Quote ="dddooommm"George Flanagan Jr confirmed to be leaving the club at the end of 2023. https://www.bradfordbulls.co.uk/article ... ls-in-2024'" To be fair nothing the club can do to stop this lad wants full time let him go we aren’t in sl so can’t compete with that

Quote ="dddooommm"George Flanagan Jr confirmed to be leaving the club at the end of 2023. https://www.bradfordbulls.co.uk/article ... ls-in-2024'" To be fair nothing the club can do to stop this lad wants full time let him go we aren’t in sl so can’t compete with that

I've mentioned it to the admins mate.

85k to us for George Jr. Let's hope we use it well.

Apparently he is training with fartown FT next year while playing with us too.

Fair play to the lad, you have to chase your dreams. Despite how many fans hearts you break.

That’s a strange arrangement.

What happens if we get promoted and go Fulltime?

Sorry, I felt unwell for a second there. I’ll go lie down in a darkened room

Ha Ha that’s a Christmas Cracker!!

Ah that's more like it, I thought there had been a bit too much positivity recently.

To be honest, we might as well let him leave now. He hasn't established himself as a regular in our side yet. I've no interest in watching him in a Bulls shirt if his mind is elsewhere before he has even broke through and he's already training at his New club.

85k for an unproven 17 year old is not a bad deal at all. As long as it gets invested into the squad I'm happy with it. The only thing that annoys me is yet again, its Huddersfield skulking around our players.

Yes 85k for a unproven 17yro is not bad business, makes the Bateman deal look rather sickening now lol

I did say at the time it was scandalous business from Mark Moore and Robbie Hunter Paul to sell Batman and to Wigan for a similar figure just so they could meet a month's payroll.

Absolutely criminal even.

It won't. The budget won't change because they've flogged a youngster. I'd guess it is more likely to be used to pay for the running of the academy.

I can't blame the lad for wanting a shot at SL, but I really struggle to invest myself fully in a club that is acting as a feeder club for the Giants.

Feeder Club

- he was out of contract end of 2023
- he had rejected an improved offer to extend
- he states he wants to go into a FT environment that we can’t offer him

He was clearly going at end of 2023, so they’ve agreed a deal to keep him as long as we would have had him anyway, they’ve allowed him to secure his future early and received what is reported to be a cracking fee for a 17yo who played two games last season! Reading the clubs statement and George jnr’s it was obvious to me he would have left at end of 2023 and he’s still off at end of 2023 and we’ve got some decent cash in the bank from it.

It's also factually correct that the club offered him an improved three-year deal to sign and stay at Odsal.

If he left at the end of 2023 or May 1st when he legally could sign for one of the Super League clubs chasing his signature, that £85k becomes £40k, so smart business in my opinion.

Is there any more signing before Xmas mick or is that it

Smart business by Huddersfield, without a doubt. They've got in early and avoided a bidding war for his services.

I'm aware of one more. Watch this space.

I agree with you on that.

Whatever happened to the rumours of Rodrick Tai? Seemed pretty nailed on he was joining a long with Appo, but it's gone quiet on him.

Also, investing that 85k into the academy like someone alluded to does make sense if we are trying to get the best grade we can for licensing. However, this deal with Flanagan JR just shows that we still continue to create some of the best talent in the European game. We need to get back to Super League as quickly as possible so we can keep these young players (I'm a realist and I know this will be a while away).

This season will be the most wide open Championship season there has been in a long while though, so I'm itching for it to start up again now haha

The makes SL & RL sound very grand and far reaching!

The makes SL & RL sound very grand and far reaching!

These facts are quite probably true, but are you not concerned that we are now in a position where we cannot even hold onto a player to develop and at least breakthrough into the 1st team? This is a guy who I understand to have a very close bond to the Bulls as well.

I can understand players wanting to leave for SL but this is a kid who has proved nothing yet, but obviously feels he cannot even begin to reach his potential in our setup. Maybe Huddersfield have thrown silly money at him, who knows. But we now find ourselves in a strange situation where he is training with Huddersfield and any development during his stay with us, only benefits Huddersfield. It’s not like he’s a key player in our squad who might dictate the direction of our season, because we have better players ahead of him. As I say, I don’t see what real benefit we get from another season now. Just my thoughts.

As a champ club you are never going to hold on to anyone with that much potential. Loaned back to original club for 12m is not that unusual, he won’t get in Hudds team, he’ll train with both and play for us if needed. As an 18yo player on a PT contract he was probably be faced with getting a ‘proper’ job if he remained with us so the lure of a SL club, full time environment and full time cash is hard to knock back

In terms of potential and Not holding on, if they are that good sometimes they get pinched before they play First team, same happened with George Burgess and we weren't’ SL club at that point