You would hope so, but they're already losing a little money on that. I know at least one person who has pre-ordered a shirt online and would have got it printed, but doesn't know the names/numbers for definite so didn't risk it. Knowing what the person is like, I would expect they won't be bothered to go back into the shop after the shirt is delivered in order to get it printed (as they're incredibly lazy) so that's immediately £15 that has been missed out on.

If I were the club, I'd be tempted to do what Leeds did and release the numbers now, but just leave a gap or two if they think someone else is likely to be coming in (Leeds left the number 20 free, knowing that Hauraki would probably be that number, but hadn't announced his signing yet).

That's fair enough for Leeds, but leaving a gap at "6" for example might be showing the club's hand before they want to in what might be sensative negotiations.

Although I do get your point and it's a fair one, we get told every year that Squad Numbers mean nothing anyway, so just don't leave 1-17 free. Leave number 20 or something free and give the new player that number. I'd be surprised if there's any players out there that wouldn't sign purely based on the fact they won't be wearing number 6 on their back for the first season.

Presumably though the club don't feel like they're missing out on much money by not releasing them yet, and they'll know better than me on that front. I hope they're right.

well just from personal experience I've got 3 shirts to pre-order as soon as the squad numbers are released. Dont know if club is missing out on mney as not sure if they take money when you pre-order or when the shirts are actually despatched. too much hassle going into shop later to get names added so I;d rather get them put on from the start even if means waiting till after shirts are released.

Other thing to bear in mind is that until season cards are sent out you cant use the shirt discount so I'd imagine a lot of people arent preordering until they get their membership cards so that gives club a couple of weeks to finalise squad and assign squad numbers.

does anyone know if club are going to alter shop website to allow you to claim the discount online? last year you had to physically go in and they processed your card manually, which was fair enough for the first year the cards were in use, but it should really be sorted so you can do it online this year. Again going back to me being lazy if you have to go into shop to get the discount I'll probably not bother claiming the discount (whick may be clubs reasoning for making it slightly inconvenient to claim).

Regardless of when the money goes, they've certainly missed out on it for the person I know who has already placed his order apparently. The option is supposedly there when you place your order to select printing, and of course he selected none. Hopefully it's a rare occurence though as I would expect a large majority of that £15 is profit, can't see the iron-on bits costing much.




That is something that I'd not thought of and you're absolutely right. I suspect anyone who's already pre-ordered are either people who didn't order a season card or don't realise there's a £5 discount.

Or as in my case, if its not possible to claim the discount online they just arent bothered enough to trapse up to odsal and have to wait in shop. Probably wouldnt be that bad for one shirt but cos I've got 3 to get it would mean waiting in shop for 1/2hr or so while they do the printing. And I'd struggle to physically get to shop during opening hours anyway without taking time off work and when you factor in lost wages and petrol the £15 saving I'd get doesnt make it worth while. Like I said I suspect this is part of clubs reason ing for not making discount available online. They know vast majority wont bother claiming it. so they get the good feeling from giving the discount in the first place but in reality only have to actually give the discount in a relatively small proportion of cases. I'd imagine similar thinking goes towards decision to not giving option to use teamcard points on the web shop, again requiring you to physically go up there (not sure if you can use teamcard points/ shirt discounts on phone orders though). I'd hope any unused teamcard points revert to club, or at least a proportion of them, at the end of the year as Im certain there were a lot of people who didnt realise they didnt rollover.

A few rumors here today have Joel going to Castleford for 2011, then he will join Michael at Warrington in 2012.

Also News from Sydney, was reported on the radio that Orford is leaning towards the Raiders over Parramatta, he's just waiting to get a release from Bradford.

Sure, and of course that wasn't what I was suggesting. What I was suggesting is that it's a sign of status and intention regardless of if it means player x,y or z plays in that position or not. To release the squad numbers now suggests that Potter is laying his cards on the table and saying "this is the squad", when we all know (or at least hope) that isn't the case. But I'm not party to club politics or player negotiation so this is just throwing ideas in the wind really!

Oh I know what you mean. If we were to release numbers and leave No.6 blank, anyone negotiating with the club would immediately know that we really do want a Stand Off to sign, and may therefore up their asking price.

Which is why I'd leave a generic number open. But as I say, I'm sure the club know better than I, so they'll know what they're doing.

thats disingenous to say the least. He'd already got a release from bradford provided someone, either a club or orford himself, pays the compensation we've asked for. WE arent going to allow him to walk away from a 2 year deal for nothing and afaik we've got RFL backing to sit on his registration until issue is resolved without having to either pay him or have his wage count on our salary cap. Balls entirely in Orford/NRL clubs court so dont know why they keep saying its bradford holding things up.

I don't think French players have ever counted on the cap, surely it would be illegal to discriminate against fellow EU nationals?

It's one of those stupid "not quota but not homegrown" rules, although I don't know why. To me, as soon as Catalans were put in Super League they should have counted as homegrown. They didn't though, they counted the same as the Kolpak lot I think.

They definitely are changing it this year so they are homegrown as it was mentioned when we announced Elima's signing.

you've got it pretty much spot on apart from the 'wording'. they wont count as homegrown as thats the phrasing used for clubs academy products. Phrase your looking for is federation trained. Up until this year french players counted as non-fed trained (basically old kolpak), from next year onwards for purposes of quota they will be classed a federation trained. Basically we're now including the french governing body under the aegis of SL for quota rules same as NRL include new zealand governing body under NRL rules.

more news on orford www.theaustra lian.com.au/news/spo rt/bradford-yet-to-d ecide-whether-to-rel ease-homesick-halfba ck-matt-orford/story -e6frg7mf-1225959720 621

more news on orford www.theaustra lian.com.au/news/spo rt/bradford-yet-to-d ecide-whether-to-rel ease-homesick-halfba ck-matt-orford/story -e6frg7mf-1225959720 621

Interesting how the Aussies like to negotiate via the media isn't it?