Honorary chairman Gerry Sutcliffe insists the Bulls will back Francis Cummins’ judgement in accepting Elliott Whitehead’s request to quit the club.

Whitehead wants to walk out on his hometown team after telling Cummins that he did not feel the Odsal outfit had progressed as he had anticipated.

The 23-year-old second-rower, who is under contract to the Bulls until the end of 2016, said he wants to join a “top-four club”.

But it is understood that only Salford had showed a solid interest in paying a fee for Whitehead’s services, meaning he could be left in limbo as he remains on leave from the Bulls while waiting for his agent Andy Clarke to force though a move.

Sutcliffe said: “Francis Cummins is our coach, he’s here for the long-term, and we support his decisions.

“We said when we took over the club last year that Franny would be left to look after the rugby side of things and that hasn’t changed.

“Elliott’s obviously a quality player but the club is always bigger than any individual, especially given everything that has happened here.

“We rescued the Bulls last year and want to do what’s in the best interests of the team and the club.

“That’s what we’ll always do and we will obviously back Franny’s judgement on all rugby-related matters.”

Matty Blythe joined Sutcliffe in backing Cummins’ stance on Whitehead.

The on-loan Warrington centre said: “As Franny said, we want players who want to be here and I think everyone is thinking the same.

“That’s no disrespect to Elliott because he’s going to be a loss for us but it’s up to him.

“It’s obviously disappointing because Elliott is a good bloke – he just wants to be somewhere else.

“We move on as a team and Elliott will move on as a person. Good luck to him in the future and whatever he ends up doing.”