Meli & Flannery according to The Guardian

Bradford are set for a major shake-up of their squad when Mick Potter arrives from St Helens to take over as coach at the end of the season. Potter is thought to be keen to sign Olivier Elima, the France captain who he coached at the Catalans Dragons, and has also been linked with Francis Meli and Chris Flannery, two overseas players who are in the last year of their deals with Saints.

If what's true about Potters personality I cant see them wanting to follow him

Clearing the decks yet again at Saints. One does wonder what financial impact the stadium preparations are having.

Another 3 or 4 senior players down again?

Shenton, Perry in.
Fa'asavalu, Cunningham, Meli, Flannery, Smith, Gidley, Hargreaves potentially out.

I think Bryn is gone , more coin elsewhere.

Add Fozzard makes 7 of the current squad.
Clough is dragging his heels also apparently.

I don't think Gardner has much of a future and I can see him being loaned for his last year
unless Simmons takes a shine to him.

That could make 9.

Players seem to be getting sorted out with clubs. Not sure who is left.

Need a prop (LMS) plus a project prop and some proper backs (with pace) 2ish.

Might be worth missing the Widnes turn off and heading for Warrington if thats what happens

I could become a Wolf for a year, then make a return in 2012 to boost morale before the move to the new ground.

I'd definitely keep Roger for next year and 2 if thats what it takes to keep him, but as a centre
Flannery has had his best year this year but we do have a glut of back rowers so cant blame him for going.
I too would bin ade off, he just offers nothing that kids nearly 10 years younger dont do better.
We obviously need to retain cloughy, he's class, and i see dixon being the same type of player, 2nd row/prop cross!
Any hint of Frodsham?
Magennis has really impressed me in the few games he's had, could be the real deal, as has foster.
If at any point Lomax and Wheeler can stay fit it would be nice too, both great players, both made of biscuits

Do you really think Dixon is big enough to play prop? He would need to bulk up quite a bit, IMO.

I'd keep both Flannery and Meli.

Alot is rumour at this stage, but Fozzard has barely played and Emmitt has effectively overtaken him so we've not lost out a great deal there. Maurie needs replacing and if Bryn goes so does he IMO.

I think Clough will sign a new deal eventually.

Gardner isn't out of contract so unless someone is willing to take him off our hands I don't think he'll go and I don't think Meli will go unless we have a younger replacement lined up. Flannery may leave, but we may offer him a new one year deal and he may choose to stay.

Either way, we're not losing key players such as Eastmond, Pryce, Roby and Graham so I'm not massively concerned. The youngsters haven't let us down so far and there's many more to come through. I'd definitely expect another one or two players to join the squad at least. Let's see what happens, we've not done badly so far.

Where is Hargreaves off, and why? Would have thought you would want to keep hold of him.

Real Madrid, Man City or Chelsea. Reason is Ski from this site bigged him up so much he grew a huge ego and now has such a love of coin that he wants to leave Saints RL for it. Madness I know.

Maybe a good clearout is whats needed, these players have tried and failed for the past 2 seasons. A few years rebuilding could be good for us

godley, fozzard, cunningham, fassavalue , tyrer and smith have gone, perry and shenton in with LMS about to sign as rumours have it

also out of contract we have wello (2 year deal), meli (release), flannary (1 or 2 year deal), hargreaves (keep), clough (one of our best players 5 year deal), and dean (release)

so if we go by that we will still have room to sign a few more players or tie up some of our current players up on linger contracts

I don't think flannery is great but he is by far the best 2nd row at the club, so i'd keep him.

Meli has done ok in the centre but i wouldn't like him there every week, he will get caught out in defence. I'd have a look round and see what players are avaiable that aare real centres.

I heard we are talking to a manley winger.

Look. Bryn should stay, so just I have someone to dribble over.

If you want a prop to run his blood to water and tackle anything that moves, he's your guy. He won't make 1,000,000 meters a minute, or make every tackle, but he'll take the load of Anny.

And look damned sexy while doing it.

La Brynolution lives on!

You have forgotten Ste Tyrer his contract is up at the end of the year.



It's annoying when fans forget about the young players coming in. There is little point in having "one in, one out" if we are producing our own. This annoys our chairman also. Looking at Quins and Cas the club does well to keep hold of them.
Also unlike Wigan, for example, we actually give them spots in the first team rather than signing some Melbourne Storm fringe players.

I guess it is likely we will keep either Meli or Flannery to cover the backline. I see little point in keeping both.

i meant, ala cloughy he's a back rower who could do a job at prop if we were short because of injuries etc, IMO ashurst is just a backrower

Clough is the guy we should be looking to keep here. Not too fussed about the others, all replaceable.

I think there is direct correlation between us not recruiting quality senior players on a 1 for 1 basis and us not winning a damn thing in recent years.

You mean one year? We still qualified for the Grand Final last year and have reached the Challenge Cup Semi Final two years on the bounce.

I've no great concerns replacing squad players and players who are replaceable with some of the younger players and a few external recruits, it's when we start releasing and selling the key players that I'll be overly concerned.

People go on about Warrington, but what kids have they got coming through? Their best players are in their 30's, they'll have to recruit a helluva lot of quality players in the next few years or start bringing the kids through fast. Our best players are Roby, Graham, Pryce and Eastmond, the majority in their early 20's. Get them signed up long term and we'll be fighting at the top for years to come.

Can't you just keep Ade Gardner, he's pretty Manly.

Indeed he is.

Tony Williams


I'd be looking to keep Meli and Flannary. If not I hope we've got a top class winger and centre/second rower (depending on where Soliola will play) plus LMS for next season. If all rumours are to be believed though, we're gonna be short on numbers next season.

Just seen tony Williams on NRL fulltime on sky, he walked all over billy slater to score a try.

I've heard he's being released, but don't take that as gospel.

So do you lot reckon Flannery would be a good signing for us?

Personally, I don't think he's lived up to his billed reputation over here, but admittedly i've only seen him vs Bradford and on SKY.