Bradford have received a major boost with the news that Sam Burgess has signed a new contract with the club to keep him at the Grattan Stadium until the end of the 2011 season.

Burgess, 19, who is currently in France for the England Test Match against France, has taken the game by storm since making his debut in the 2006 season and was last year voted the ‘Best Teenager in the World’. He has made 59 appearances for the club, scoring 13 tries and 5 goals.

Bulls Coach Steve McNamara said today:

"Sam is THE big signing everyone wanted. Every Super League club and plenty of others in Australia would love to have got Sam and have him in their side but he's playing here with us which is just great news. He had another year left to run on his contract but we've decided to up-grade it and we're absolutely delighted that a super player and a super young man has decided to commit his future to Bradford Bulls.

Along with a few others, Sam's been a real cornerstone for us this year and his form has been outstanding. He's blossoming into an amazing Rugby League player and is up there with the best. Hopefully we will see a lot more young players follow suit. It gives a great deal of encouragement to our young recruits to see that there is a clear pathway for them here and they will get the rewards if they deserve to. Sam certainly does."

Sam Burgess is delighted to have secured his future at the club:

“I'm honoured to be offered the deal and was delighted to sign it. We've been in talks for a while so I'm happy to get it over and done with now. I only wanted to play for the Bulls and, right from the off, was never going to leave. It's a big club, I always wanted to stay and there was no one else I wanted to play for."

I feel Steve McNamara has helped my game come on leaps and bounds and I'm sure he can help me get better. He's a brilliant coach and the youth coming through here at Bradford's is something really exciting as well. The club has put a lot of effort into that recently and it'll be good to see that come to fruition whilst there's already a great set-up and some great players. There has never been a doubt in my mind that we're far off winning the competition and I know I can lift trophies here with Bradford."