Sammut commits to Bulls

[josie andrews]

Bradford Bulls halfback Jarrod Sammut has signed a new two year contract with the Bulls until the end of the 2015 season.

Sammut, who joined the Bulls from Crusaders, just a week before they went out of business, was out of contract at the end of the 2012 season and the club was keen to retain his services for next season and beyond.

The RFL has confirmed that Sammut's status will remain as Federation Trained and that has allowed the club to extend his term beyond his initial deal.

Jarrod Sammut is glad the situation is now resolved:

"When you know your future is secure, you feel a lot more settled and at ease. It's great to get something finalised and put pen to paper. I did have a few other options, which is always good to have up your sleeve, but my priority was always to stay at Bradford.

"I'm settled here and England is my home. I really enjoy playing in Super League and now I've signed a contract extension I'm looking forward to helping us getting back to being the dominant force we once were."

Bulls coach Franny Cummins is delighted with the signing:

"Jarrod is one of those players who can do things that others can't. We've sat down and addressed other parts of his game and I think he's ready to step up now. That's what I'll need from him but he showed at the back end of the year that he can definitely contribute.

"Jarrod's challenge now is to produce the good on a regular basis because he definitely has the talent and we're delighted to have him on board."

http://www.rleague.com/content/article.php?id=45882

[josie andrews]

Bradford Bulls get down to business with Leeds Rhinos chief

The Bulls received a helping hand from an unlikely source this week – Leeds supremo Gary Hetherington.

Coach Francis Cummins and football and media manager Stuart Duffy met Rhinos chief executive Hetherington on Monday at Headingley to discuss matters related to player recruitment, dealing with agents and negotiating contracts.

Duffy, who like Cummins arrived at Odsal after a long association with Leeds, explained: “It was a general discussion about what we do in the game and how it’s run.


“Francis and I have taken a lot on in the football department and we obviously want to look at how other clubs do things.

“The new owners are focused on turning the business around and Franny and I are taking care of the football side of the club.

“Gary Hetherington has run a successful model at Leeds over a number of years and is just one of a number of people we will be talking to in the next few weeks as we look to get the Bulls back to the top again.

“Gary was very free with his time and his advice as he explained how things are done at Leeds with regards to football and some of the business side of the club.”

While the Bulls have agreed a twinning partnership with Dewsbury Rams, Leeds have struck a similar arrangement with Hunslet Hawks.

Duffy added: “We spoke to Gary about how Leeds’ partnership works and we’ll continue to seek best practices from other clubs.”

http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/s ... n/?ref=rss

[markill]

Things are starting to look better for the Bulls, which IMO is a good thing for the league and the sport.

These deals between SL and lower level clubs are becoming very common, it doens't surprise me and I've thought for years that more of this should happen. I think it has taken removing the 20s to open the idea up to people's minds more. When all these kinds of deals are finalised we can start putting a more solid structure to the whole professional game reliant more on interdependence supporting the clubs.