I'd like to see us use the cash on someone like Roy Asotasi.

For me it also opens up a big chance for Addy to get a run in the side in his proper position. Get him in at 13 and let him guide us around the park from there.

Hiya Joe Tamani. Hiya pal!!!!

It isn't anything like a disaster for us simply because, for whatever reason, Whitehead is no worldbeater and has not shown any decent form for a long time, yes the stats do say that he puts in plenty of work but we all know from watching the games that he is also at the moment often a defensive liability and a targeted weak spot.

He isn't the Whitehead that we re-signed.

The question then is could we have reversed his decline and got him back on track? If we could have, but didn't (and we won't know the answer to that until we see how he goes for someone else) then it will go down as one in a long list of failures of man-management, to chalk up alongside the likes of Pryce, Bridges et al.

I can't think of many players that the fans have rated but whom we've lost, that have not gone on to do bigger and better things for other clubs, in fact so many are there that you can see them every week. Of course there are mixed reasons for departures.

Maybe one of the reasons Whitehead has become available is reading some of the utter bile aimed in his direction by fans on this and other media. He has been scapegoated far too much in my opinion even if he has been in a long bad spell of form. It is all very well saying players need to ignore such things, but they're only young lads and to me that's unrealistic. How much, if anything, that has to do with it we'll probably never know.

As a player, he has been personally responsible as much as anybody, and more than many, for the defensive frailties cruelly exposed as of late. The quoted explanation is a bit of an insult to his team-mates in a sense, as it indirectly to me means he is slagging off the team as not being anywhere near the top-4 level side that he obviously is convinced his playing standards demand, and thinks will sign him. But last I heard, Salford were not in the top 4. And he has already impliedly dissed Salford's players, if the T&A report is anything to go by, in suggesting he only wants to go to Wigan, Wire or Leeds; "[iWhitehead, however, is not believed to be attracted by a move to the struggling City Reds and has set his sights on moving to one of the leading contenders such as Leeds, Wigan and Warrington[/i." That would make him a popular bunny amongst Salford's "mugs" if he ends up there, and displaces one of their regulars with his self-declared top-4 player's ass, I bet.

The bottom line is that history and experience teaches that if a player doesn't want to play for you, then you are stupid to keep paying his not insubstantial wages, to have a non-playing expensive player just out of spite is no solution; what is the point? That if you refuse his request, he will skulk back in and ask for forgiveness? When did that ever happen?

From a buyer's perspective, firstly anyone who knows anything about the game will have seen the great potential Whitehead has in the past shown, OK not at the level of Sam Burgess (who is) but when he was playing well he was the envy of many clubs. But he hasn't come on, so signing him is, to whatever extent, a punt, and not many clubs have significant salary cap space available for punting. I would bet that he will eventually play at international level, if he sets his mind to it, because of the potential I have seen for myself, but he's a way off the pace just now.

IMHO he would have been better off toughing it out as part of a tightly knit and mutually committed Bulls squad, as he is still young, and in the medium term, not many clubs offer more potential for progress than Bradford, but if he is no longer committed to the club then we should indeed get the best price we can and move on.

Whether it is our fault, and whether it could have been prevented, is another question, probably we will never have the full answer, but now that he wants out, it suddenly becomes far too disruptive to keep him in the tent so I don't see what else they could sensibly have done now, in the circumstances which have arisen - however they arose. Don't forget we already have a history of sticking by him - like when he got a few games for the shameful "biting" incident, so it's not like we haven't been fair.

The fear is that if nobody pays, then we pay as we have to meet his wages even if he never plays again. So another pack member down, and no money to replace him as I shouldn't think we can afford another [iadditional[/i wage of buying a replacement - including signing on fees etc. But if we do want a realistic fee then we may have to wait until the end of the season when people are building their squads for next year. Maybe a cash/player swop (the excellent Bluthe, anyone?) might be more of a runner, but that only works if there is a "top team" who wants Whitehead.

I don't know what money he's on, but if he is just left to fester and it does run on into the autumn, by then we may have shelled out another £50K in wages that will have been dead money. People need to look at any transfer fee we are able to get in the light of that. We are said to value him at £100K but every week he's here the net value of any transfer fee is a week's wages less.

Can't see it being us but you never know. We have Cooper leaving, and Westwood and Waterhouse approaching the end of their careers. Danny Bridge and Ben Currie are next up, then Laithwaite too.

More likely Hull FC

Serious note though if he does go and he is on a substantial wage, we could get 2-3 players with that chunk of change.

Blythe would be number one on my list, then maybe Dudson from wigan, or maybe just maybe Beaver???

Or as the above post Cooper not a bad punt

Haha thought that deal was already done

I think to compare it to the whole Koppy saga is a bit of a push. To be fair to Whitehead, at least he's put the transfer request in properly and sat down with FC. Obviously for me to say if he's told his team mates in the right way or not would be purely speculation. He seems to have handled it better than Koppy did though.

In terms of losing him I'm dissapointed, but as others have said at least it's in a position where we're blessed with other possibilities in the way of Bateman, Olbison, Donno, Addy and Murphy etc. Had it been someone like Nas or one of our 3/4's I might be more worried. If I'm totally honest I'm more bothered about us losing a body in a thin squad rather than who in particular it is. He's not found the form he's capable of this season.

It'll be good in terms of the others I mentioned too. There's now a pretty much full time 1st team spot up for grabs. We may see one of the others raise thier game to make it thiers.

As for where he'll go, I can't see a top 4 club wanting him. We've all mentioned his defensive frailties and I can't see he's better than anyone the top 4 have. If anything for the top 4, perhaps he'll end up at the Rhino's as a long term replacement for Ablett (who must be getting on a bit now) or as I think someone mentioned, at the Wire in some sort of deal for Blythe and Evans. More likely though is that he'll be the good Doctor's new toy down at Salford.

Either way, as long as he doesn't go somewhere else and all of a sudden because awesome and start scoring past us, good luck to him.

He's already signed for St George Illawarra Dragons

Weren't Hull FC after him a couple of years ago ?

As where the rest of the league or so we where told, think was only Wire and Hull who inquired though