when he left and I thought we saw the best of him, to be fair.

Atkins, Hellewell and Ferres are exactly the same as you say about Wigan ie they weren't good enough to break into the team at the time. I'll grant you Ferres was playing fairly regularly but he wasn't first choice.

Bridge was sacked for disciplinary reasons.

I don't think Flanagan really made it even when he moved away, in fact he's moved around a lot without 'making it'.

Don't forget Dave Halley as well

Bullseye: Why is promotion and relegation seen as a threat? Oblivion? It is a challenge; just as the franchise system was when that was introduced. What would be better if players are committed to the team (and their contracts) and won’t “jump ship” as soon as it becomes apparent that they are “going down”. The potential financial situation the club could find its self due to relegation is a direct result of the players not performing not due to the club’s youth policy.

M@islebugs: Interesting – walking to the game, playing in the nude – all money saving?

I’d say looking at our squad size and quality we’re more likely to be in the bottom half of the table next year. With any more key departures we’ll be further weakened and in more danger of finishing in the middle eight. That in turn means less income which means less resource which means smaller squad which means struggling on the field which means smaller crowds which means less income etc etc.

As that happens even the most committed players can become unsettled and want away. A club in those circumstances could be forgiven for doing all it can to finish in the top 8 next season.

Sounds like eating the seed corn if we ditch the youth program.

Even if the players don't stay with the Bulls we hopefully get a fee ( Bateman and Whitehead) and are helping to increase the overall player pool for the game.

I can see the financial situation might force this on a number of clubs - but long term it will hurt the whole game as with a smaller pool of players the top 4/6 will be in an even stronger position.

I wonder if recent sales would have occured if we had sold 7000 ST's?

Or had all the Sky Money.

I think the reported shortfall in ST sales is probably a much bigger hit to the budget than the lack of Sky money - and put the two together and you have a pretty big hole.

Have we announced a total number of Season ticket sales? Maybe they should do another early bird to cover the uncertainty of the weeks surrounding the ratification if the new ownership?

There's been no announcement of sales since the forum, to the best of my knowledge - though the phones and ticket office have allegedly been "red hot" since then.

One of the few things to come out of the forum was that there would be no extension to the 'early bird' price. To be honest, normally I would have supported that way of doing business because switching your offers about only makes it look like you don't know what you're doing, however with the recent problems with the RFL it might have been a 'goer' this time. Plus, many people get paid at the beginning of the month so a few more days might have pulled in those who got paid on the day it finished but couldn't get down or get through on the phone.

I understand what you are getting at but we don't ant to drop into the same position as before. There is no point in getting season ticket numbers if it doesn;t pay the mortgage. Early bird was extra cherap for people showing faith in the team and backing them when the future was uncertain. If you weren't willing to take that gamble then you an buy a season ticket at the regular price.

A timely reminder in the TnA that we have a couple of England Academy players one of whom got MoM against Wales. I hope Mellor does hit double figures in games this season, for all the right reasons, with the other younger players getting time too

though, as EB lasts for around six or more weeks I'd expect the majority to be sold at this price rather than the full price and for the club to budget accordingly. To be frank, I wouldn't think it would be a big deal to extend slightly, though as I said previously, there is a lot to be said for consistency. It would actually be interesting to know the percentages on EB and full price sales.

Compared to previous "if only sides" though I think that's weaker from Bradford - especially compared to the pryce era. As for the assertion it would be grand final challenging - it would be behind Saints, Leeds and Wigan (in a player movement free world) - also would face challenges from the likes of cas who seem to have the capability to produce plenty of youngsters

Can we get a team of what could have been, still playing?

Sykes
Atkins
Bridge
Wardle
Crookes
L Pryce

Peacock
Carlisle
G Burgess
Ferres
Whitehead
S Burgess

T Burgess
Kopczak
Bateman
Patrick

Fill in the blanks anybody, or thing of any better?

Keale Carlisle at hooker?

Good call.

Southernwood at 7? He played 2 games for us there.

Yeah, he did. But he wasn't so much 'tapped up' as just not retained, wasn't he?

Same applies to Bridge, Atkins, Patrick and Ferres :/

Yes, you're correct it does. I didn't mention them as they were mentioned further back in the thread, though it's different with Cain anyhow, as unlike the others, you can't really say that, if he were available, he would be anywhere near the standard of the current side.

Jason Crookes can also be included as an ex-junior.

Jason Crookes another good call. Scrum Half must be the only position that we haven't produced anybody of nnote recently.

Tyla Hepi released by HKR. Only 19 years old.
I was quite impressed with this kid and was surprised at them releasing him, pretty sure he won some kind of young player's award last season.
We should sign him, replace one promising 19 year old with another

He looked pretty small from what I saw of him on Tv, but was only Tv though. He was quite terrier like though.

I'd expect there must be a reason why they would 'release' a 19 year old who had just won an award?