
" we would like Semi to stay but the amount of money we can pay him cant compare with whats avaible in rugby union, so i would expect him to take their offer" said bulls chairman Peterhood, who has denied Persistent rumours linking the bulls with Chris Walker , the GCT's winger. " we keep getting linked wiht Chris Walker , and i dont know why," said Hood
" i admit that we are lined to Brett Kearney of Cronulla , and er are certainly interested in him , but we are not in a position to make an accouncement on him. "

Like brotherhood

or sisterhood.

Im not sure if this is good or bad news.

Well it would appear to give the source for the Walker speculation above. However didn't Hood himself say he'd made Walker an offer about 4 weeks ago? It was in League Express IIRC. Perhaps he has amnesia?

Given Tadulala's departure we're now losing our best winger. Maybe Walker is seen as a direct replacement?

I hope we are signing Kearney and Walker because if we aren't we'll have no cover for any of the back positions at all. The rumours of Reardon and Hemmingway do not fill me with any enthusiasm.

You think they would have edited the ..er.. out dont you...

I remember reading the chief exec of the club Walker is currently at coming out and saying that Bradford had made him an offer which they couldn't beat, but don't remember anyone from our club actually confirming it.

I'm sure I read somewhere that we'd made him an offer but had no intention of getting into any auction with another club or increasing it.

Must have been a vivid dream

If those are the things you're having vivid dreams about, Sam, perhaps you should be more worried about your own sanity than about Terry's! His fantasies seem to be more, erm, interesting (to him!).

That was pretty much the exact comment that the Gold Coast dude made I think.

[url=http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/sport/4552584.Bulls____offer___100_000____for_Titans_star_Walker/£100,000 for Walker[/url

"[iGold Coast chief executive Michael Searle retorted: “The offer is off the table. He’s had a £100,000 offer from Bradford and he should take it. We are not an ATM with an unlimited supply of cash.” [/i

This is taken from what was reported in the aussie press but nowhere are we quoted directly. It could just be that whilst in negotiations between walkers agent and the Titans, the agent name drops us and makes up a figure to bump up his negotiating stance, and the club have then called his bluff and gone public with it. I could easily see this rumour being totally without foundation.

Fair enough. I guess this is the source of the speculation.

Without Walker who will take Semi's place.

So far the confirmed backline for next season is:

Platt
Sherrife
Crookes
Nero
Halley
Sykes
Deacon

With Straugheir and Hyde as backup.

Straugheir is OOC, I believe, and was not on RER's recent list of reserves likely to be retained.

If the Walker deal doesn't go ahead we've been gazumped very late in the day.

Yeah if we don't get him and Kearney was are in trouble, as I imagine most other players will have found clubs already. As our current back line for next season doesnt look particularly devestating.

Any injuries to anyone and we're fekked.

I'm assuming that the club have everything under control and we'll be announcing at least 3 or 4 signings in the coming weeks.

Isn't this just the same thing we have every year where all our signing are announced together? We confirm signing where details are released by other clubs but we wait until all parties are no longer involved in play offs etc.

The difference this year seems to be less reliable leaks (e.g. Scruton last year) and quite a bit more uninspiring speculation.

What's McAvoy up to these days?

Looking at the speculation I wouldn't be surprised to see us announce Kearney, Walker, Reardon and Hemmingway.

If Kearney and Reardon are over their injuries they could be useful, however there remain question marks over them. If they break down we haven't any backup that's near SL class.

Walker could be good or bad depending on whether he actually wants to be over here. From reading the Aussie press I get the feeling he'd rather stay in Oz if at all possible but will come if he doesn't get a better offer. I hope I'm wrong and he's keen on a move over here.

If Hemmingway is backup then it doesn't say much for our Academy lads. Ideally I'd like to see us sign a proper halfback who has some SL or NRL experience so that we won't be utterly fekked if Deacon gets injured or fails to find form. We need a replacement for Jeffries to be at least as good as him but preferably better. We could be intending to use Kearney as cover but that still leaves us light compared with last year.

I still don't see a major advantage to us by doing it this way. If everyone played by the same standards then fine but us doing it this way by choice seems to me absurd. Unless there is a visa/legal reason. Which would be unlikely for British players not needing Visas - so would that mean we are not signing any British players?

Advantages - It seems a bit more professional?

We cannot be accused of trying to derail another clubs playoffs?

Agents & players might keep trying us if they don't know for sure we have our 2010 squad sorted?


Disadvantages - Speculation, speculation, speculation

Fan disenchantment & uncertainty, rumours about finance, cap spend, quota etc etc (no change there then)#

Direct effect on season tickets

Brisbane and Parramatta are still involved in the playoffs?

Advantage in what sense?

Of course it may be that the club has a number of potential players that aren't signed-up yet and a contingency plan that involves other players. If that is the case (and you'd hope it was) then you'd hardly expect to see the club announce something like "we'll sign X and if that doesn't work out then we've got Y and Z on standby".

Besides, what's the hurry? We've got the ENTIRE off-season to go and, if the club announces all the comings and goings now, we'll not have much to talk/speculate about

When I say all parties I mean we normally announce all our signings together and we don't officially say anything until all players clubs are no longer involved. From that reasoning the longer we don't announce anything the better quality the clubs/players involved are.

The silence from the club at the moment could mean 3 things.
1 - not every deal is complete.
2 - players are confirmed but at least some are still involved in play off's
3 - everything is confirmed but the board are embarrassed to announce the players involved and the first we'll hear about it is when the team sheet is read out for our first game.

I like the thought of that one. It's going to be worth going to the first game...

I'll say it yet again: there is always the strong possibility that the club, having been made to look prats over Bird by the immigration gestapo, may well be choosing not to announce overseas signings until all the visas and work permits have been issued?

I think most people understand that reason. The main question I was asking was - Is there a reason the club does it this way for signings? Obviously a decision was made when the playoff system was brought in that we would only announce signings (from our end) once both clubs were out of the playoffs. As we are in the minority of clubs that do it this way - was there a specific reaosn why this was the option the club chose?

I work 80 hours a week and I havent had a day off in two months.