Karl Pratt returns to the club that turned him into a £100,000 player when the Bulls travel to Featherstone Rovers tomorrow looking to plot a safe passage into the fifth round of the Powergen Challenge Cup.

Pratt joined Rovers as a 14-year-old, eventually making 48 first-team appearances and scoring 30 tries before being sold to Leeds for £100,000 while still a teenager.

Despite being plagued by shoulder problems in recent seasons Pratt has gone on to notch well over 100 Super League appearances for the Bulls and Rhinos.

Still just 24, he already has Challenge Cup, Grand Final and World Club titles tucked safely under his belt, but he hasn't forgotten the club that gave him his start. "I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Featherstone," said Pratt.

"The fans were exceptional. In my last year there it was probably the best Featherstone side they have had for a number of years. We came so close to winning promotion but we had a call go against us in the last two minutes of the Grand Final and unfortunately we didn't make it. That's why I went to Leeds."

As for the huge fee Rovers received for selling him on, Pratt insists the club deserved every penny.

"They did all right out of it but they deserved to.

"They brought me on and Steve Simms and Dave Ward, who signed me, helped me along the way. If it wasn't for them I probably wouldn't be here now."

Pratt has already made the trip down memory lane once before when the Rhinos drew Rovers in the cup but the presence of his close mate Neil Lowe in Rovers' second row promises to make tomorrow even more special.

"We both signed at Featherstone together and he is back there now. I see him all the time and we are always ribbing each other.

"He has been struggling a bit with injuries recently but hopefully he'll play this week so I can give him a bit of hammer."