so - his attacking play isnt good enough to be in the halves, and defensively he is no good out wide. Where is he any good? I would put in 100% if i were playing for the bulls, but i would still be crap!

Giving such a mediocre player such a long deal shows us where we are at at the moment. a lower half SL team with a few decent kids and a couple of quality ageing Aussies, and a whole load of average Joe's. Or should I say below average Joes, because if they were average SL players we would be in the playoffs.

The problem is the lack of other options. However you may rate him, I can only think of one better federation-trained centre who is likely to be moving clubs this summer (Shenton) and only one better federation-trained stand-off (Orr). Shenton is expected to go to Saints, and if he doesn't I'm sure there will be a bidding war that we can't afford to join in. Orr will be 33 a couple of months into next season.

I too am unsure about the length of the deal, but I would hope that the added security for Sykes means that we will at least be paying less per season.

I agree he's not good enough to be a first choice half-back or centre - but he's pretty handy to have around as a squad player. He's not going to be on mega-bucks either I imgaine so who else is there, especially who would be classed as "home grown" that you would prefer us to sign?

Are you expecting us to have the money to be able to bring back Leon and Atkins? It ain't going to happen.

There aren't many teams who can have top drawer quality from 1-25 in the squad - even Leeds and Saints fans argue the hell out of whether players such as Ablett, Kirke, Burgess, Gardner, Flannery etc are good enough for their squad let alone first 17 between themselves.

There's only one I can think of that has that sort of squad and they just happen to have the richest chairman in the league.

But has given Sykes the contract?

Has McNamara been in touch with potter about players he want's to keep for next season and beyond etc . . . . .

I'd be interested how the London/Harlequin fans rated him when he was there.

Is he just another player underperforming in a team of underperfoming players?

Why would the (quickly determined) departing coach liaise with the non appointed coach of a rival SL club?

I'll ask this question once again, just who at the Bradford Bulls ahs given Sykes another three years?

Because reading everything on here and speaking to you all at games, not one is happy with this.

Utility player = not particularly good in any specific position but equally average all over the field.

I remember when Sykes was at the Quins, playing in the centres, and was on fire. But then he got a serious injury - something to do with his stomach or kidneys I think - and that took something out of him.

On reflection, I have no problem with us keeping him on to act as cover, but using him in the halves or even as a first choice centre just isn't acceptable. His defence isn't good enough for any position, he lacks the creativity for a halfback, and if Ian Kirke can catch him then he clearly lacks the pace for a centre.

More to the point, why did we give him a 3 year contract? Because this scares me thinking of who else might get a new contract!!!!

Ideally he's cover for a few back positions. Unfortunately he's being played as the main creative halfback. That's not his fault, but it means he'll make mistakes like the awful pass he threw at the end that should have been the winning assist. Also the intercept he gave in the 1st half was a bad un.

However, his kicking drives me mad sometimes. Is it possible for him to avoid booting the ball out on the full so much? He's done it for years. If he can't stop it he shouldn't be taking the kicks.

He can kick it out on the full but then not find touch, go figure. We need a Hypnotist or a Psycologist to get their hands on the Team over the next 2 weeks to try to convince them that they are Rugby League Players!

It's still the sensible option, to keep a home-grown player who can play various positions signed up, but i wish it was only 1 year.

I think when potter comes sykes will probably be used as a ulility player and nothing more, mind you it doesn`t really help when when half the players are not playing in their positions - due to injuries etc like sykes is defintely not a stand off