BRADFORD Bulls’ legend Brain Noble has had his say on the Odsal side ahead of next season.
Noble, who will take on a deeper role within the club going into next season, particularly in the First Team's recruitment department, spoke to the T&A at Bradford’s most recent fans’ forum which on reflection, was a very successful evening.
Discussing the event itself, the Bradford legend said: “From a fans’ forum perspective, it’s vitally important that the supporters are allowed to be inquisitive about what is happening and what next year is going to look like for the club. To get that information, an event like this is the best way to do it. Fans should have an opinion and be allowed to ask questions of their choice, as they spend their hard-earned money on coming to watch the team play week-in-week-out. It’s important that those questions are both shared, and then answered in the best possible way.”
Bulls had an underwhelming campaign last time out-finishing ninth, whilst having to endure a change of managers midway through the campaign, and Noble wasn’t particularly impressed with what he saw.
He said: “It was hard to watch sometimes, and you can’t hide behind that. There are three criteria which you need as a fan; one being that you need the team to tick the box on effort every week bar none, and some fans have questioned the effort of last year’s squad. They want to see some wins, and that doesn’t go just for fans, but most people in life want victories. If the team doesn’t get a win, then they must show a great deal of fight and remain competitive throughout the game. I don’t think these criteria and expectations were met last season.
“So, it’s important that the team and staff meet those criteria next season. I’m a Bradford person through and through; born and bred here and I like to see them win, have a good result and show fight on a matchday. I want them back in the Super League as much as anyone else and I know there are a lot of hard steps and decisions which are being currently made, which I’m privy too, however, there are still a lot of steps which need to be made. As long as the club get a competitive squad together for next year so that they can give it a crack, most of the fans that I know could live with that.”
Noble played a big part in bringing Super League stars, Jack Walker and Bodene Thompson to the club ahead of the new season, and although his excitement about the duo was evident, he admitted that there’s work to be done.
He said: “I am happy with the addition of them two players and the role I played in recruiting them, but I know what it takes to build a competitive team. First and foremost, you’ve got to get the component parts that you require, and then you’ve got to have a symbiosis within the squad whereby many of your parts when they come together are better than they look on paper. My career in rugby league has been as a coach as well as a player, and because of that I understand a lot of these dynamics. You can only ask three things of a player which is that they turn up, they listen and when you ask them to go hard, they go hard because there are times in the season when they will have to go that extra mile.
“Then you’ve got to put together the most talented squad you can, or certainly within the boundaries of your finances.
Noble added: “I hope my experience can be a big benefit to Dunning, the team and the rest of the staff, but you can never tell. I’ve got certain ideas and philosophies because I did go through the apprenticeship route as a coach; it was thorough and I felt like I was in the fires of Mordor at points, it was that hot and intense.
“I then coached at an intense level for a long, long time so I have a wealth of experience that almost comes as muscle memory to me now, and I am more than happy to pass that experience and knowledge on to the club ahead of next season.”
Discussing his hopes for the Bulls next season, Noble said: “If I’m knocking around and we are not fighting in every competition for prizes come the end of the season, then I don’t know what we are playing for.
“Everybody wants to win and everybody wants to be successful; we know that there will be losses along the way and we know that there will be bad performances along the way; that’s life. If you have a group of players that tick the effort box every week, then I don’t think anybody else can ask more of that.”
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