Bullbuilder : Mon Dec 21, 2015 12:10 pm  

BullBuilder recently received the following message from Bradford Bulls’ Head of Youth, John Bastian: The Bradford Bulls Academy have seen many changes during the 2015 year, new staff arriving, new junior players signing part time professional contracts and some staff and players who have given very good service to the club moving on. Having said all this we are in a good place and are slowly but surely changing the culture and environment that we believe will benefit the club long term, we still have work to do and will be relentless in providing home-grown juniors that the Bradford Bulls club has been famous for producing over many years. The partnership and support from Bullbuilder and the members has been crucial in our growth, providing us with so many vital pieces of equipment to support the development and progress of our junior players, long may this continue and we thank you all for your outstanding contribution. Head of Youth, John Bastian. Read more: http://www.bullbuilder.co.uk/ Thank you to everyone who has contributed in any way past and present. Want to help support Bulls Academy http://www.bullbuilder.co.uk/join/

BullBuilder recently received the following message from Bradford Bulls’ Head of Youth, John Bastian: The Bradford Bulls Academy have seen many changes during the 2015 year, new staff arriving, new junior players signing part time professional contracts and some staff and players who have given very good service to the club moving on. Having said all this we are in a good place and are slowly but surely changing the culture and environment that we believe will benefit the club long term, we still have work to do and will be relentless in providing home-grown juniors that the Bradford Bulls club has been famous for producing over many years. The partnership and support from Bullbuilder and the members has been crucial in our growth, providing us with so many vital pieces of equipment to support the development and progress of our junior players, long may this continue and we thank you all for your outstanding contribution. Head of Youth, John Bastian. Read more: http://www.bullbuilder.co.uk/ Thank you to everyone who has contributed in any way past and present. Want to help support Bulls Academy http://www.bullbuilder.co.uk/join/

[Bullseye]

Re: Bullbuilder : Wed Dec 23, 2015 2:33 pm  

Another update on the Academy side of things here. I expect we’ll see some good youngsters coming through over the next few years. The challenge will be to hang onto them with certain neighbouring clubs with inferior setups poised. http://www.bullbuilder.co.uk/news/acade ... ul-fisher/

Another update on the Academy side of things here. I expect we’ll see some good youngsters coming through over the next few years. The challenge will be to hang onto them with certain neighbouring clubs with inferior setups poised. http://www.bullbuilder.co.uk/news/acade ... ul-fisher/

[Bulliac]

Re: Bullbuilder : Wed Dec 23, 2015 5:36 pm  

Agree, Bullseye. The problems will start if we're not promoted after next season [sadly, a likely scenario, for me] and if finances decree, due to loss of members, that we become a 'selling' club, either through the straight necessity of paying the bills , or simply because we can't afford to pay for a pro side any more.

Outside SL there will always be ambitious players who want to play at the higher level and they will get offers, of that there is no doubt.

Re: Bullbuilder : Wed Dec 23, 2015 5:40 pm  

Think appointing John Bastain is one of the best recruitments the Bulls have made. With all the doom & gloom on the Jarrod Sammut thread, the work going on in the academy is certainly uplifting.

Despite losing a lot of good youngsters during our 2 administrations, our U19's held their own this year in the comp and from reading the reports and watching the highlights, seemed to get better as the season went on. Sure I read somewhere that a lot of the U19's squad are just starting out in the u19s so have a couple more years to develop there.

Also heard some good things of latest recruits we signed from the scholarships into the academy. Hopefully some gems in there. Joe Brown looks a very good prospect.

As Bullseye said, the hard part will be keeping hold of them as we have never had any trouble developing superstars!

[Bullseye]

Re: Bullbuilder : Wed Dec 23, 2015 7:19 pm  

Some excellent prospects have just moved ip to the U19s.

John Bastian is an inspiration. Whoever hired him got the best possible man for the job.

Re: Bullbuilder : Thu Dec 24, 2015 2:42 am  

Bullseye wrote:

Some excellent prospects have just moved ip to the U19s.

John Bastian is an inspiration. Whoever hired him got the best possible man for the job.

Spot on Bullseye.
We have a youth structure that is the envy of many other clubs. It could have been one of the first casualties of cost cutting. It is to the credit of Marc Green and the rest of management that they rejected that approach and recruited John Bastian ( who had a great track record with Leeds and Warrington youth ) supplemented by a good team of coaches etc. I believe Matt Diskin will be a SL coach one day.
Of course there will be predators - look at the number of internationals produced by our Academy who ply their trade elsewhere.
But serious and committed fans can help by joining Bullbuilder and/ or supporting the fundraising events it organises.
John and his team are doing an excellent job- let's help them progress.

[Bullseye]

Re: Bullbuilder : Thu Dec 24, 2015 10:49 am  

Anyone can join BullBuilder for as little as £10 a year. You can donate as much or as little as you like.

Re: Bullbuilder : Thu Dec 24, 2015 12:13 pm  

The troiuble is, and always was, that the cream of the crop want to get on and be playing SL, if not NL, as soon as possible. Therefore the problems you have in retaining them are bad enough in SL (we should know) but much worse in the lower divisions.

I don't think from what people tell me that we have many ready to make the step up just yet, which would not be a bad thing, if we somehow managed to get back to SL this year (though as I have said before I simply don't see it, and if there is any even slim chance, then that would be a combination of results that led to an automatic spot - unlikely, but likelier than a C club ever winning the MPG).

It is totally unclear to me how we are going to adequately fund this season, but if we are, then it will involve someone stumping up. Let's hope that person isn't another club dangling cash for our best players if we struggle to make ends meet.