Bulls Academy player Duane Straugheir has been going back to school.

The talented second-rower returned to Freeston High in Normanton to lend his expertise to their Year Nine and Year Ten girls’ teams.

Straugheir, who also works as a Bulls community development officer, has spent the last eight weeks there and his tips paid off as they won a recent tournament.

He presented the girls with some Bulls kit ahead of that competition as they did not have any gear, while Straugheir also gave a talk about how he applied himself in and outside of school to become successful.

He said: “This has been a really special time for me. As a player I believe it’s important to always remember your roots and where you came from.

“To have the opportunity to go back to my old school and pass on my experience in terms of coaching, but also how I had to manage my life as a youngster both educationally and in my rugby career, is a great honour and one which I have thoroughly enjoyed.

“The girls have performed really well and thoroughly enjoyed working together as a team. It really shows and I’m very proud of what they have achieved.”

Meanwhile, the Laisterdyke cluster of primary schools enjoyed a Bull Tag Festival with the Bulls Community Foundation Team at Thornbury Primary School.

After receiving six weeks of coaching from former Bulls scrum half Matty Brooks, Bradford Moor Primary, Thornbury Primary and Lapage Primary came together to participate in the tournament. After some close games, Lapage just edged it over Thornbury.

Bulls community development manager Dave Gibbons said: “The event was a really close-fought contest between the schools.

“But this bears into insignificance in my view as we had children participating in rugby league and thoroughly enjoying themselves in what were very cold conditions.

“The more children we can get playing this great game of ours the better and events such as this demonstrate how much children enjoy playing rugby league.”