Elliott Whitehead believes the Bulls can build a bright future, as long as they stop history from repeating itself.

A recent product of the academy conveyor belt, Whitehead is proud to represent his home-town club but hopes lessons have been learned from the past.

In years gone by, Bradford’s failure to keep hold of their best young players threatened to become a running joke.

Compose a fantasy team of Odsal products who have been allowed to slip away and it’s easy to see why. Leon Pryce, Jamie Peacock, Stuart Fielden and Sam Burgess are just a handful of former juniors who have moved on to pastures new.

But Whitehead is confident the Bulls’ new crop can inspire green shoots of recovery.

Recently, the 21-year-old has featured alongside Tom Olbison and James Donaldson as part of a back-row unit with a combined age of just 60.

Throw teenage trio Tom Burgess, John Bateman and Adam O’Brien into the mix, as well as injured prospect Danny Addy, and his optimism seems well founded.

“We’ve got a lot of young players coming through and I think the future will be bright,” he said.

“Hopefully we can all stay together and we won’t have a repeat of what happened last time when we got young players coming through and they all drifted away. Hopefully we can keep hold of them.

“People say we don’t have experience but we all know how to play rugby and we all talk on the pitch, so we should go well.

“Players can come in on their debut and have a good game, so it doesn’t always matter how experienced you are.”

Whitehead is a shining endorsement for the Bulls’ junior pathways. The former West Bowling amateur rose rapidly through the club’s ranks before enjoying a breakthrough campaign last year.

Rewards were quickly forthcoming – a new three-year deal and a spot in the first-team leadership group proof of the high regard in which he is held.

But with extra exposure comes added responsibility and Whitehead admits he must play his part in lifting the Bulls from their recent slump.

“It was nice to get a win under our belts at Halifax (last Sunday) because we’d not won in five,” he said.

“But we weren’t that happy. We made a lot of errors in yardage, which we’ve been doing every week, and we need to cut that out. That’s the only way we’re going to win games. If we sort out those problems we will improve.

“I think we need to talk a lot more in defence and work more as a team, instead of trying to do stuff on our own.

“We can’t afford to keep doing stuff like going to make a tackle by coming out of the line on our own and leaving gaps.

“I try to be a leader. I’m only a young lad but I still try to play my part. I try to give advice and the boys do listen. Out on the pitch you listen to everyone, so we all need to make sure we talk.”

Communication will be even more vital if Whitehead is given the nod to replace Chev Walker at Hull KR on Sunday.

Walker’s injury has left a void at centre and, with Paul Sykes also sidelined by injury, the former England Academy international could be asked to fill in.

He said: “I haven’t played centre at all until this year but I enjoy it. I might have to play there this week but I’m ready to do that.

“There is a bit of a difference. In defence, you’re only two or three men in but when you play back row you’re further infield and there’s more for you to do.

“I don’t mind as long as I’m in that 13 or 17 every week. I’d play full back and I keep telling them they can play me stand-off if they want.

“We’ve had a lot of injuries so people have to fill in and we need two points on Sunday.”