He was the stand out player when London beat Sheffield in the televised Blackpool bash fixture.

On 1st impression, he doesn't appear to be a natural ball player but I'm sure the Bulls have done plenty of research.

Just sounds like Mendeika to me. A young squad player who can cover several positions and has plenty of potential. One for the future possibly? Not much of an opinion on this signing.

Its the new in thing in the game, a ball handling FB.

Well the interview him on signing suggests he has been signed as a back-up/squad player and is aware of that but that he wants to kick in and progress at Bradford

Soon as he gets slotted in alongside Danny Addy he'll be right as rain...

Nah. Leon Pryce been there done that years ago

So, the plan of only signing players who are clearly better than what we have in the first 17 didn't last long. He sounds like a good prospect. Young and talented. One for the future. We have enough promising full backs at the moment so I see him as a future half otherwise we may as well let Mendeika go along with Shaw now Clare looks decent at FB and wing.

Well the news stories are quick to mention that he's a stand off that can play full back rather than the other way round

But as I've said elsewhere, we're going into next year with the same best 13 we're likely to finish this year with and that is going to be a benefit to the side as we've not been a settled team between seasons for about 10 years

Well, I guess that, if the news stories nowadays were on about Danny Addy they would start with "halfback Danny Addy....." etc, at the end of the day, it's just where he's been playing recently.

TBH I do not really see this as a benefit whatsoever. I don't think that the current squad really would be anything but cannon fodder week in week out in Super League if we get there.

I concede that many of them would deserve a shot at it but the settled side idea is fine if you are settling for Championship Rugby League. Should we gain promotion then the side needs a lot of strengthening.

TBF starting 13 we are going into next season with has been upgraded over one we've used most of the season. Neilson,caro and Clare are all new and now regular starters. Add to that mullaney and Gaskell who were unavailable for significant portion of regular season. Presumably this 13 is one we can accommodate under championship salary cap. Extra 800k in SL would fund any pre agreed upgrades in existing players wages plus more squad strengthening which might see some of starting 13 dropping back to being bench or squad players at SL level. Certainly a healthier position than one we were in last couple of yrs with mass enforced changes.

Another issue apart from what league we're in and the finance is it's pretty much impossible to know how good/poor we are. Was Sunday the high watermark against a demoralised team or a team that has finally found 3rd gear and have further improvement in the them? Was the week before a reasonable barometer of a gulf in class or a team who didn't believe they could win? Personally, I've no idea.

So far, the middle 8 table pretty much answers a lot of this. Us excepted it is an SL procession.

I think a settled side is probably beneficial for getting out of this division - though as this year has clearly shown, NOT having a settled side has been good enough for us to easily take 2nd spot. I do feel that we will most likely be in this division next year too, btw, so that is what we are now recruiting for. I'm sure the better players have two contracts - one for championship and one for SL.

To be honest Eddie, the only people who really think any of the sides in the championship could just go up and carry on, successfully, with the same squad list are deluded Leigh fans and they are so pumped up and full of themselves that they seem to inhabit not just a different world but a different universe. We, I think, with having more recent experience at the elite level, have a bit more comprehension of just how much difference there is. You get double the cap in SL and anyone who thinks you can be successful using only half of it is deluded, imo.

It's us we're discussing isn't it?

Absolutely. TBH, reading back I have no idea what I am getting at. I must have quoted the wrong post. Apologies.