Bradford set to retain Paul
July 12, 2001

New Zealand five-eighth Henry Paul has turned his back on rugby union and the National Rugby League to stay in England with the Bradford Bulls, according to his manager.

Speaking from England, Paul's Brisbane-based agent Simon Burgess confirmed that the 27-year-old had held talks with New Zealand's Super 12 team Waikato but said he would not be taking up the offer.

"He'll be staying at Bradford," Burgess said. "There're no other NRL clubs ... we haven't progressed with talks with anyone else because it was going to be Canterbury."

The Bulldogs yesterday accused Paul of using the NRL club as a "pawn" to inflate his value on the open market as he secretly held talks with the New Zealand Rugby Football Union.

Bulldogs chief executive Bob Hagan said he ended negotiations because of this.
"They were keen but Henry wouldn't commit and they didn't want to miss out on any other players," Burgess explained of the Bulldogs' reaction.

"They couldn't afford to wait and risk missing other players on the market."

Paul was in camp in Wellington with the New Zealand team preparing for tomorrow night's trans-Tasman rugby league Test against Australia when the news of his talks with rugby broke.

New Zealand team manager Gordon Gibbons said the talk of a switch had disrupted the team yesterday but coach Gary Freeman said there had been no dramas.

"I had a chat with Henry and everything is sweet. The conversation lasted about a minute," Freeman said.

Paul has refused to comment on the matter as he concentrates on tomorrow's Test.

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