JOE Keyes is pondering his Bulls future amid interest from the Championship.

Matt Diskin is understood to be keen on taking the 22-year-old half-back to Batley Bulldogs next season.

Keyes confirmed the Bulls are in talks about a new deal but nothing has been decided.

He said: “We’re just in negotiations at the moment.

“It’s up in the air. I’ll make my decision when I’ve looked at a few things.”

The Londoner, who joined the Bulls 13 months ago, feels he has grown on and off the field during a turbulent year for everyone connected with the club.

“It’s been tough this year,” he admitted. “I’m very big on confidence and there have been some low times for me.

“But I feel like I finished the season strong and I’m hoping to carry that on into next year.

“This league’s a lot tougher than people think. I think I played over 20 games this year and I’ll take a lot of lessons from that.

“A lot of people have played a lot more games than they would have expected to at the start of the season when everything was all right.

“It’s never easy at any age but going through that so young is something we’ll really learn from. They have been life lessons taking it forward.”

Prop Liam Kirk appeared in every game and Keyes felt that typified the spirit of the squad’s younger brigade who were thrown in. In several weeks, the average age of the starting line-up was only 22.

He added: “It’s insane really but credit to people like Kirky. There’s a real professionalism about them and they fight well above their weight.

“Kirky has been immense. He got his accolade with the coach’s player of the year and that was fully deserved because he’s had a great season.

“Playing every game at this level is not easy in any position, let alone in the middle.”

Keyes made 23 appearances himself and celebrated his birthday on Sunday by scoring a third try of the season in the 72-16 rout over Rochdale.

With so many changes expected within the squad, the players were desperate to bow out on a high before jetting off to Magaluf for a traditional end-of-season trip.

Keyes said: “We spoke a lot during the week about it being our last game as a group together.

“We wanted to go out with a bang and enjoy it – and we certainly did that.

“It was massively emotional. We’ve been through so much together this year as a group and a lot of them in there are my best friends.

“It’s not just the games but seeing them every day as well. There have been some tough goodbyes.”