I know the father of a current bulls player and i asked him the Orford question will he/ won't he be returning? and the reply was "he's totally cleared his locker out and taken all his stuff back to Australia and he isn't returning", apparently its pretty commom knowledge around the bulls inner circle.

IF that's true, and personally I don't hold the "I know x,y,z's family member/neighbour/milkman etc" rumours, then I'd say the club are seeking a replacement and are wanting to offset Orford's departure with the new player's signing.

As for the "club not having the decency to tell us" I would point out the club are attempting to attract fans back with the 10k pledge. I'm sure it's been mentioned on here somewhere.

So, with that in mind, WHY would the club announce the loss of a star player without someone of equal or better quality lined up to replace them?

It probably also means that we were all lied to at the fans' forum.

Or that we weren't and Orford will report for pre-season in November with the rest of the squad.

Given that what we were told at the fans forum is that Orford has given the both the club and Mick Potter assurances that he will honour his contract. That's Orford himself, saying it direct to the club.

That is not aussie paper talk. That is not "guy in the pub who knows x,y,z's neighbour's cat and he said it" rumour.

Yes the silence from the player, his agent and the club is deafening on this issue. But until one of those 3 makes a statement either way, then we can assume that Orford will be back.

Fingers crossed!

The club may know what's happening and have to keep it quiet. As any negotiations would be difficult as the player or other club would have them over a barrel.

Why would the club say now that Orford isn't coming back and lose potential pledges?

If anything they should wait till the deadline before saying that he's 100% not coming back.

I'm not sure if Orford is coming back or not. But, rather than some machiavellian plot, have any of you considered a much simpler possible explanation? He may not be able to say he's coming back because he may not know... e.g. either his shoulder has not healed as soon as expected, or that its touch and go if he has to retire.

[url=http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/cayless-farewell-party-falls-flat-20100904-14v6c.htmlLink to the throw away line about him joining parra.[/url

It is rather condescending about us. Oh the Bulls want him to honour a SL contract. Don't they understand that those contracts shouldn't enforced? Typical Poms, thinking that just because a bloke's signed a contract that it means anything.

They should refuse to release him and then make in rot in the under twenties. Only thing is you can't afford do that with the salary cap (plus he's probably the highest paid player at the club).

Obviously Orford's people aren't as straight up as they were claiming if they're trying to fashion a new deal for him.

Well he can effing well come back here until we get a decent replacement.

thing is, with regard to the cap, if Orford refuses to return then he's in breach of contract right?

So would that mean we no longer have to pay him? We may still be in a position where we can't use the salary that he would have been paid, however, we wouldn't be paying for a player who won't play.