Orford deal leaves rejected Walker fuming

The validity of Matt Orford's move from Manly to English club Bradford has been thrown into serious doubt following claims the Bulls are trying to renege on a deal with another Australian player - Chris Walker - to make way for the Sea Eagles star.

Walker's manager, Chris Orr, attacked Bradford management last night, saying Walker had a deal with the club but that the Bulls were trying to squeeze him out because the signing of halfback Orford to a three-year deal took them over the limit of five imported players.

''I can't see how the RFL in England can go ahead and register Orford,'' Orr told the Sydney Morning Herald.

''I've spoken to the RFL and the players' association over there. The players' association is very strong, it's linked to a union that has about six million members, and the association is going to act on Chris's behalf. I've engaged a lawyer as well. Chris will be acting as if he's going over there to play, so either the contract will be honoured or the club will come up with an appropriate alternative.''

Walker's deal is understood to be worth A$400,000 over two years, and it is clear that if he doesn't end up playing for Bradford, he would expect a sizeable payout.

The Gold Coast utility back hit out at the Bulls last night as well, telling Channel Nine: ''They haven't even had the decency to give me a call, so I'm a little bit filthy with the situation. No disrespect to him [Orford] but I've got a contract with the Bradford Bulls that they should honour, and I expect them to honour, so at this point in time I'm heading over to play with them.''

Bradford had apparently not publicly announced the signing of Walker but Orr was adamant a deal had been struck. He said the first time he had an inkling there was a problem was when reports surfaced last week that the Bulls were chasing Orford.

''We negotiated in good faith,'' Orr said. ''We signed a letter of agreement in August and they issued a contract and we signed it and sent it back to them. I negotiated [former Cronulla fullback] Brett Kearney to the club as well, and everything was done the same way. Chris had his wedding to organise, which has gone ahead now, and we were told by the club that there were no issues.

''Then the stories about Orford started coming out, and I rang the Bradford chairman [Peter Hood]. He said it was just speculation but on Monday it emerged that Orford had signed, and when I rang the club again they said they weren't proceeding with Chris. I told them there was an agreement in place. One month ago, Chris could have signed for the French club Catalans but we knocked it back because we had a letter of intent with Bradford.''

Meanwhile, the sudden departure of Dallas Johnston to Super League has had an impact on Jeff Lima's switch from Melbourne to Wests Tigers, with the Storm no longer prepared to release the Kiwis Test prop.

Lima was due to rejoin the Tigers on a two-year contract but the move has fallen through after Johnston's decision to join Catalans alleviated the Storm's salary-cap problems.

- © Fairfax NZ News