I would also go a bit further regarding our relationship with Leeds. The seem to have helped us out when possible. I suspect Hetherington and Mac have a soft spot for us and will help us out quietly and this will involve letting players stop with us.
I am hoping Leeds keep winning and their current three halves play brilliantly. They won't call Lilley back to sit in the stand. He is better playing every week in "must win" games so hopefully he will stay for weeks even months.
I assume he goes onto a weekly loan. Would be nice if he started another month loan but I think it turns into a weekly loan - does anyone know how it works?

Woolly,

As I understand it after an initial loan period, which has to be at least one month (it could be agreed to be longer between the two clubs) then the loan can be extended on a weekly basis as agreed by the two clubs. So in essence assuming both clubs agree these Leeds loans can stay with Bradford on a rolling week to week basis.

In relation to Lilley, my personal view (and I am not Fev's manager) is that Fev would want to stay with the half backs we have at the club rather than use DR/Loan players in these positions. These being Thackery, Wildie and Briggs and therefore if these three players are fit then I would not see Fev asking for access to Lilley. The reason for this is that you would want these "pivotal" positions being filled weekly by players that will be there when we get to the Super 8's since you would assume that we will not have access to the Leeds players, especially if Leeds & Fev end up in the middle 8 again.

The fly in the ointment is that it looks to me as if Briggs is carrying an injury and therefore it is possible that JS (John Sharpe - the Fev coach) has asked for access to Lilley. I doubt that this is true of the other Leeds loan players to Bradford however. If I was JS I'd be asking as part of the DR deal for access to the best players we could get from Leeds, there would be no point in the agreement if you didn't.


PaulW,

What else would you expect the Chairperson of Fev say other than "...given that we are genuinely challenging for promotion...", he could hardly say we are looking to be the best outside of SL or we are looking to be a mid table team or we want to get in the top 4 for the money but don't want promotion to SL could he? That would be bad publicity for his own fans,who then might turn round and say what is the point in turning up at the games (generating a downward cycle). And in any case why shouldn't Fev or any other club be aiming to get to SL as long as it is done in a sustainable manner? That is not a dig at Bradford BTW but meant as a reminder for us at Fev since we have similar issues in the past (stones and greenhouses come to mind).

However I digress a little, since what I think Mark Campbell (MC) is referring to is the article in the previous week's League Express where the Wigan chairperson is asking for "tweaks" to the system, and saying that there are ongoing discussion behind the scenes at the RFL. Therefore the way I take this is that MC wants any changes to the structure to be discussed with the whole of the RL not just the chosen few. Though it did strike me that the biggest grippe by the Wigan Chairperson was that they found it hard to sell sponsorship for the super 8's games when they only had two weeks between the fixtures being announced and the start of these 7 games. Which I can see wouldn't be ideal.

Hope this makes sense even if it is not the conspiracy theory that most supporters want to hear.

This could be the problem and in fairness I wouldn't blame Fev at all. It goes without saying that if a player of lilleys quality is happily available on loan, the requests will come in. Fev having a dual reg will have a fair shout at having first dibs at the available Leeds players.

As you say it is ultimately Leeds decision with their players but it does benefit them as well and I can't imagine Leeds essentially pick Fevs team. I am hoping we keep lilley.

Also to fan the flames.... he spent a bit longer clapping the fans at full time.

Fingers crossed he stays put but, like the 2014 Bulls, everytime we got a decent loanee up to speed, he was whisked back to his parent club.

With no disrespect at all to Featherstone and their coach but being here would suit Lilley more. For two reasons:

1. It's backs against the wall, and for a half to perform under this pressure in games which don't concern his parent club are good. It means he can learn to perform in pressure situations and get much needed game time and game practice.

2. Geoff Toovey. Having a 20 year old halfback under the guidance of Toovey will be so valuable to Lilley. Especially if he is giving advice and coaching on the little things a halfback can do. Something that Lilley would not get under Brian Mac or Featherstone's coach. So it makes more sense for Lilley to be here than Fev.

As it stands I expect Lilley to go back to Leeds very soon. McGuire and Burrow won't play 30 games together in the halves and Sutcliffe (although I like him) is nowhere near the halfback that Lilley is. We are lucky we have Keyes who can play 7 when Lilley goes. However I would like to see Lilley on a week to week loan basis as I feel he along with Moore dominate our team at the moment and Lilley's kicking game is doing us wonders in terms of releasing pressure and abling our guys to have a breather at crucial times.

As many have stated I also want Oledzki on a season loan. Don't think he'll play a game for Leeds unless it's the Challenge Cup or the odd game at the end of the season. Jordan-Roberts I wasn't bothered about keeping but he was solid on Sunday and did put in a good stint so again a week to week basis for me would be ideal.

Serious question in bold you believe John Sharpes coaching is of the level of Tooveys?

Dual reg doesn't work that way. Leeds tell you which players will be available you don't get any choice in the matter. If Leeds like they aren't doing don't want to make Lilley available to you but loan him to us that is entirely there right.

I noticed that!

Perhaps we should be expecting Jon Sharpe to be head hunted by Canberra Raiders or Brisbane Broncos

Think he's missing point TBH. Reason Lilley would get more benefit being coached by Toovey as opposed to Sharpe, is Toovey spent his entire playing career in Lilleys position, including at rep level, whereas Sharpe was a loose forward. Think Toovey will have a lot more relevent experience to pass on.

rlAll 4 players extend loans to week-by-week basisrl

In other words, dream on Featherstone

Good news. All doing well for us.

Oh - and that Einstein chap - sure he invented the Theory of Relativity, but ...Thanks! I needed a good laugh!