So Burr arriving is some good news!

On another note correct me if I am wrong but if we do get docked half the money for 2 Years would we lose the same amount over the two years? For example we lose £100,000* this season but if we were to gain promotion to Super League (unlikely) would we lose £100,000* again in 2018 or possibly more due to the increase in money?

*Figure made up for the purpose of ease and to make it easier to discuss.

Sorry for the daft question!

Doesn't this whole taking/withholding money from club in obvious financial distress seems a self-defeating and dangerous concept? Surely they need more support, not less.

Its like shooting yourself in the foot because you can't run fast enough.

Im pretty certain we wont be losing any money this time. It was under licensing when we had to pay the made up fine to the other SL sides as they wouldn't have let us in SL.

Now its promotion and relegation. Also we only got £250k central funding this time so not a lot to hand over anyway!

Cheers ste, appreciated. I'm kinda hopeful....but everytime I think we've hit bottom we've managed to find a new low pretty quickly in the last 5 years or so, so I'm not holding my breath!

To be honest,I don't see what difference 6 or 12 point deduction makes.London made second place with 17 wins from 23. Thats 12 points. Food for thought.

If rumours are true that you've already had next years central funding advanced to you then technically the RFL wouldn't be withholding anything from you.

You can't withhold what you've already had!

Also can't see how a non member club can still sign players? That's not a dig merely an observation. Unless of course they just can't be registered yet.

You do realise Burr was signed months ago?

They're not.

Next troll please...

This may sound bizarre, but a points deduction could make for a great season, even a 12 point deduction. Catch-up rugby is often the most exciting and it could make for a riveting campaign. Kear has gone from Batley so they might not be the force they were. Leigh are gone. Apart from Hull kR, you could well be the best team in there by a distance and playing catch-up to get fourth could be immense fun. Once you get fourth, the slate is wiped clean.

I think a 6 points deduction, could help focus the players a little if used to motivate the players.. We certainly couldn't afford many slip ups due to 'not turning up'. Though I hope that Rohan will address that attitude that cost us dearly in 2016 along with some of his recruitment.

A 12 point deduction would be a massive amount to overhaul in a 23 game season and I think we could realistically forget a top 4 place. But we are thinking way ahead here, we don't know who will take ownership, what players will remain (though they seem tight as a squad as things stand) and what division we will start in.

I think London and hkr will likely take points off you so Unfortunately for you lot I think a 12 point deduction would be a killer when trying to make the top 4

You don't know what players new owners may bring in!
Petit has already mentioned they have sounded Rohan our as to his staffing requirements....

I know it's hard but glass half full

They probably can't. So it's a good job we haven't signed a single player since the membership was taken from us.

Well we lost 8 games last year:

Halifax - 14-10 (A)
Sheffield - 28-46 (H)
London - 30-16 (A)
Leigh - 24-20 (A)
Dewsbury - 14-16 (H)
Halifax - 24-32 (H)
Leigh - 22-20 (A)
Featherstone - 20-0 (A)

And 2 draws:

Leigh 32-32 (H)
Batley 24-24 (A)

So of those losses, 6 were by 5 points or less. The game against Sheffield was the basic "players have had enough of the coach and want him gone" performance. Unsurprisingly that was Lowes last game. Add to that that we played a great deal of those games with no recognised halfback and a demoralised or otherwise mentally unprepared squad. The team repeatedly failed to show up and were often out enthused by their part-time rivals who were out to get a big club scalp (and despite the crowing regarding our demise from some quarters, Bradford Bulls is STILL a big club). The draw at Batley is a great example of this and shows what a good motivator can do for a club. The draw against Leigh should have been a win, but for the poor tactics employed by Bradford. There was talk from Leigh fans in the build up to that game where they didn't think they'd get a win because their wings were not so great under high balls. But rather than exploiting this all game Bradford just went for trying to bang it up the middle of the pitch. It didn't work, then for the last 10 minutes we just bombed the hell out of Leigh's right wing and managed to grind out a draw from what was looking like being a very heavy loss.

If Rohan Smith can get just two things right in this offseason (namely defensive structures and getting rid of the Lowes attitude of 'it doesn't matter if we don't win every game') then I think there's a chance we could overcome a 12 point deduction. The large clear out of players at the end of 2016 will hopefully help clear some of the poor attitude from the side though it's really a question of who is going to take over the club as to how well off-field morale holds up.
Still, it's been reported that 3 of the bids have rugby backgrounds and are wanting to hear from Smith as to what he thinks is achievable, where he thinks this team is going and how it's going to get there. Hopefully, dependant on who takes over, we might even see one or two additional signings to get the enthusiasm back into what is a demoralised fanbase.

If Leigh had been docked 12 points last year, they'd have finished in 3rd, ahead of Batley on PD, and still 3 ahead of the shambles that was the 2016 Bulls.

If you take 2016 as a yardstick, we got 28 points to fnish 5th, so you need 29 or more. If you start with minus 12, that means you need effectively 41. 20 wins, 2 losses, 1 draw.

With a 6 point deduction, Leigh would still have finished top, by 3 clear points.

[urlhttp://www.bradfordbulls.co.uk/news/post/administrators-excited-about-interested-parties[/url

nothing really new in there tbh

I think that clearly shows that, should we end up starting on -12, finishing on the Top 4 is almost certainly out of reach.

We have three games against Hull KR for a start, and that's before we take account of the inevitable 'bad day at the office' when we manage to lose to someone else.

Agreed- but interesting that we have confirmation that 7 parties have non disclosure agreements and that certain " day to day matters" have been resolved

I see that Segayaro has bailed on Leeds

I wonder if they'll try and nab O'Brien whilst we are somewhat indisposed? I don't a whole load of Number 9s floating around that they could sign...

Simple answer..Dont lose.

O'Brien isn't good enough for a top super league team.

That's probably correct, but only because, like a few others, he's 'gone native' and provided only what he feels is good enough for the Championship. I've no doubt he's young enough and good enough to rise to the challenge. Incidentally, Leeds aren't 'top end' SL....

You'll like this from Twiter!

RL Disciplinary ‏@RugbyDiscipline

NEWS: The new Leeds Rhinos advent calendar has been released.

When you open a door, a player walks out.

I do wish Brian Mac wasn't there so I could laugh without this feeling that I shouldn't..

You might not be laughing quite so much if they come for AoB.
It always worries me when SL clubs lose players suddenly like this, especially at this time of year. It just makes them all the more likely to swoop for a quick fix while they sort out a long term replacement, and champ clubs are always the first place they look.