Bulls boss Mick Potter believes that homegrown coaches are being overlooked when vacancies arise at Super League clubs.

Earlier this year, former Bradford boss Brian Noble accused clubs and the game’s administrators of turning their back on domestic coaches in a clamour to appoint overseas personnel.

The statistics lend support to the claim by Noble, who remains the most successful coach in the Super League era from his five-year spell at Odsal.

Six of the eight teams who qualified for the end-of-season play-offs in 2011 did so under the guidance of an Australian coach.

The three sides who finished directly below the top eight – Castleford, Bradford and Salford – were also led by Aussies during 2011.

When Terry Matterson ann-ounced his decision to head back to Australia at the end of 2011, it was thought that his assistant, Englishman Andy Hay, would land the Castle-ford job.

Instead, Aussie Ian Millward was appointed and Hay shown the door at Wheldon Road, while Salford, Hull FC and Hull KR have all recently appointed a new Australian boss from the NRL.

Potter, who is now coaching at his third Super League club after previous spells at Catalan Dragons and St Helens, admits the trend to ignore British coaches is a cause for concern, even though his own career path has inadvertently blocked their way.

Potter said: “Yes, I think there are some good English coaches that are missing out. Maybe some people would say that about me – that I’m taking someone else’s job – but it’s not for anyone outside to make the decision, it’s up to the people who run the individual club to do that.”

Potter is currently back in Australia, where he will speak to a number of his contemporaries such as Wayne Bennett and former Bradford coaches Brian Smith and Matthew Elliott.

Potter is desperate to improve on this year’s tenth-placed finished and will seek to swap ideas and information on a wide range of matters, including players, tactics and coaching strategy.

He added: “Wayne Bennett said when he had Brisbane for such a long amount of time ‘I’m a better coach when my players are better’.

“It’s tweaking more than anything else.”