GEORGE Flanagan Jr showed some flashes of brilliance in Bulls' 24-10 defeat at Leeds yesterday.

An mazy break to the halfway line and an unfortunate disallowed try were among the moments that impressed Bradford head coach Mark Dunning, but one incident angered him.

In probably his only mistake, Flanagan knocked on a low kick through, but compounded his error by petulantly throwing the ball away into an opponent's face to concede a penalty.

Dunning warned: "This year, we've decided if we give a penalty away when we've got the ball, that's not okay.

"Every player that does it will be fined, so George will cop one for that incident.

"He showed really good glimpses of his talent in the game, and that try in the corner would have been fitting for his efforts.

"He made a lovely break too and he's had some banter in the dressing room for eventually being caught by a middle.

"But he doesn't need to be giving away penalties when we're in possession, and I've had that chat with him."

Another young player who impressed at Headingley was AJ Wallace, with the second-row staying at Bulls for 2023 having being heavily linked with a move to Super League in the off-season.

He broke the Leeds line on a few occasions, and thought he had set up a try for Kieran Gill, only for his pass to be ruled forward.

Dunning said: "I wouldn't say he was likely to go, but it was rumoured, and of course there was interest because he's a quality rugby league player.

"We say glimpses of what he was capable of against Leeds and the exciting thing about AJ and a bunch of our young players is that there's so much development left in them.

"We can get so much more out of them as the season goes on and we start becoming fluent, with games each week."

Leeds brought a young side to Odsal last year in pre-season, and while some of their hottest prospects played yesterday too, big Super League names like Richie Myler and Rhyse Martin also started.

Dunning said: "If we'd beaten a young Leeds team comfortably, it wouldn't have done anything for us, and it may have even lulled some of our players into a false sense of security.

"Leeds have been respectful, put a respectful team out, had a dig, and it's stood both teams in good stead.

"It was certainly a good exercise for us, and one we needed."

Dunning said there were no injury concerns after the game, while he expects Brad England to be back for next week's Championship opener against Whitehaven after a bang on the ribs kept him out at Headingley.