Surprised this hasn't been covered yet (apologies if it has).

Bradford Bulls have today announced the signings of eleven new Juniors, ten of whom have come through the successful Under 16's Scholarship side, which over the past two years has lost only one game out of twelve and that by only six points.

Three of the players, Alex Mellor, a Loose Forward from the King Cross Amateur Club in Halifax, Curtis Naughton, a Full Back from Shaw Cross ARLFC and Josh Casey, a Centre from Siddal ARLFC, have all represented England Schoolboys this season.

Joining them are Scrum Half Adam Brook, Centre Tom Johnstone and Back Row Forward Emmerson Whittle, who are also from the King Cross Club, together with Shaw Cross players, Back Row/Centre, Bradley Adams and Prop Jordan Hargreaves.

Hooker Nathan Conroy joins from local side West Bowling whilst Prop Steve Copeland is from the Leeds based club, Whinmoor Warriors.

Completing the group is Back Row Forward Oliver Roberts, who is also a product of Siddal ARLFC. Roberts was on the Salford Reds Scholarship and was wanted by five other Super League Clubs before committing his future to the Bulls. He is the cousin of Bulls Back Row Forward, Jobe Murphy.

Bulls Head of Youth Development Paul Medley is delighted to have the players on board.

"We are delighted that these young men have agreed to join the Bulls. All but Oliver Roberts have been developed through our Scholarship System and we have been very pleased with the progress they have made. All eleven of them are looking forward to becoming part of a club that looks to develop them as young men as well as Rugby League players and we have a group of players coming on board who really want to play for the club and not just wear the badge.

We have a proven track record of fostering and nurturing young talent right through to the First Team and I am sure these players have a very bright future with the club."



Anyone got any info on these players. Any potential superstars in there. Alex Mellor, Curtis Naughton and Jodh Casey all played for England schoolboys so i'd expect them to be pretty good. Oliver Roberts sounds like he was highly wanted.

Thoughts?

Big bob is an awesome but has always played at prop whenever ive seen him, pity we couldnt get kruiser off of huddersfield..absolutely immense player..probably best 16 yr old ive ever reffed.

As i have played against/with or watched these guys play I am in a good position to comment.

Curtis Naughton - without a doubt the best FB going at U16's. Absolutly immense, rarely makes mistakes and on occasions he does always redeems himself. Pace to burn, probably the fastest Bulls U16. Tackling is great and always communicates with the defensive line. If progress continues, one to watch when older. Goal kicker too. Played against/watched.

Alex Mellor - saw bits of him last year, was injured for the games I saw this year. Big strong unit and can hit bloody hard, runs some great lines and ball handling skills are great. Watched.

Josh Casey - played against this fellow in the cup this past season, comes from one of the best teams in the Yorkshire League (Siddal ARLFC), usually a FB bu can play equally as well at Centre. Very very strong, and run hard, line running is great, communication is great and can hit hard in defence. I managed to sneak my way past him in that game which we lost 74-6. However on the last play I chipped it over chased it and just as I was about to regather out of nowhere came Casey grabbed the ball from in front of my and absolultly smashed me. Played against/watched.

Oliver Roberts - played against him and Casey in the cup. Says it all with 5 other scholarships wanting him. Hard runner, big, tackles hard, runs great lines, hard to stop. Played against.

Adam Brook - good halfback, with some tweaking here and there and add a bit of size on him he could be the next Paul Deacon for us but more skillful. Watched.

Brad Adams - again he's a massive unit, takes some stopping, even Mick Learmonth (who is a beast at Leeds) finds it hard to stop him 1 on 1. Very powerful, if progress continues expect him to play SL at 19. Watched.

Nathan Conroy - played with this guy from U8-U13 at Dudley Hill. Used to be a stand off, but moved to hooker when he moved to West Bowling. At the age of 12 his tackling technique was supurb, and we all (parents included) said that he would make it. Played against him a few weeks ago and he's forever running from dummy half and bringing runners off him. If he keeps up with fitness and keeps playing he'll make it. Always hits hard in defence and very strong when running the ball.

Any questions? Please ask

Excellent news....

For Huddersfield and Warrington

For Bulls Boy 2011 - that was a really interesting and informative piece IMO, and I really enjoyed reading it. Quite impressive and well written - you've just impressed me hell of a lot, and that takes some doing. My compliments, sir. Looking like you will bring a lot to this forum. Very well done IMO.

Impressed with that summary - a very good read. Keep it up

Ta guys

will do if I know anymore who get signed

he is under 15 and signing for warrington next yr

Are you on about Croisy who plays Centre for Hudds??? If so he's my (very close) cousins, bestmate. Tore our 15's to pieces.

no he is on about kruise leeming who played stand off, croisdale and the other cente elliot morris both got hat tricks in that game

Ah Kruise Leeming, quality player. And yeah I know Croisy ran down the right wing and managed to score in the left corner lol.

Some good summaries. Hopefully one of two will make it to first team.

A few people i knew at u16 got picked up by Leeds and it was pretty much the lads would had developed the quickest. None have them made it unfortunately. The biggest step is after u18 IMO.

Have you seen much of Jared Simpson from the Bulls u/15 ?

If so, what did you think of him.

I haven't seen him play but I have heard he is very good player, one we would have liked to have held onto.

Seen him and theres a lot of talk about him, class act for the U15's one of the few bright things to happen in that team. Always aware of the gaps and has great ball control. Did about 4 full lengthers and has some pace on him, tacklings great and always looks for work. Excellent attitude but needs to bulk up when he's in the U18's.

Another excellent player in the U15's is Loose Forward Kyle Akrigg.

Would have thought they would have tried to sign on kyle moore..used to be mates with my lad..in u15s hopefully todd will mkae it..pace to burn, good tackler and can play in a few positions..luke robinson is a very good prop/loose forward as well..against leeds u15s were getting whooped in first half..he came on at half time and immediately caused havoc.

Jared will make it deffo..with us or hudders tho is anyones guess..hope his dad persuades him to sign for us.

Minichella at leeds is a good player..was at bulls but went over there instead.

Kyle Moore wouldn't be a bad shout, as for Luke Robinson, he's the biggest pile of crap i've seen. Effective for 10mins then thats it. Not consistant, doesn't use his weight enough, thank god he's been kicked off scholarship. Theres miles better than him. Jarrod will be a bull. There is massive talk about him at the club, even Curtis Naughton said that to him and he's the best fullback at 16's rugby in England.

Minchella is a t**t. Played against him a few week ago, all he wants to do is fight, runs some great lines but not the sort of player who you want in your team. Got smashed everytime he ran it in against us.

Really interesting thread guys, what about you U18's have you any looking ready to make the step up to first team?

Got to say i am dissapointed with your 18's this year, went to watch the other day has my brother plays with Cas 18's, Bradford have some quality players in there side, but look very unfit. My cousin plays for the Bulls 18's so i always keep an eye on there results

whos your cousin??

George Marchant.

Just a question (and its not a pop at the Bulls) but what suprises me about the junior signings you've just made is the fact only one is from Bradford???

Is junior rugby in the area struggling?

I'd be interested to know how many teams in Bradford have a full youth set up. Dudley Hill? West Bowling? Queensbury? It might be the case there's not a big pool to pick from in Bradford?

Part of the explanation is to do with the geographical layout of the Bradford Service Area. And have a look at where Odsal is physically situated. Then it becomes much clearer.

Odsal is at the very southern tip of the Bradford Metropolitan district (which extends northwest way beyond Keighley and over the moors to Ilkley), and of the Service Area.

You can walk from Odsal into the neighbouring metropolitan districts of Kirklees (Huddersfield) Calderdale (Halifax) and Leeds - in one case in less than ten minutes. Wakefield district is not far away either.

What this means is that much of the Bulls' hinterland is actually in neighbouring districts. Look at a map and you will see what I mean! Remember too that the heavy woollen district tends to have historically much more affinity with Bradford (and Halifax and Huddersfield) than Wakefield (mining) or Leeds (ready made clothing, mining etc).

This accident of nature puts Bulls at a disadvantage to most other "big" clubs, that tend to be more centrally-situated within their Service Area. And it gets worse. Pretty well all the amateur sides - and, I believe, all those that run junior sides? - are in the south Bradford area - i.e. within a (admittedly sometimes long) walk of Odsal. South Bradford - and on into the Calder valley - is the RL hinterland in Bradford. You then get that huge swathe across the centre of the city and the district which is now predominantly Asian, where both Bulls and Bantams struggle (despite best efforts) to overcome what seems to be a cultural difficulty in team sport participation. Then you get into north Bradford, which is very much the soccer club's hinterland and the on to the Aire Valley and beyond, which (other than Keighley) has little RL background (it is more Union, e.g. the Bees at Dowley Gap). And most of the Aire Valley (most especially Keighley) - quite apart from beyond into the Wharfe Valley - do their best to ignore any connection with Bradford anyway. Ask Tigertot how much RL is played in Ilkley...?

What this means is that the RL interest in the Bradmet district is concentrated in the extreme south and around Keighley. And therefore not that many amateur clubs.

Leaving aside all the inevitable arguments about how much the Bulls can and should spend on trying to develop junior RL in the city (an area where there was a big new investment last year anyway) This has to have a substantial effect on the talent pool available.

It is no coincidence that the training base at Tong is superbly situated for the widest possible easy-travel RL heartland catchment area. It must give the club an advantage to help offset the big geographical disadvantage. The previous base at Apperley Bridge was miles away from the RL heartland.

That lot is, I suggest, at least a partial answer. Those who are actively involved in the junior or amateur game in the Service Area will be far better qualified to improve on it.

A relation of Tony?