17th March 2009


Bradford Bulls have today announced that they have recalled Dave Halley from his loan spell at Wakefield and have allowed Prop Matt James to return to Halifax, where he spent last month on loan.

Bulls Coach Steve McNamara said today:

"We feel the time is right for both the club and Dave for him to return to
the Grattan Stadium and the Bulls Squad and we also feel it is right for
Matt James to get some regular first team football. It was always our
intention, if the injury situation allowed, for Matt to return to Halifax
where he will get a lot of experience in a tough competition."

Halley will be available for selection for this weekend's game in France
against the Catalans Dragons.

Hope Matt James gets a decent amount of game time with fax and that Halley is actually used now we've recalled him

The thing is, why have we recalled him? We've only had Sheriffe two minutes so it would be a huge slap in the mush to bring back Halley and give him Sheriffe's spot. Maybe Mac does not want to bring Platt back as starting No. 1 and intends to play Halley at F/B?

As someone said, we live in interesting times.

I'm pleased to read this, I too hope that Dave gets game time and that he continues where he left off at Wakey






Absolutely

Mac must be lonely on the bench.

If this is where interesting gets us then I'm booking my ticket to dullsville 1st class

Platt's shown signs of improvement so i can't see Halley being moved to full back unless Platt's unfit or injured.

Sherrife on the other hand had a dreadful game Sunday and Halley has been scoring tries so pick the man in form. This is what was McNamara said he would do at teh beggingin of the season so it's up to Sherrife to prove he's worth a place. He'll either knuckle down and work harder in training to get his place back or go missing. If he goes missing we wouldn't want him in the side anyway.

Its alright being an Inform Winger if your getting alot of service but Bradfords wingers aint at the moment. They seem to be always coming into the park to just get hands on the ball.

I think give Halley a shot at Fullback. If you can get the spine of your Team working (FB, SO, SH and Hooker) your forwards will do the rest. I think you have a very good pack and with Hally returning, the likes of Nero finding form I think you might come away with something in Perpignan.

Why Halley was ever released I don't know though? But then again; Im no coach.

I'd agree with you it isn't easy showing what you can do as a winger without service but when it did come to him he overran the ball, his handling wasn't great and defensively he fell off tackles. Compare him to Tadulala, who recognises when he's not geting the ball and comes inside to do the hard yards and Sherrife wasn't doing that. There were opportunities where if he was backing up he could have made breaks but he stayed on his line. Maybe thats what he's been told to do but you'd hope he could make a judgement when supporing inside was the better option and looking for work when it's not getting to you is a must in my opinion.

In his favour he took his try well.

Agree with all of that, Halley adds a bit more competition for places but I remember that his support play has never been that hot either. I guess we'll have to wait and see how things pan out.

"has" or "had"? Seems to be doing OK supporting play at Wakey

Agreed, you can only go on what he's doing now.

Fair enough. If he can translate that form into form for the Bulls then great.

I thought Sheriffe made some improvement on Sun in some area's but his defence is still dodgy. The two contributions that spring immediately to mind are the quality finish for his try and not taking a bomb with very little pressure being applied. The latter was a ball that should have been taken without too much problem, is he still struggling for confidence?

Even if our wingers were setting the world on fire we're still short of cover. With Tupou out we need Halley back.

Is it safe to say we can forget about Tupou? It has gone almost silent on his injury and likely return date other than the odd snippet of him being a long term casualty.

Halley at stand off, anyone?
Or perhaps as a substitute hooker, we definitely lack pace at the ptb.

I'm working on the basis we've seen the last of Tupwho, for the same reasons. Anyone know otherwise?

I'm not sure his distribution is good enough and since we've not been getting the ball wide quickly enough it's not likely to help in that department. Halley does go looking for work from the wing though so if he can support Menzies (who's always getting his hands free and then looking around confused why nobody's there) he could certainly bring his pace into play there.

Longer term i've considered he might be an option for stand off so it's not a completely out there thought.

But why just keep him and not play him? That does not make any sense, either financially or for the sake of the team.

I'm now just waiting for next week's postings on here...

...he is rubbish Halley...

...he is never a full back/stand off, etc....

...he is too small for a winger....

...should never have dropped Platt...

etc, etc....

Unless some sort of agreement can be made or there has been a breach on the agreed contract.. what else can the club do?

I assume Tupou isn't fit for 1st team consideration, whether that is physically or mentally I wouldn't know.

If a player is long term injured, surely some insurance kicks in to pay them? Anyone know?
Can he be excluded from salary cap then?

IIRC if a player is injured for for than 6 months the standard-form SL contract allows his contract to be terminated? That was used to dispense with TV and TKL the season we signed Harris IIRC - something that left a bad taste at the time.

But if a player is not injured (or has recovered) and the club does not select him, then its down to whats in his contract as to what we have to keep paying him. Must admit the deafening silence from the club seems to speak volumes on this subject?

But if you buy something and it's not fit for purpose, then you can get your money back. So how is this different?