We should be careful we don't get stung here.

Why go in waving our big wads, when we might be able to wait for the Bulls to just crumble, then we can get Bateman as a free agent?

Similar to when Everton paid Rangers £5.5 million for Jelavic, only for the Scottish club to go t!ts up weeks later, when Jelavic could have walked off on a free and saved any buying club the large transfer fee.

I don't think Bradford crumbling is in the best interests of the game. They have a strong following and the last thing we need in RL is a reduction in the overall fan base that the sport generates. If the club does go to the wall it will be more difficult to get sponsors and advertisers for all clubs (because if one club can go belly up, so can any others). Sky will also have less belief in SL and we may not get a good deal when we renegotiate the contract. So if Bradford disappear, it damages all of the RL cubs, not just Bradford.


Finally the Bradford supporters have put their hands in their pockets to save the club. It is not their fault that the Board have mismanaged the club.

What if there are other clubs interested who will swoop in under our noses and pick him up?

If Jelavic was available on a free transfer do you think he would have gone to Everton...? No chance, he would have ended up with his pick of clubs and there were a few big clubs that wanted strikers and would have been willing to pay wages Everton can't.

Know it's been said before but Bateman needs to ditch that silly rats tail. He reminds me of Rodney from Only fools & horses

But they won't......Nobody else in the British game at this time has more financial clout than us - Maybe the equal, but not more.

Why waste cash on an unproven entity, when we could have him for free in a few weeks time?.....If somebody else does steal in before us then so be it, but it would save us a few quid.

So if nobody else in the British game has more financial clout than us then whats the point in saving money and missing out.

Wigan saved money by not signing Adrian Morley when we signed him on a bumper four year deal.

Hull saved money by not matching our bid for Michael Monaghan.

Warrington have been first at the table for these players going back to Gleeson (even Westwood maybe?) putting the money down and saying we want this guy and we are going to do what it takes, if that means we pay a bit over the odds so what if we can afford it? Let Bradford have a few bob.

There's a time and place for being a tight fist watching the pennies, but when we're in a competitive market trying to jump ahead of our rivals to win the title now is not it.

If we have that much money throw it at Tomkins... but make sure it's in coins

Not many saints fans want him back, I certainly don't want him back. He's average super league scrum half and said all along I don't want him back.

Saints let him go years ago because he wasn't good enough and IMO that remains the case.

Small aside...



Still still think you haven't declined yet?

still beat us though

rumour ive heard doesnt want to travel so he is going to
huddersfield

haven't you heard he is looking at house sharing with sinfield, gallen and rangi chase in stockton heath my mates dads brothers cousins best friend saw them looking at houses there.

The club are looking at one of the best young players in British RL, and all people can talk about is the rat's tail? What next - will people be telling him to 'get a Turkish'?

I'm happy to see the club aggressively pursue the best youngsters in the game. People say we don't need him but nobody knows what Smith's play for him is. We apparently didn't need Ratchford with Myler and Briers settled, but we still got him and now he's a heartthrob for the Willis street massivo.

worst kept secret in rugby this one.

i've not seen anything so far this year from him thats made me jump up and say, oh yeah. It could be the way he's being played but at the moment, i'm not seeing anything worth XXXk amount.

Me neither but i thought he did play well against Cas.

i was only half watching that, i did hear his name getting mentioned though.

I see a quality young British player who looks the part each week in a very ordinary Bradford side

If we can fit him in then bring him in

It's not a secret any more!

SIGN HIM UP! the pies have there forwards sorted for the next 5-6 years. carvell,moz can't keep going forever.

What about fui fui?

If only we had signed him....

so its you thats likeing all my posts from ten years ago, you fiend.

I think it's only half the story. Moran interviewed Bateman and Elliot Whitehead together (in London if I remember correctly). That was in the days when money was no object and we were immediately linked with any player that came on the market. Just imagine what our team would have been like with the two of them.