MUCH has been made of the amount of homegrown players pushing into the Bulls’ first-team, and rightly so, but the next generation of starlets could be even better.

On Monday night at Odsal, 14 of the brightest prospects of the current Under-16s squad put pen to paper on new deals keeping them at the club through to Under-19s level.

The players were presented with jerseys by first-team head coach Rohan Smith in front of parents and family in the Legends Suite of the SouthBank.

The Under-16s, coached by Leigh Beattie, won five of their seven games in 2016, including eye-catching victories over Super League sides Widnes, Hull FC and Wakefield.

Head of Youth John Bastian was full of praise for the latest group of young Bulls to sign professionally with the club.

“It’s a wonderful night when you sign professional forms,” said Bastian.

“I’m very proud of their community clubs and I’m very proud of their parents and family that have supported them through their development.

“I’m delighted that they’ve created an opportunity for themselves to become professional rugby league players at Bradford Bulls.

“There’s plenty of talent and lots of potential.

“They’ve got the right attitude and application and there’s no reason why we can’t see several of these players representing Bradford Bulls over the next several years.

“We’re starting to build momentum and there’s a little bit of a conveyer belt starting now.”

England Youth international Cameron Scott is one of the hottest prospects on the Bulls’ conveyer belt and the club have again beaten Super League competition to re-sign the talented young centre.

Bradford-born Scott is just delighted to have committed his future to his home-town club.

“I’ve supported this club since I was a very young kid,” said Scott.

“All of us have put in a lot of work over this year and it’s a credit to all of us.

“We’ve dug in as a team and we’ve come up with the rewards. It’s a real honour to sign with those boys.”

Scott had a number of Super League clubs chasing his signature but the boyhood Bulls fan insisted there was never any doubt he would commit his future to the red, amber and black.

Scott said: “There was speculation about whether I’d sign for Bradford, but there was no doubt in my mind.

“It’s a club that means a lot to me and it’s where I want to be.”

The promotion of six academy prospects into the first-team squad for next season underlines the progress that is being made in the youth ranks at Odsal.

The Under-16s and Under-19s sides are bubbling along nicely with plenty of promising young players who have dreams to one day represent the Bulls at senior level.

With Under-19s coach Matt Diskin to leave Bradford and take over at Batley at the end of the season, Beattie will step up from his current role as Under-16s boss to succeed Diskin.

Mark Dunning, who has assisted both teams for the past four years on a voluntary basis, will take sole responsibility for the Under-16s.

Players from the Scholarship and Academy have trained with the first-team squad since Smith arrived and the Bulls head coach said: “Having homegrown players in your first-team and pushing through the ranks is vital.

“There is no two ways about it, the successful clubs in the Super League era have relied heavily on the promotion of youth through their system. That allows you to build a culture in your team.

“It starts when kids are 15 or 16 – they bring that desire, ambition and passion for the club through with them to first-team level.

“They know what is expected of them at first-team level when they come through.

“I think it’s a vital component of not only building towards Super League, but sustaining that. It has been shown by Leeds, Wigan, Warrington and St Helens.”

The Under-16s players to have signed are as follows:

Ryan Leadbeater (Batley Boys), Keiron Todd (Dudley Hill), Oliver Wilson (Greetland), Vytas Vaznys (Hunslet Warriors), Brandon Wood (Rochdale Mayfield), Keelan Foster, Alfie McGrevy, Rowan Milnes (all Siddal), Ryan Butterworth (Stanley Rangers), Lochlan McGill, Ebon Scurr, Jack Wilson (all Stanningley), Matthew Fletcher (Waterhead) and Cameron Scott (Wyke ARLFC).