Woolly,

As I understand it after an initial loan period, which has to be at least one month (it could be agreed to be longer between the two clubs) then the loan can be extended on a weekly basis as agreed by the two clubs. So in essence assuming both clubs agree these Leeds loans can stay with Bradford on a rolling week to week basis.

In relation to Lilley, my personal view (and I am not Fev's manager) is that Fev would want to stay with the half backs we have at the club rather than use DR/Loan players in these positions. These being Thackery, Wildie and Briggs and therefore if these three players are fit then I would not see Fev asking for access to Lilley. The reason for this is that you would want these "pivotal" positions being filled weekly by players that will be there when we get to the Super 8's since you would assume that we will not have access to the Leeds players, especially if Leeds & Fev end up in the middle 8 again.

The fly in the ointment is that it looks to me as if Briggs is carrying an injury and therefore it is possible that JS (John Sharpe - the Fev coach) has asked for access to Lilley. I doubt that this is true of the other Leeds loan players to Bradford however. If I was JS I'd be asking as part of the DR deal for access to the best players we could get from Leeds, there would be no point in the agreement if you didn't.


PaulW,

What else would you expect the Chairperson of Fev say other than "...given that we are genuinely challenging for promotion...", he could hardly say we are looking to be the best outside of SL or we are looking to be a mid table team or we want to get in the top 4 for the money but don't want promotion to SL could he? That would be bad publicity for his own fans,who then might turn round and say what is the point in turning up at the games (generating a downward cycle). And in any case why shouldn't Fev or any other club be aiming to get to SL as long as it is done in a sustainable manner? That is not a dig at Bradford BTW but meant as a reminder for us at Fev since we have similar issues in the past (stones and greenhouses come to mind).

However I digress a little, since what I think Mark Campbell (MC) is referring to is the article in the previous week's League Express where the Wigan chairperson is asking for "tweaks" to the system, and saying that there are ongoing discussion behind the scenes at the RFL. Therefore the way I take this is that MC wants any changes to the structure to be discussed with the whole of the RL not just the chosen few. Though it did strike me that the biggest grippe by the Wigan Chairperson was that they found it hard to sell sponsorship for the super 8's games when they only had two weeks between the fixtures being announced and the start of these 7 games. Which I can see wouldn't be ideal.

Hope this makes sense even if it is not the conspiracy theory that most supporters want to hear.

This could be the problem and in fairness I wouldn't blame Fev at all. It goes without saying that if a player of lilleys quality is happily available on loan, the requests will come in. Fev having a dual reg will have a fair shout at having first dibs at the available Leeds players.

As you say it is ultimately Leeds decision with their players but it does benefit them as well and I can't imagine Leeds essentially pick Fevs team. I am hoping we keep lilley.

Also to fan the flames.... he spent a bit longer clapping the fans at full time.

Fingers crossed he stays put but, like the 2014 Bulls, everytime we got a decent loanee up to speed, he was whisked back to his parent club.

With no disrespect at all to Featherstone and their coach but being here would suit Lilley more. For two reasons:

1. It's backs against the wall, and for a half to perform under this pressure in games which don't concern his parent club are good. It means he can learn to perform in pressure situations and get much needed game time and game practice.

2. Geoff Toovey. Having a 20 year old halfback under the guidance of Toovey will be so valuable to Lilley. Especially if he is giving advice and coaching on the little things a halfback can do. Something that Lilley would not get under Brian Mac or Featherstone's coach. So it makes more sense for Lilley to be here than Fev.

As it stands I expect Lilley to go back to Leeds very soon. McGuire and Burrow won't play 30 games together in the halves and Sutcliffe (although I like him) is nowhere near the halfback that Lilley is. We are lucky we have Keyes who can play 7 when Lilley goes. However I would like to see Lilley on a week to week loan basis as I feel he along with Moore dominate our team at the moment and Lilley's kicking game is doing us wonders in terms of releasing pressure and abling our guys to have a breather at crucial times.

As many have stated I also want Oledzki on a season loan. Don't think he'll play a game for Leeds unless it's the Challenge Cup or the odd game at the end of the season. Jordan-Roberts I wasn't bothered about keeping but he was solid on Sunday and did put in a good stint so again a week to week basis for me would be ideal.

BB,

Even tho your comment do come over as disrespectful, none taken since I can see where you are coming from. However your reasoning doesn't stack up in that:
1) If Lilley played at Feb this year the game time would be just as good and probably better given that you could argue the players he would be playing with are a better standard giving him better experience. For me the only question is whether he would get as much game time as he will at Bradford.
2) I am not totally sold on Toovey as a coach as the Bradford fans seem to be, okay he had 3 years as head coach at Manly and took them to 2 grand final, but he inherited a really good side and in truth at the end of the 3 years left them in a worse place than they were before. Were as JS improved a poor Huddersfield side (don't forget you can only work with the money you have). Also for me Thacks has come on significantly under JS. So why you would believe that he is getting better coaching at Bradford than he would at Fev is beyond me.

Though obviously this is my opinion.

Serious question in bold you believe John Sharpes coaching is of the level of Tooveys?

Dual reg doesn't work that way. Leeds tell you which players will be available you don't get any choice in the matter. If Leeds like they aren't doing don't want to make Lilley available to you but loan him to us that is entirely there right.

I noticed that!

Perhaps we should be expecting Jon Sharpe to be head hunted by Canberra Raiders or Brisbane Broncos

I just hope Tooves gets his visa and signs a perm contract asap, the cynic in me still thinks someone will swoop in for him.
from frequent comments from other fans I think it is safe to say we are the most hated team in the championship, it kind of gives me a warm feeling inside..

Think he's missing point TBH. Reason Lilley would get more benefit being coached by Toovey as opposed to Sharpe, is Toovey spent his entire playing career in Lilleys position, including at rep level, whereas Sharpe was a loose forward. Think Toovey will have a lot more relevent experience to pass on.

Yeah I think if Lilley was at Fev he still would have played 3 full games as he has at Bradford. But in terms of playing with better players, I honestly think Lilley will learn a more playing alongside the experience of Leon Pryce and Scott Moore. Both of whom have won Grand Finals and played in big games (Pryce in the WCC, CC and GF, Moore in the NRL). I like Briggs as a player but he can't teach Lilley the same things that Pryce can in the halves. Yes, the pack at Fev might be better than ours at the moment but that doesn't matter when a halfback needs to learn little things in his game. It's who he is partnered with which is key.



In your opinion he inherited a good side, but even so. It is what you do with that side which counts. McNamara inherited a world champion side when he took over us and yet took us to no finals in a competition where there were only 3-4 good teams at the time. Toovey took Manly to 2 finals in a competition where there are 16 good sides. To me that is good coaching.

And as mentioned before Toovey was a halfback all his career and has represented New South Wales 16 times and Australia 13 times in an era where you had Andrew Johns (he partnered him at NSW), Brad Fittler, Brett Kimmorley, Alan Langer etc. His experience with so important to Lilley. A few months with Toovey and he will learn more about being a top halfback than he would if he spent a year with Sharp.

[url=http://www.therhinos.co.uk/news/rhinos-extend-loan-deals-with-bulls-26431All 4 players extend loans to week-by-week basis[/url

In other words, dream on Featherstone

Good news. All doing well for us.

Oh - and that Einstein chap - sure he invented the Theory of Relativity, but ...Thanks! I needed a good laugh!

Good old Brian Mc. Good news for us, good for Leeds, good for the players involved, not too fussed either way about the effect on fev - that's between Leeds and fev, nothing to do with us.

Keyes will still get his chance no doubt.

...compared to him Heisenberg is certainly the greatest astro turphician ever!

Are you sure?

The coaching is not just one man is it? It is the head coach and the relevant backroom staff as well is it not? Some coaching teams work in certain situations and not others. Could Toovey have moved Huddersfield from a bottom 4 SL side in 2003 to a top 4 SL side in 2007 given the lack of resources at Huddersfield at the time I don't know, but JS did. Could JS with all the money available have kept Manley in the top 4 during 2013/4 in the NRL I don't know. I guess we never will.

If Fev win more games this year than the Bulls does that make JS a better coach than Toovey? In my opinion not since the stating point and resources are different. However at the same time to say that Toovey will be better for Lilley just because he coached at Manly is just as daft, but each to their own.

I get the point that Toovey was a half back, a state of origin player and international, however that doesn't mean that he can pass on that knowledge. Some of the best teachers can't do and some of the best doers can't teach or in the past, based on what what I have read on the Bull's forum, coach in the case of Lowe & McNammara. This is not to say Toovey will not be the best coach ever for any player, he may well be and time will tell.


As an aside it seems I have had more bites on this thread than I have ever had on any of my posts on the RL forums without even intending to do so, so will try to answer some of them. BTW for what it's worth you can take the pee out of me all you want and I'm sure some will.


Possibly in the same way that Toovey has over the last 18 months. Though I'm unreliably informed that JS wouldn't go since he loves Fev too much.




I agree Leeds tell Fev what players are available to us and we choose which if any to play. However I do suspect that we will ask for players in particular positions and quite often be told they are not available. DR has to be a two way street for it to work. PS I don't like DR.


I assume that this is aimed at me (however if I have taken that the wrong way I apologise in advance) however if you read my previous posts about Bradford I think you'll find that is not the case and in fact the opposite is true, I hope you do well as a club especially for the fans that have stuck through the last 4 years.


Well at least I have given someone a laugh which has to be good

I don't know what Sharpe is like as a RL team coach but I seem to recall he left under a bit of a cloud at the RFL. Wasn't very highly thought of by his staff there from what I recall (to put it diplomatically).

With Lilley playing for Leeds tonight, does that mean he can't play Sunday for us?

They said his loan deal is now over

Oh dear. Not good.

Watching the Leeds cas game, lilley needs to leave that losing culture at Leeds and get back in with our winning culture



Seriously though it was only a matter of time, Leeds are shocking tonight, lilley has just been trying to tackle an orange tide, not sure he's had ball in hand attacking yet.

They way they are playing tonight, Leeds will recall them all. They are rotten.