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?

He'd be a hard man to replace so I hope he's staying. We need to strengthen our forwards, not allow our best one to leave. If the Ross rumours turn out to be true then I hope it's to complement Lynch and not to replace him.

I for one would be gutted if he went and I would seriously wonder where this club was going.

I agree.

He expects that to be the case so we will have one quota spot available when the RFL finally give the ok.

'expecting dispensation to be given' is a totally different statement to 'sammut is off quota' which is what you said was in programme Mick!

The whole situation is a joke and is perfect illustration of the clubs lack of communication with the fans.

Here is what it says about Sammut

"ex-Crusaders half-back signing Sammut is expected to be classified as Federation-trained and on this basis we have one quota spot available"

and a little bit about Jeffries

"Jeffries is expected to receive his UK passport anyday now and when we brought in Ben Jeffries to strengthen the halves mid-season we were able to do so because we had a quota spot available plus we had sufficient headroom under the salary cap"

About the salary cap in 2013

"Come 2012 we expect to kick off the season with a full salary cap. Mick Potter has made changes for 2012 that are designed to put failure behind us and get us moving up the table. The 2012 target first and foremost is getting into the eight, then pushing and kicking on for the top"

No criticism of Peter Hood from his programme notes but he does use the words "expected or expect" numerously.