Keep an eye out for Ben Helliwell, only seen him a few times but he has a bit of class about him and he is pretty quick.

Wow, amazing I must admit only about a yr since i last heard that, well done, go get urself a doggie treat.

Happy to refresh your memory. But why a "doggie" treat? I'm an aardvark . . .

So as the season goes on, and the Academy lads have wins against Leeds and St Helens under their belts, I reckon we can see the work of the Bulls coaching setup slowly paying dividends. In the frame for selection now we have

Sam Burgess (no commentary required);

Jamie Langley

Craig Kopczak (now a genuine SL forward and getting better all the time)

Dave Halley

Paul Sykes was also of course a Bradford Academy product

Jason Crookes
Steve Crossley
Matt James (now on the same 1-year loan to Halifax as brought on Kopczak)
Elliott Whitehead
Tom Olbison
James Donaldson
Kieran Hyde
Duane Straugheir

Behind them there's quite a few even younger prospects, such as the baby Burgesses, and I for one am very excited at our prospects for future years as some of these have the makings of real top class players.

Just for info, could you put positions next to those bottom group of players FA?

Jason Crookes - centre/ wing
Steve Crossley - prop
Matt James - prop
Elliott Whitehead - 2R
Tom Olbison - 2R
James Donaldson - LF
Kieran Hyde - centre
Duane Straugheir - FB

You mixed up Hyde and Straugheir?

Cheers.

Good to see some backs on the list at long last.

Yep.

(But at least I spelled "Straugheir" right)

Matt Cook and Paul Deacon too.

Wouldn`t say straugheir was in frame for selection..in fact wouldnt be surprised if he wasn`t moved on end of season along with james.

I'll quite happily admit that I thought Koppy was nothing more than a honest run of the mill SL prop in the making (which is nothing to be sneered at btw). He is hitting some decent form right now though and I am watching him with interest to see if he can make the step up from SL player to a player who could challenge for REP honours.

He is still very much work in progress but if can put in a few more performances like yesterday then it won't be long before he starts making a name for himself.

For the dumb dumbs amongst us - how do you pronounce the name Straugheir?

I think, phonetically, its "Strother"

Cheers. That is what I guessed it might be.

Thanks again.

dont think we can technically claim deacs as a academy product as he debuted in SL for oldham.

What, all 4 games?

He played for our academy system and counts as a homegrown player, therefore he is a Bulls product.

correct but to qualify as a product of bulls academy he had to play for it for 3 years prior to his 21st birthday. He was 19 or just a few days short of it when he signed at beginning of 98 season. as I understand rules that means he qualfies as federation trained but not club trained.


[size=75(waits for someone who actually can make sense of rules to explain why i'm wrong

)[/size

I'm not sure of the exact rules, but I'm like 95% sure he's a homegrown player, like Radford is for FC and Wilkin and Gardner for Saints.

Like you I hope somebody can clear it.

After how many pints?

Deacs is home grown... i asked medley and clawson on a coaches masterclass course.

I'll have to stop calling him Straw-Hair then....

appologies if this doesn't work. The photo is on facebook =red[i(Pic removed due to the use of "Germanic" expletives - and to ensure that everyone still thinks of Andrea as a Lady

- Bullpower) [/i

Family forum?

Thanks for that, that got throught the filters at school....