I’m sure if Kear has the budget and the need for another half back then he could be enquiring about loan availability.

Keyes is a better option than Brierley at least out of that lot and there’s an argument for him playing before Ellis too in my opinion. He’s got all the qualities to play SL if he can keep himself fit and gets a good pre-season behind him.

On the face of it the chance to move to the bright lights of SL probably looked like a good move for them all but realistically I would be surprised if any of them think that come the end of the season. Hull KR will be clear favourites for the drop in my opinion and have put together a team that is going to struggle to win games which makes it even less likely that those players will get given a chance. You can't blame them for wanting to move to a full time SL environment though I just think career wise it will be a bad move for them all in the longterm.

That's fair enough in many ways but they will be playing (when they get a chance) at a higher level and training with SL players, who, in general, are at a higher level than the Championship. We shouldn't discount the environment when considering the effect of their moves, even though, given KR's prospects, that environment is likely to be a somewhat gloomy one.

Keyes is more than good enough for lower end SL if he's given a fair run of games to establish himself. I'd gladly take him back at the Bulls though if it doesn't work out!

I'd take them all back in a heartbeat.

After the way they have been treated, I'm not sure they would want to come back.

Completely agree.

At least as loan players, they wouldn't have to worry about being paid or getting their pensions.

milnes came back, though

"Came back" isn't the same as "being bought and then sent on a season-long loan back". I don't imagine he had much say in it and would think that getting him back for a year was part of the deal thrown at HKR as well the pieces of silver, selling the heart of our team to pay off debts.

I would love to have them all back too. But I can't blame players for wanting to leave after the non-pension payments, rumors of not being paid every month, and general B6ll$h!ttery that I'm sure they were sold as much as us.

It is a massive shame they went as part of the attempt to save the club.
Players leave and are missed but we do have a good record of replacing them with new young lads and this will happen again.
Lets all hope the cycle of bringing them through and then losing them due to financial problems is now over and we can keep them. There will always be lads that want to move and in a way this is why we can tempt them here in the first place as they know they will be training at Tong with good coaches and will get a chance if they try hard. Inevitably some also see this as a chance to learn then move on as we do also have a very good record of finding good youngsters. Catch 22 I am afraid.

You do have to wonder if all the various "problems" we've suffered over recent years doesn't cause some youngsters, and maybe especially their parents, to think twice about the Bulls? Certainly the people who are the face of the club, JK and the people involved with the whole youth setup and training would instil confidence, but that constant vibe in the background...

What’s not to like when you’re a junior? The setup is good, central location, excellent facilities and an established pathway to a first team if you’re good enough....

Amended for accuracy

I thought the "a first team" bit allowed Bulls, Giants, Saints, HKR - whoever wanted our players really. I was going for subtle....

Saying that though, if one of the younger ones of the 5 - say Storton or Milnes had wanted to stay, I don't think a choice was offered by the sounds of things. If your club tell you (out of the blue) they've come to an arrangement with another club and your agent has started to negotiate your new contract I don't think Storton (for example) gets the chance to say - "actually I would prefer to stay, thanks. "

I think he will. His agent should be acting for his player so shouldn’t be negotiating a deal his player doesn’t want and as hard as it would be going forward, a player can’t be forced to sign a contract at a new club even if his club need to get rid

We are still in such a state of flux you could forgive any player for opting to go sign elsewhere. We have interim people in charge and no indication of the financial backing or funding model required to stop us going pop again. If you were an agent and we came knocking wouldn't you ask what's different this time?

The rfl were given our budgets and forecasts, no? So I would say that there probably is a model in place.
Or are you expecting it to be made public? Because that's obviously not going to happen.

We've always had quite a few of the 'top' rated juniors - too many to name in fact, and there's absolutely nothing to suggest they won't still get an excellent education in the game at the Bulls. The best juniors won't be short of alternatives though, in truth they, and their parents, are likely to be sifting through a bundle of offers from SL clubs and hopefully from us. Given our recent record of upheaval I'd think it would hardly be a shock if a few decide to go elsewhere.

Well I personally am not going to just accept bland assurances that everything will be ok. Not anymore. So they can either demonstrate to me and everyone else, who are understandably jaded and cynical, that things are going to be different, or I'm not emotionally investing.

My point however was that Agents have a duty of care, and irrespective of the budget made available NOW, wouldn't they wish to assure themselves that the club won't go bust again and leave the players in the lurch.

Demonstrate how?
And we're talking about jobs and employers here, it's the same as anywhere else. Did you ask your employer for assurances that they wouldn't go bust before you accepted their job offer? Of course you didn't. If anything you'd probably look at their track record and decide whether or not to take the risk. The players who have agreed to sign with us will have done the same thing.

Nobody can make those kind of assurances.

Well if my employer went bust we’d all be effed as I work for the Government.

It can’t be business as usual being a fan anymore, something has to change. I’m not going to take anymore bland and vague assurances that somehow this time is going to be different. There is a myriad of different ways they can demonstrate a shift away from the relentless cycle of bust, stability, bust, stability, bust. I don’t wish to see specific financial projections, but it’s not beyond the whit of man to give some comfort that they have identified the causes of our relentless financial losses, and to provide an indication that they have a credible plan to address it. Essentially, I want to know what’s different this time and so far I’ve seen nothing at all to provide comfort.

We seemingly agree that a responsible agent would want to satisfy themselves, in whatever way they, can that their clients best interests and financial security are served by going to Bradford.

I think the closest thing you're going to get are the question & answer features the new owners have been regularly putting up. I can't see them being any more forthcoming than that.
For many that's probably not enough and is reflected in our dire season ticket sales. It takes time to build trust, there's no other way.