rlMore in the T&A, FWIWrl

Indeed.

Given the alternative is probably an unhappy player, with his future for 2011 assured and with a regular payday for 2010, who would hardly be motivated or minded to put his body on the line in 2010 and put that future at risk?

Although that will likely not cut any ice with those who say if thats the case we should play him in the (to-be-abolished) reserves to teach him a lesson, or those who (I suggest a tad näively) expect him to give his all for 2010 regardless?

To me, questions need asking about the role of his manager/agent, especially regarding how much Sam has been influenced by what he has been told/assured/promised (Hood's comments on the timing maybe being a bit premature for a young forward may be a hint at this).

And especially given, that last time I looked, said manager/agent owned 27% of the club.

Craven really is a t0sser isn't he?

There's no need whatsoever for that last line.


I was particularly interested by the line

This is what people have been complaining about regarding the club not bothering to tell fans about things and instead just keeping it all quiet. It would be nice if Hood had said something along the lines of "If I had anything to say, I'd have told our fans first", even if it was just a line.

Indeed. Methinks he is giving the impression of getting his own back after - one presumes - getting into deep water over some of his recent T&A reports?



Fair comment. Although I suspect he'd find it more pressing to tell sponsors etc first?

Understand and broadly agree with that . . . . though, given shareholders, sponsors and fans all wanting to be treated as first amongst ("financial provider"icon_wink.gif equals, I suspect from Mr Hood's perspective could well be that whatever/ however it all gets brought out of the shadows, he's damned if he does / damned if he doesn't.

It was also announced yesterday that Bradford will break with tradition and participate in a Boxing Day fixture this year, at Castleford Tigers,

Not sure where or when this quote is taken from

This was mentioned at the Fans Forum a few months back and posted and in the T & A

The first option clause should've been a given anyway if we were letting him go now.

I'd still try to get more cash out of Souths. It's not like Crowe can't afford it.

Although I agree with that and what Adey said, in cases like this, lip service is usually enough. If he just comes out and tells fans that they'll be the first to know officially, via a press conference or the T & A or whatever, 90% of fans will accept that. Sure, there's plenty of us will doubt it and think they'll tell others first anyway, but if they just make sure that the first place the fans get a comment is from the club or the local newspaper, then the majority will be fine with that and know no different.

Just to clarify, I'm not criticising Hood really here. I personally think the club get a lot of undeserved criticism. It's just that a lot of people have been complaining this year about the lack of communication and I would have thought there was better ways of handling it.

It's all well and good trying to keep sponsors happy, but alienating fans means less of an audience for sponsors to market to, and fewer fans equals fewer sponsors and less sponsorship.

Whether some people like it or not the supporters are the most important part of a club.

Again, I would like to ask...what do you want the club to do at this moment?

Should they confirm or deny any rumour as they happen?

They would be very busy.

Sheesh Hood can't win can he...

He's encouraged by the more vociferous on this board to make sure he announces a suitable replacement at the same time as Sam's departure (if/when). He's also supposed to tell the fans immediately anything is settled! (Which supposes that player contracts are like house sale chains, with the contracts all happening on a given day.)

As to the sum of money... £200k for one year isn't a bad deal for a young prop who has already had one shoulder reconstruction; given that when he's done his stint in AUS you also get first refusal on a, potentially, much better player who will still be about 25!

[i“Everything that’s done is always in the best interests of the club, not the player.”

Steve McNamara was back from holiday yesterday to discuss squad plans for next season with Hood, who admitted there is a selling figure in mind for Burgess.

The Bulls have heard nothing official and Souths are refusing to comment"[/i

I think this is fair comment from Hood and without any evidence to the contrary Im happy to accept that Hood and the club are trying to do their best with this difficult situation and that nothing is finally sorted yet.

Its clear Souths want him, its equally clear Sam wants to go, so letting him go for a significant sum with first option on return probably is the best option for our club. (And IMHO a significant and acceptable sum might well be around the £250,000 mark, on good terms, for a player who wants to go and only has 12 months before he can go for free on bad terms.)

First quote from sam I've seen on the subject;

rlSam Burgess tight-lipped over Bradford Bulls futurerl

[i"Burgess is training with England for next month's Gillette Four Nations tournament. He insisted

A lot of these rumours have been around for months. The silence from the Club has also been around for months. Any announcements could be made one at a time just to keep interest up. All we have heard is departures, and pretty much half of that has been negative. The balance of the squad looks terrible at the moment and I'm not confident it will improve much. I think we'll struggle to get what we need. Ah well I suppose we'll find out eventually but the longer they leave it people will be prioritising how they spend their hard earned cash. The longer it goes without positive news might mean that cash gets used on other forms of entertainment!

So what about Menzies, Sykes, Hall and L'Estrange? Oh, and wasn't there something about Halley as well?

Yep. Spot on.