According to twitter and league weekly, we have had a bid rejected by Bradford for Keith Lulia!

The sheer cheek of it...

It's unusual making public that we have put in a bid for Lulia and I wonder what Lulia thinks, playing for Grand Final winners and World Champions? I wonder if the Rhinos will go back?

You may go back, but think it will be next season.
According to his Twitter he says "just want to let the Bradford Bulls fans know that I'm staying a Bull for season 2013!
Great news for us, as he's one of, if not the best centre in super league.

And yet by the sounds of it he actually wants to stay at a mediocre mid-table side.

Doesn't say much for his ambition....

Think he is one of our highest earners and maybe was offered a lower salary by Leeds. He is one of our best players and I'm glad he's staying with us.

Would've been pretty underwhelmed with this one. Think there's only Bateman that would've been a good but but seeing as though he's been tied up with all you can eat Ruby's for life at Akbars then a an overpriced wilsons pork wouldn't really do.

But aren't we a mediocre mid-table team? (That then goes on to win the GF!!).

For Leeds fans wondering how good Lulia is, when we signed him he had offers from Melbourne Storm and Wests Tigers on the table, which shows his class. He scored 11 tries in all competitions for us this season.
Don't think Leeds could fit him under the cap if they offered him more than he already earns.

Is that THE salary cap or nudge nudge wink wink hull FC , Warrington cap

Bulls offering larger contracts to overseas players than Leeds - a club that turns over nearly three times the amount the Bulls do.

What was the root of the Bulls financial woes again?

Well for a start, Lulia has stayed beyond a year, unlike Matt Orford did, and Lulia was OOC at Newcastle, whereas we paid a fee for Matt Orford to bring him in from Manly. Orford was a disaster, I think everyone can agree.
Essentially, the Matt Orford situation didn't help us financially.

I'm sure Leeds would gladly bring in a big aussie star in the centres, and I think you will.
Just because Lulia is on a large salary, it doesn't mean that we offer bigger contracts to overseas players than you.

Looking at the players Leeds have lost in the past two years (Webb, Buderus, Senior, Lauititi and Smith included), as well as the fact we thought we could make a realistic offer to Garreth Widdop, and you'd think we'd comfortably be able to fit Lulia under cap.

The problem with going for players like Lulia and Joel Moon is that they'll be the highest paid players at clubs who've bankrupted themselves to get them. Even though we could afford them, and even though they're both much better players and not much older than Keinhorst, we couldn't justify bettering their current salary and making them *our* best-paid player ahead of the stars we already have. With Widdop we probably could justify that, but with the new NRL deal even that wasn't going to be enough.

So, unless a rabbit is pulled from the bag or Moon/Lulia reconsider, it looks like we've screwed up recruitment again, following the Buderus "replacement" last year. First world problems, I guess.

Don't think Carmont is a terrible idea if we can't get other targets. We're still short on 3/4s and he was still one of the very best centres in the league last year, unlike the liability Senior was the year before we cut him.

Surely the key here is that he wants to be a Bull for the 2013 season. Who knows after that??


Leeds may have offered a very good deal to the player, however he may feel that signing up to Leeds would require more than 1 years commitment. After 2013, he may get even more money by returning to the NRL, which he could not do if he was on a longer contract at Leeds.

No big loss to us imo.

Why not give another Keith a Years Contract?

Not sure how the Bulls can afford to turn it down tbh.. possibly holding out for more money? And can't believe the lad would turn us down.. no way in a million years.. Just hope we've not left our recruitment too late

Do we know what our offer was, cash, player exchange or probably some of both?

why are Leeds making plays for average centres when they've got two international centres in the team already?

It would be worth it to see the reaction from the Wigan fans...

They thought he was retiring, started an unsuccessful campaign to try get him to change his mind, then saw him eventually signing for us??

No idea, that will be the key to why they've rejected.. i suspect they're holding out for more.

Lulia strikes me as the type of NRL centre signing in the vein of Godden and Carmont. He's not a world-beater but will do a job better than most in SL. He's the kind of player that would complement our relatively inexperienced backline. Unlike Ablett (or Hardaker, Smith etc), he plays like an out and out centre.

Doesn't matter now that he's not coming though. I suspect the key issue is that Bradford don't want to be seen as a selling club again (especially not their best players to LEEDS). I'm sure they would have snapped our hands off if GH made an over-the-odds offer, but that's just not GH. What the player says is immaterial - you only have to look at the Lunt example if further evidence were needed.

Which other Keith?

I think they have new investment on the way and a restructuring/reduction of old debts. I don't know that we need to assume that they're still desperate to cut their wage bill.