www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/s ... r_Burgess/ For heavens sake get this kid signed long term. This is the second time he's publicly said he wants to stay and in the absence of a 'signing to whet the appetite' what could be better than signing 'England's future number 8'. Come on Bulls. This would be a massive boost and one in the eye for those saying we're a selling club.

www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/s ... r_Burgess/ For heavens sake get this kid signed long term. This is the second time he's publicly said he wants to stay and in the absence of a 'signing to whet the appetite' what could be better than signing 'England's future number 8'. Come on Bulls. This would be a massive boost and one in the eye for those saying we're a selling club.

I agree, it does seem that Tom wants to try and break out from Sam's shadow and it's crazy that the club aren't offering him a long term deal.

However, I'm wondering if the club are keeping their powder dry over this issue. After all, do they want to offer him a deal just for him to say "i want to move to aus to be with my family" in 12 months?

I would imagine any contract would have some sort of get out clause for the NRL?

I think Tom is keeping his powder dry too, as hes seems to be saying that he wants to see how both he and the Bradford team goes next season, and if both are progressing then middle of next season he will get on with it. He has 20 SL games behind him with visible progress over those games and 2 tries, George on the other hand has been playing in the B team and he is supposed to be the better of the two. So maybe for Tom the prospect of 2nd team rugby in Aus is not as appealing. So imo the real danger is that he plays and progresses next season but the team doesn't, and he goes off to another SL or NRL team. So the next couple of signings are critical, a prop that can mentor Tom and bring his game on as well as the team, and a winger with strong defence as well as finishing.

Agree 100%

Get him signed long term asap, it wont be just NRL clubs interested in Tom being in his last year of his contract, every SL side with cash will be interested in offering him the opportunity to make a name for himself. Even if he does want to go to the NRL within the term of his next deal, we can still sign him up to a long term deal with NRL clauses, which would at least make it more expensive for Wire/Shudds/Wigan/Hull/leeds should they take an interest.

It would be a reletively simple way of sending out a really positive message about where the club hopes to be heading too after the departure of Lynch.

thats the other point about a good year next year for the team, more money to ensure that any offer can at least be matched. But assuming the money is the same, he is going to go where he feels is the best environment for his own development, so Bradford have half a season to make it a one team decision for him. They do not want to overplay him, but from the Radio Leeds interview he played much more last season than he expected, so his expectations for the number of games he plays this coming season will be reasonable.

Much to agree with.

With regard to who is the better between Tom and George, I would have said George at the start of the last season before he went to Aus, but since then Tom has come on in leaps and bounds since his introduction to SL, so right now, on the basis that it would be unlikely for [iboth[/i to have made a simultaneous massive improvement, I'd suspect Tom has the edge.

Personally I'd like to see him tied down at the Bulls. Not only does it show confidence from the club, if he were to get 'wanderlust' at a later stage we would have a greater chance of some 'compo'. A win-win, however you look at it.

Tom has really answered his critics this year in my opinion. From watching both the twins last year it was clear that George was the player who was ready for the step up. In some ways George leaving may have been the catalyst for Tom to knuckle down and step out of the shadow of his siblings.

The club must do everything in their power to keep Tom at the club (that's if he wants to stay in England though).

just read my posts and realised that i have only focused on potential problems with getting him to resign, clearly I believe he is a key element of our pack for as long as we can keep him. Wherever they are it is clear from the Radio Leeds interview that they all keep up with each other all the time, at one point they commented that Tom was the only one to score that season, and one of them got a text from their mum to say George had just scored in the playoff game. So they are well aware of the progress Tom has made. So Bulliac I agree, I should have said George was rather than is the better, and he knows where to play to do a bit of catch-up.

Wouldn't care if he went to Sydney, a prop isn't a prop when he has no ball handling skills. Once burgess learns to pass, offload and not put together a short spell strewn with dropped balls then he can be considered a credible option. I'd have Langley as our 4th prop and bring in a new powerful front rower. Let burgess and crossely go to a lower division and get experience and game time.

Yeah and his kicking game is well ordinary.

I think we have to be careful not to overstate Tom's contribution, or more to the point, our expectations of what his contribution should be. He's still very much the junior, an apprentice prop if you want, his main job is still to improve his game and his mistakes have to be looked at as experiences from which he will learn.

Right now he's doing OK, he makes inroads into defences and takes some pulling down; the other things will hopefully come with experience. There are few who enter SL at 18 as fully fledged first teamers and Tom still has lots of time to grow into the position, but he's not yet a full member of the front row and won't yet be expected to to do a full stint, so without a new signing I'd guess someone else will fill in.

His metres per carry are the best of any prop in the comp in his debut season in a side frequently getting beat. His missed tackle and error stats are around one per game which is not bad and hardly 'error strewn'.

He's the most exciting player we've produced since his brother and already the most dynamic running forward in the squad.

Someone speaking sense!

We should be excited at what he will do next year.

Any other club in the comp would add him to their squad, given the opportunity!

Take into consideration his stats alongside the little time he Is on the pitch. I counted 3 knock ons alone against wildcats at end of season. U don't get Hargreaves or scruton making as many errors and they are on the field 3 times longer than burgess.

Quite right, and not only that, he's also more disciplined than the likes of Graham, Morley etc.

For a kid in his debut season he's done very well indeed. To criticise him for a few rough edges like handling errors is stupid. I remember Fielden had similar issues when he started in 98.

As for getting him signed up it's down to the club to offer him a deal worth signing. Tom may decide to wait a while and see if he can increase his value over the coming months. I can see us having to give him a very good deal as other clubs both SL and NRL are likely to be interested. The kid's not stupid and won't be rushing to sign anything yet.

As mentioned in another thread maybe we decided not to extend Andy's contract so we had a bit in reserve for Tom

Maybe so, we're going to need a good deal to get him to stay. He's the most marketable player the club has so they need to keep him.

Completely agree. Any of the left over £££ should be used to keep Tom at the club for the next few years.

He's a young player trying to improve, of course he makes errors. The good things he brings to the side make up for it a hundred times over and the last thing young players need is someone carping over a couple of mistakes.

Bullsfab - I take it you don't care much for Burgess then. He may make a few more errors than Scruton and Hargreaves, but then how many times did you see Bryn or Nick break the line every time they got the ball last season? Burgess is far too good for lower division rugby, how much ball handling skills does James Graham and Stuart Fielden have? They don't seem to have done that bad. Over the last five/ten years we have got rid of far too many young guys who have gone onto bigger things at 'bigger' clubs - you come and stand with us on the Popular Side and see what you/we think.

Choppy senior- how can u compare burgess to scruton? He plays what ten mins and is then on his backside, scruton is pure class, but has had an injured wrist and has been diagnoses with diabetes but still doing make the errors that burgess does. Until burgess can play longer than short stints and can actually play in the BIG games don't even mention him in the same bracket as scrutes and Hargreaves as they are the future of bulls. Crossely would get the nod in front of Tom but thrn again it's all to do with the sir name isn't it!

I see your a new poster?! Tom got u on here to fight his corner as there sure some abuse written about the other bulls props when folk dare criticise young Thomas!

Haha - did tom sleep with your hamster??

Give the kid a break, one of the shining lights in a terrible season, and try to remember, he's only 19!!

Yeah, im sure Tom cares enough about what you say to get someone on here to reply!

He's a young player who's done well in a poor team. Get behind him not on his back!