If management were to treat their players so ruthlessly as you suggest, the team moral would disappear very quickly and believe me its superb these days. That poor attitude is the old Wire. If you saw the Super League Supermen with Mark Forster, you may recall his observations on his treatment at the hands of clumsy management.
If Bateman is worthy then fine, buy him, but not at the expense of others or the team ethic. And as far as I can see, the youth are doing remarkably well, its the way to go.

I think Morley may leave at the end of the season whether we get Bateman or not.

I agree with you and think that Morley will be off at the end of this season by mutual agreement. I know that this is a phrase that is sometimes used to paper over a fall out, but, in this case, if he goes it will be a joint, grown up decision.

A year at Salford to rally their troops...?

Is he really that good?

You're shaping up to become the Bulls that could've been. Atkins, Bridge, Helliwell, maybe Bateman...

Maybe you should produce an away kit in red, amber and black???

As other people have said any transfer fee we will pay will go towards saving the bulls from liquidation and in return we get a player who is touted to be one of the best young players in the Super League. If Smith sees him as better than who we've got (laithwaite) then why wouldn't we sign him? im sure he would turn out to be a very good squad player in 2013 and then as he matures i'm sure he will be playing for England within a few years.

I dont understand this (even if it were Wigan i wouldnt understand it). Hes an uncapped, 18 year old back rower - hes not THAT good, he has potential, but surely there are better players to throw daft money at. I wouldnt dream of having my marquee player as a back rower ever.

If i were Wire i'd spend the money on "strike" positions, a prop to replace Morley? Greg Eden at Shudds? I just dont see Bateman at 150K a year doing something that the likes of Blythe and the other young back rower (blonde haired lad) can do?

Who says we are throwing daft money at him? For all we know the 'alledged' 2 bids could have been £5k and £10k!!!

Whats a salary cap ?

i think it looks something like this.

It can't look like that !!!

It hasn't gone up for a while so it must be a flat cap surely ??????

Not seen Laithwaite , is he highly rated ?

See PY's comments in the '2012 squad' sticky at the top.

He's a fantastic talent who would be a superb signing, but for the good of the league, I'd prefer him to stay at Bradford. Youth systems across the country have made great strides recently, and keeping young talent is vital to make clubs more competitive. I for one wouldn't want to see a repeat of 10-15 years ago, where all the best players ended up at the top 4 (e.g. Sculthorpe and Harris).