Bradford deny move to share Valley Parade

Bradford Bulls have denied that they have any plans to move out of Odsal to ground-share with their football neighbours, Bradford City. The club have a major announcement planned for today which has been widely rumoured to be connected with another move to Valley Parade, where they played the 2001 season.

"But that is definitely not going to happen," the Bulls chief executive, Gareth Davies, said. The club admits that it is losing £500,000 a year, but ground-sharing is not seen as the answer. Nor will the Bulls be moving out of Odsal temporarily to allow the latest stage in the ground's redevelopment, when and if it happens. "We are still hoping to build a sports village at Odsal and should have something to say about that in August," Davies said. "But we believe we could carry on playing at Odsal while the work is being done." Davies did confirm that the club will be announcing a major re-signing today.

Only three players from the southern hemisphere's NRL competition are flying to England to play for New Zealand next Tuesday.

The established internationals, Clinton Toopi of the New Zealand Warriors and David Kidwell of Melbourne, have been given permission to travel by their clubs, along with the young Canterbury stand-off, Ben Roberts, who will be making his debut at this level.