Leeds and Bradford have joined forces in a partnership to raise the profile of rugby league and netball throughout Yorkshire.

Also will be playing a pre season game on Sunday 23rd January, kick off 3pm.

Muizz Mustapha, Corey Johnson and Jarood O’Connor join them on loan for the season.

Is there any recall option on these players? That’s a brave move if not.

Yes.

Can recall after 14 days

Makes sense then - these lads are unlikely to get game time at the beginning of the season.

Some more players due out at Fev?

Dual registration so i would expect Gannon, Broadbent, Edwards, Tindall regulars

Wish we would partner with Batley or Dewsbury rather than Bradford if im honest.

Good to see.

Previous history with Bradford aside, i'd like to see them back in SL. One of the few Championship clubs with potential to grow.

Maybe mate. I'm trying to think of how many players who played in the great Bulls sides were even from Bradford though. A fair few (English players) were from Leeds or Halifax I think? Paul Newlove was from Fev, Fielden from Halifax, Peacock and Lowes from Leeds... most of the other champion players were overseas imports.

The club overspent to get success, got in a world of trouble and failed to really connect with local youth development for me. Not saying that would be the same again of course.

Their fan base wasn't amazing unless they were spanking everyone either IMO.

Definitely has potential based on population and history, but a club doesn't add value if it's not developing it's own local juniors IMO as a core competence.

Bateman and Whitehead both Bradford born. Three Burgess brothers from Dewsbury but all came through Bulls system.

Not sure what you are talking about here. IIRC they were bringing through some top young players just as the club was on the verge of relegation - the Burgii, Whitehead, Bateman etc. Where do you think James Bentley came from? (And Donaldson for that matter, even if he's not star talent). That's already better than the likes of Warrington have been striving to achieve in the history of SL. It's all history now, but imagine if Bradford had retained some financial strength and had managed to hang on to some of those players a little longer instead of becoming a feeder club for Canberra and Souths...

A strong Bradford side was great for SL and our rivalry was arguably a factor in pushing Leeds to go one step further in 2004.

I could never understand why they stuck with McNamara so long when the money was still there but he was failing to deliver results and sticking with over-rated players like Platt, Sheriffe, Sykes, Halley, Tupou etc. They also had some real quality in Solomona, Morrison, Menzies, Orford (on paper!), but despite all that they always seemed to find a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory - e.g. Tansey-gate, and the massive capitulation to Wigan in a play-off game where they were leading 30-0 (or so). McNamara continued his career elsewhere and has obviously improved as a coach but his early coaching education came at a huge cost to the Bulls. Potter managed to turn it around in his second season but by that time the money issues had really started to come home to roost...

Even if I add Leon Pryce to the list of real quality players Bradford produced, that's still only three that actually came from Bradford itself. The point there is that out of a population of around 300,000, over a decade or whatever, that's a shocker.

All clubs fish from similar ponds otherwise - what extra value does another club fishing in that same pond really bring? If a player is good enough, someone will pick them up and they'll find their level in the end. Bradford are picking up and taking a chance on some players in the Champ just like every other Champ club is.

York by contrast accesses a different catchment area, and could develop new players who otherwise would not find a pathway into the game. Toulouse - we'll see how they go - is another case. Bradford losing top flight status was catastrophic because they are no longer a big maggot in the player fishing pool, so all the better players they once could attract will just be signed by Wire, Hudds, Leeds et al instead. It's extremely hard to come back from that.

It is a shame we don't have those Leeds/Bradford derbies any more, I think we all miss the intensity of those, but that's history now.

Where to start Jim!

Bradford's never been a great producer of RL talent. The reasons for that are complex but you can't ignore the fact that the city has a far lower level of grassroots participation in RL than places like Leeds, Hull and Wakefield. So clubs simply do not fish from similar ponds. Bradford has never had a lot of amateur clubs and this has dropped even further in the last 20 years. So if you're looking for Bradfordians that have come through the ranks then I'd say a lot more have come through in recent years. Whitehead, Bateman the Pryces and Ethan Ryan being the best examples. They've come from the only decent amateur clubs in the city. Before them you're looking at Brian Noble and Keith Mumby!

Players so not simply "get picked up" by other clubs. A lot fall through the net. Like young Bentley who wasn't wanted by anyone - he was one of the only players left after we went into liquidation after the squad was picked over by others - he thrived and was picked up later by Saints after we brought him on.

A lot has to be said for having a decent system in place. Leeds had/have one. We used to and that meant young players reached their potential. The Bradford system brought through dozens of SL and international players. That they brought a lot through despite being skint should be applauded. You can't dismiss that and say it didn't matter because someone else would've done the same. I see plenty of other clubs with academies who haven't despite having more money to spend.

As for the fanbase not being amazing that's a laugh. Every club would see its fanbase drop if it had gone through what we've been through. That includes Leeds who I remember playing in front of crowds of 4 and 5k in the mid 80s and you were still in the top division.

I agree with Exeter Rhino that the board stuck with McNamara far too long. He brought through the youngsters like Whitehead and Donaldson but it was too late. He also made some absolutely awful recruitment (Sheriffe, Worrincy etc). Basically we served a purpose for him to learn how to coach. When Potter came in it took a season to turn us around and when it did it was too late which was unfortunate because I think if he'd been appointed a year earlier we'd have avoided the drop.

Anyway back to now - it's good to see we're still disliked by some as I'd rather that than be seen as an irrelevance. Those derbies in the late 90s and early 00s are one of the things the game misses. We're unlikely to be back anytime soon while we have big Nigel in charge but one can dream. If you look at our history in the context of the last 100 years we do seem to go from boom to bust with only three periods of proper success and a lot of bust in between. By my reckoning we'll be back in around 2045