Agreed. For a number of years I've looked at Batley as the example we should be following. Although they have a small budget their culture and recruitment is absolutely spot on and they punch substantially above their weight even if this year was a bit of a poor one for them - Wembley is distraction?

I want us to be the best in the division of course but unless we have the required IMG score off the field to secure promotion to SL then it's not worth busting the budget on playing staff for full professionals un less we can afford it and not put the club in danger like in 2015/16. Being best of the semi-pro sides is what we should be aiming for if we aren't likely to be considered for a SL place.

Of course that doesn't mean we should just be happy to stay there. I'd want to see proper plans and actions for the club to meet IMG SL requirements. It might take years and will require a new wealthy owner and a helpful local authority - is that a pig I see flying past?

Featherstone and quite heavily reducing there budget could be a few players on the market

I'd take wildie back.

It may be a blessing for a season or two. If we don't sort the stadium conundrum then I can't see any SL in our immediate future. Maintaining the status quo playing side may allow them to focus on what we REALLY need to improve.

There's no avoiding it. Odsal is a sheeeeeeeeeit tip. As a group we have to take wipes and kitchen roll to clean our seats EVERY game. The car mats are red and the corporate boxes look ready for the scrap man on the outside.

Odsal might be a mess but that won't have any effect on the IMG ratings for what they rank on.

Yep, just keep liking and commenting on all Bradford Bulls social media posts & videos!

I would hope that those in charge are waiting to see our provisional IMG rating before they commit too much of our budget to the squad of players. Things will be different from 2024 onwards and we need to be smart and play the system.
There's no point assembling a squad of world beaters if finishing top still won't get you above the 12th placed SL side on the IMG points system.

So, we’ve currently got 5 props on the books at the moment.
Lawrence
Baldwinson
Scurr
Doro
Okoro

I’m happy with that at the moment. It’s early October after all.

Green & Gill are the main reserves/academy prospects. Green has had game time at Hunslet I think, is he staying?

That’s actually decent quality already. I would have Lawrence and Baldy starting with Scurr & Doro impact from the bench. We know how good that is. Any further prop signings would have to be good to improve what we already have

I'm with Bullseye. I think we need to build the team. Under IMG we no longer have to build a team like Leigh did that not only won the league and stayed up the following year. We've got the foundations to build on and have another good year next year, and maybe even break into the top 2.

As Nothus said, I think we just need to play the system now which IMO is patience and possibly let everyone else implode. Wakey look like they've got a backer who is making bold statements of investing £1.5 million next year. But will he continue to do that if Wakey don't get promoted next year. Which isn't a forgone conclusion by the way despite the new stand (which is still just a stand by the way, not the entire stadium) if Cas have a good season on the field who would Wakey replace if Toulouse to go up this year?

Salford look like they are in complete survival mode and I feel it may catch up with them eventually. We just need to continue doing our thing of being a top end championship team and getting other easy points where we can.

I’d like to see us bring in Connor Jones and another prop like Mackenzie Yei regularly you can have 2 props out or more at any time haha not saying they would come but if fev are really wanting to reduce the wage bill

I totally agree with the sentiments on here that the squad for next season is not the be all and end all... the IMG process needs to be carefully played.

My worry is that we will be in for shock when the indicative gradings come out. Everyone seems to be very positive about our chances, but I do think a lot of the grading criteria is still quite objective.

Stadium wise we seem to hit a lot of boxes, but in reality Odsal is an absolute embarrassment and cannot seriously host SL games going into an era where image and perception is everything.

Wakey will score more points than either team that goes up although Toulouse will be a lot closer to them than London. The big thing is the catchment areas which look like they have been set against the Ponte area teams but at a nice amount so Bradford score well on them.

It rather depends on whether the assessment of fitness to join SL is going to be completely transparent or not. If we tick all the right boxes that should be the end of it. As far as I know having a filthy stand and terraces covered in muck from the track isn't part of the assessment thankfully. Nor is pitch size as we (like many other clubs including some in SL) have a dispensation from the RFL.

If there are conversations behind closed doors that influence fitness for SL that are outside the IMG grading then we (and potentially others) will have a problem.

Given this is RL I think we can safely say if the money people (club owners) in SL have an issue with Odsal we're not going anywhere unless we can guarantee them a bumper away crowd?

Is there the possibility of ending the stock cars at Odsal if we get to SL? That would tidy up several Odsal issues.

Well, this probably drives the concern from smaller, traditional clubs that IMG would prefer big city clubs with market & advertising advantages. Like London, Newcastle, Toulouse and dare I say it, Bradford.

I wouldn't think so. YorStox have invested a lot of money into the track and barriers so I would have to imagine they would be protected with some kind of medium/long term contract of sub-tenancy. Remember, they moved in to Odsal at a time where we had moved out to share with Dewsbury.

If that was to be a condition, the RFL or club would probably have some penalties to pay as well as the costs of reimbursement of costs incurred, not to mention the costs of putting it back to how it was before.

That would swallow up a huge chunk of what ever central distribution we would get for being in SL leaving us with nothing left to actually build a competitive team/run the stadium on our own. We would be back to where we were in 2018.

Everything going on at the club is really positive, except the ground. We don't have the cash in the ownership to do anything about that and we failed in our leveling up bid, so it leaves very few options.

Jorge Taufua on a one-year deal

Good news that. Having two big wingers really helps the forwards out and Taufua really looked the part for us this season.

Great, now let's have Segeyaro and Appo.

From what I hear I’m not convinced we are keeping segeyaro

We do need a quality, experienced #9. I don’t know if we passed on AOB or if Halifax were more determined but I took that as a sign we were close with Segeyaro.

Really solid signing. Watched him closely during his time with us ( other than the crazy ban ). A grafter who puts in some really big hits, carries the ball strongly - just right.

Just out of curiosity what happened to dec Patton, not heard anything about him