Batley Bulldogs rugby league have agreed a deal for Chris Ulugia to join the club on a permanent basis, subject to the Samoan receiving the relevant visa.
Powerful centre Ulugia had a brief spell on loan at Batley the English professional league club last season, scoring two tries in three appearances, before injury forced him to return to parent club Bradford Bulls.
Ulugia was full-time at Bradford and the fundraising efforts of supporters group BISSA have played a major part in allowing John Kear to add him to the Bulldogs squad.
Batley are confident Ulugia will be granted the paperwork to join ahead of the start of next season and are said to be at ‘an advanced stage’ of clinching the deal.
Ulugia’s signing was announced at last Friday’s fans meeting when chairman Kevin Nicholas laid out plans for the new season, including several incentives for supporters.
Nicholas told supporters: “We are very confident with the signings we have already made, that subject to avoiding significant injuries, we have good prospects of changing 10 wins and 20 losses into 20 wins and 10 losses in 2016.
“Such results would give us a chance of being in the middle eight group of clubs or at the top end of the Championship.”