As I understood it, he was one of the standout props in the academy games vs Australia in December. Several SL clubs showed interest then, enough that it was put to Olly &his agent for a decision and he decided to stay here, as he was more likely to get gametime & develop.

I accept that in our current position we have to consider reasonable offers for our players. I just wish there was some sort of mechanism to say that we have first dibs if the SL club are looking to loan said player out at some point in the future. I know the Bentley example has been used a fair bit, but he seems to have slipped off the radar a bit since joining St Helens. Would he have continued developing better at the Bulls where he was more familiar.. who knows. It’s just frustrating to see our young players leave for SL only to see them propping up another Championship club on dual reg.

I just hope that we are not selling players to stay afloat. Would like to see a first refusal clause written into any transfer deal should players become available for loan.

If Wilson is sold to Huddersfield I wonder if we can have him back on loan?

With Toronto in the league this season there’s absolutely no point spending the whole playing budget. Interesting to see who gets relegated too. Imagine if it was Leeds. Can’t see it it’ll be London or KR. Game on then!

Wilson confirmed as gone, Roche back with us for rest of season on loan

Meh

Disappointed to see him go, but we can’t be turning down a six figure sum. Good luck to him.

Pleased to see Roche back.

Best of luck to Olly. I’m not sure whether he wanted to leave or was reluctantly sold so the club can ‘cash in’ at the right time.

Roche will be a welcome addition.

Good luck to Olly. Sounds like a deal all parties are happy with. Hudds get a potential star of the future, we get a huge amount of money plus Roche.

I like Roche. Aggressive forward and be good to see him with bigger men around him rather than a bunch of kids.

It's always sad to see a homegrown player leave for others to benefit but the league we're in, it's always a challenge to keep these young stars. Warrington reportedly offered £100k for him at the beginning of the year. With his contract running out next year, I don't see how we could compete with the money that two SL clubs were prepared to throw at him.

We just have to think would we prefer to have 100k+ for him now and Colton or Nothing for him at the end of next year?

Seems like a decent bit of business...

Maybe I have too much faith in AC (apart from his 'Next weeks opponents are a cunch of bunts' articles') but I've not heard the usual drivel our previous chairman have come out with about their massive plans that have, with hindsight, been the first admission that things are about to go t1ts up so am hoping for some pleasing news...in the next couple of months.

As far as short term deals go, this was a no brainer. Roche is also a solid squad player who can do a job.

It will be very interesting to see what happens now with regards to the cash injection we just received.

Heard that Roche had been paid off by huddersfield so not sure if he's really on loan.either way he's a good addition.

Did Huddersfield not have a spare experienced fullback they weren’t using?

Yeah I've heard Colton is on board for next year too.

Inevitable but still disappointing. Is the 100k plus fee confirmed anywhere other than the LE rumour?

Roche was always pretty decent for us, not really followed how he has gone since he left though. Expect he will command a bigger wage than Wilson so does that eat into potential full back/half back funds?

The Huddersfield press release says that an undisclosed fee was paid. Aaron Bower mentions that the fee was six figures.
Roche is on loan so not sure we're paying his wage currently.

A good signing for Huddersfield and good business for the Bulls.
It will be interesting when all 4 of our ex Academy players are in the same SL team .Perhaps in the same week that 2 more play for Canberra and 3 for Souths.
Not a bad production line.

Hope a hooker of ours makes it big time. In a few years we may have produced a full England pack haha!

It's heartbreaking as it is.
All playing Vs the Aussies or Kiwis at the same time would tip me over the edge.

The haha was sarcastic. I’m dying inside! Knowing these could have formed the pack of Bradford for years! Hopefully one day we’ll be at the top table again and can keep this talent!

It just really frustrates and annoys me that our youth players that do go end up in the Championship on dual reg. Bentley for example may as well have stayed with us. He’s still at the same level and in my opinion a poorer player than when he left. I just hope Wilson gets the gametime at Hudds and not dual reg’d to Halifax.

But if we were at the top table would we have a coach that would play them or would they just slip away because they couldn't get a game like Atkins, Ferres, Sykes, Cook ?

i can understand why we have let him go, however it seems Hudds like a few other clubs just raid our youth/reserve teams because they with don't have one or its in poor shape as all their money go on trying to stay in SL

The Hudders U19s beat ours recently I think. They have some decent players. I think the issue is that if we produce someone of real quality they have the money to offer a far bigger contract. Our U19s will be on much lower money than SL U19s.

We generally don’t attract the very best prospects at scholarship level due to our lack of money and the fact that we’re not in SL and have had a chequered history recently (though hopefully this is a thing of the past now).

What we do offer is excellent coaching and a genuine pathway to the 1st team. We have a track record too of producing players that play at the highest level. Most young lads have ambitions to play in the NRL and we can say that we have produced more English NRL players than other clubs. This means we can offer things that some SL clubs cannot.

The problem is that as soon as our kids make names for themselves we can’t compete financially with the clubs that come looking and waving big chequebooks.

We instead have to make the point that unless they’re going to walk into a SL starting line-up then they’ll be sent on dual reg. That’s not the best way to develop a player as Jordan Lilley and others can testify. As has been said James Bentley hasn’t kicked on since he left and has been part of a Sheffield team that was getting beaten regularly and now he’s at Leigh. He’s no further forward than he was in 2017.

Time will tell how Wilson progresses. I can’t see him starting in SL soon so he’ll be up at Workington or somewhere like that. Good luck to him.