Did he attend the party in the tent after the game? A friend of mine who was there said he was the only player missing.

If Lynch goes then we must face the facts that there aren't any English prop forwards available that match the qualities and attributes that Andy Lynch possesses.

The stats don't lie (Lynch is in the top 5 for yards made) and while some supporters have been all too happy to comment/voice an opinion about the effort/commitment/form/leadership of our captain, I'll echo what Adey said in that "You don't know what you had till it's gone".

IF that is true - stressing IF - then it would be very telling wouldn't it? A captain not showing up to something the whole squad is meant to attend isn't great....unless there is a hidden reason

It appears that Andy may have played his final game for the club at Odsal. I can completely understand the decision for him to earn one final pay day at the KC and it's not as if we've not had years of decent service from him.

Hull get one of our most consistent performers and we get a bit of room to spend on strengthen the squad. Hopefully the club have located a replacement and I pray that he is in the same calibre of Lynch. Perhaps some of the spare money can be used to keep Tom Burgess at the club for years to come? Potentially the future leader of our pack.

Dip in form or not he is still one of the best British props in the game.

It'd be a shame to see Lynch leave but wouldn't be the end of the world as long as we have a replacement lined up.

Langley has got to move out or loose man and up to the front row. He plays very similar to Lynch now anyway, drive the ball up and tackle.

[url=http://www.skysports.com/story/0,,12215_7153171,00.htmlhull's newest prop[/url

Good luck to them, I know who i'd rather have.

If Lynch went we'd need to bring in a decent replacement. The props we've got aren't at his level. Scruton is injury plagued, Kopczak tries to do too much fancy stuff albeit he has improved a bit, Burgess is still very raw and Hargreaves is very average.

It's probably not a case of either or...

[url=http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/sport/9235405.Bradford_Bulls_boss_Potter_vows__I_ll_fight_to_keep_Lynch_at_Odsal/Potter to fight to keep Lynch.[/url

Seems pretty clear that Potter isn't willing to allow him to leave.

Reads more like us trying to drive transfer fee up to me. If club were determined to not let him go they could just say he's under contract and their not interested. Fact they don't do that speaks volumes IMO.

What would be a realistic fee for Lynch, he's 32 in October so only has a couple of seasons left in him.

What would people expect, a nominal fee, £50k, amount equivalent to the final year of his contract?

No doubt whatever we get it will be undisclosed, and given his age, its doubtful it will fund a transfer fee for someone who would improve the side.

What did Saints tell us when we enquired about Leon Pryce?

A lot would depend on our willingness to match Hull's offer in terms of length and money. If Lynch came to the Bulls and said Hull are offereing 3 years on the same money I'm on now, would you match it? I'm guessing the Bulls would say, No and Lynch would ask to leave. Potter mentions a 'mountain of money'.

Who's doing the deals at Hull as it isn't Agar and they haven't a new coach in place yet? McCrae (sp)?

similar situation to when sam went to nrl really. We either take a fee (probably 50-100k region) and have lynchs wage available next year to spend on a player who wants to be here. Or we insist that lynch sees his contract out, have to pay a want away player for a year who potentially is going to be a bad apple in camp and less than motivated, and then lose him on a free at end of 2012 season. no-win situation for club either way IMO

100k + Ben Ross is a win situation for me. I can't believe Lynch would be a bad apple or that the club would stop him getting a payday until he's 35. If Hull come up with the cash then it's handshakes all round. I'm not knocking Lynch but a change feels right for all concerned.

I take it Hull will have asked Bradford if they could speak to Lynch?

What do you think?

Also seems pretty clear that the article headline and intro says something a bit different to what Potter is then quoted as actually saying?

I said before I'd keep my own counsel on this story for now. For a number of reasons, I still will.

I agree, Lynch comes across as far too much of a professional to take his ball home if he doesn't get his way. He'd walk into pretty much any SL side. If Hull are willing to stump up a "huge pile of cash" AND there's a player of equal or better ability to Lynch that we could get into the side who'd be on lower wages than Lynch (though why wouldn't Hull go for him instead?

) then it would be a good deal for Bradford and Lynch.

Quota?

That only reason that makes sense to me. Apparently hood said in crusaders programme that sammut was confirmed as off the non-fed quota. Can anyone confirm. Think it's looking likely we'll see extension to pledge deadline, with late changes to squad used as reason.

Ok - a few thoughts on this.

Lynch is still under contract for another season with us.
If he signed another 3 yr deal with us it would take him to his testimonial year - almost certainly Cas would be the invited opponents which would net him a decent 5 figure tax-free sum - another club would have to offer huge wages to match a testimonial sum.

Hull are in a better position than us at the moment. Although if it was a realistic chance at trophies he is after then his agent should have tried to engineer a move to Wigan or Wire. About all that can be said of Hull's chance of trophies is that it is better than ours.

When he signed his current deal with us - Sam was on his way out, Orford was on his way in and Beaver was still here. I have no idea what was said at contract signing but it is not unreasonable to suppose that promises were made regarding calibre of player to improve the squad.

I could quite easily see that Lynch is a bit tired of (basically) carrying this team by himself and the lack of appreciation he gets for it.

So - with a testimonial year looming here - money may not be the huge factor in this move.
Trophies is another factor that players put out there - Hull's chances are better than ours but still short of Wigan/Wire
That leaves the old chestnuts - "stuck in a rut" , "needed a change" and possibly the most important one "just not enjoying my rugby" - and who could blame him?

Says the deal is off on the Hull board.

Good point.



I'd question if it was ever truly on.

Possibly just agents discussing players around the clubs? We all know it goes on, and to be fair, there's little can be done about it. Neither clubs nor players are supposed to have 'contacts' but there is no rule preventing agents from doing so. Unless anyone else knows differently?