Firstly, it is obvious many of the Bradford squad have been subject to a pre-season bulking programme, prime example being Platt. This additional weight must take some time to get used to, especially at match speed. Whether this is necessary for the likes of Briggs in his position is purely a coaches decision. I would argue it isn't when making comparison to other players throughout the superleague.

At the risk of going over old ground regarding the half backs I wanted to ad a different view and whilst I accept it wont be popular and I don't watch every game I thought I'd seek opinion from yourselves.

Heath L'Estrange is a decent player, shows passion, determination and more often than not is the cause of decent Bradford attacks. But does he make the wrong decisions and starve the half backs of ball?. I noticed several occasions during this cup game when Herbert and Briggs would call a play, set the attacking line and Heath would scoot in the opposite direction with nothing on. Now I know I leave myself open to the possibility that this could be some form of decoy but it just happened too many times.

On a more positive note, in that game I thought Briggs' defense had improved massively, considering, for Bradford, he has been playing on the opposite side of the field to what he ever did for Featherstone. I also think the kicking game of Herbert and Briggs looked more accurate than ever before.

Please correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't Royston full time at Halifax?

As for Briggs people are entitled to their opinions of him but I personally am willing to reserve judgement of him for now. The reason I say this is because he is a 22 year old? lad that packed in his day job then packed his bags for our Lanzarote trip in 72 hours. Plus he's in a pivotal position. I honestly think he'll come good.

As a side I remember reading a RLW article about finances in the Championships and the chief exec of Halifax gave a very honest and frank assessment of the way things are financially. He even went as far as to say that on the back of wages handed out by other clubs they were probably as guilty as anyone else for matching said wages (remember how the gazumped Fev to sign Gleeson) of hiking up playing pay in the Championship thanks to the cash they were getting from HBOS. the article suggested that there were some players in that division - and it didn't name the club(s) they played at or provide any sort of substantial evidence if it's actually true - claiming to be paid 30K to train part time. That's a lot of money on top of your day job for training two nights a week and playing on a Sunday. Maybe this suggests why Royston didn't moved to Superleague earlier??

In fact in the Sun article this week about Shuan Leaf it stated that Doncaster were paying decent appearance bonuses to him. Certainly comparative to the sort of money someone like Crossley or Burgess will be on at Bradford and they are full time. Say Briggs got 400 quid a match at Featherstone and he was also working as a plasterer he's probably taken a pay cut in real terms to come to Bradford because he wants to forge a career as a Rugby League player at the highest level.

It's what Brough did when he moved from York to Hull and he was older. The Challenge cup final 2005 aside can you remember him doing much at Hull? Look at him now.

Fair points. But do you think, say, Burgess is on £25k & no bonuses?

That's impossible to say. The twins were definitely in the 'sought after category when they signed for the Bulls and, I'd guess, could have pretty much taken their pick of clubs so Tom has may have negotiated an above average deal for a lad of his age. On the other hand maybe the Bulls have a tight wages policy (I have no idea either way, tbh) with the academy and refuse to compromise on it as some other clubs (claim to) do and he signed for other reasons than immediate financial reward, like how the club brought his brother through the ranks, for instance.

When I played, players got a contract, £x per year, and also so much for a win or loss.

Then of course you had your image rights....

Shad was part-time at Halifax. Think his age put SL clubs off signing him earlier as he was 24 when Fax got him from Donny. he looked good in a poor Donny side but only started to really started to stand out when he joined Fax and was a stand out performer in a top championship side.

I think the advantage he's got over Briggs is the fact he featured briefly for Cronulla before coming to England so already has experience of the full time set up and the standards required making it easier for him to adjust than it is for Briggs.

I guess that must have been the same for me. It didn't apply at my level, of course, though I did know a bloke who got a contract.............

No idea - I guess earnings will depend on wins and appearances - but in Superleague playing and training is your main source of income. Briggs was a plasterer as well as earning money from playing.

The Salary cap has been reduced in the Championships over the last couple of years so there won't be the same sort of money available.