Bradford Bulls’ Tom Holmes impresses Lee Greenwood

Holmes, who joined up with Bradford last year, has been the club’s standout recruit this season and has impressed in several positions. 

Sunday’s display highlighted just how important the wiry fullback is to this Bulls side, as he delivered at both ends of the pitch. 

After the game, interim boss Greenwood spoke in glowing terms when asked about Holmes, stating: “Tom is a quality player whichever position he is asked to play in; he's shown that throughout his career so far. He's probably one of those players that needs to find a place at a club, and where he feels settled and can enjoy his rugby, so hopefully that's going to be here at the Bradford Bulls.

“When he's been fit and playing for us, he's done really well. It didn't quite work out the way we'd have liked with Jack Walker because he was obviously going to be our starting fullback from the off, but he got injured in the first game. That gave Tom the opportunity to move to fullback, and because of that he had to basically learn the position as he hasn't played there a lot on the way up to this level.”

Greenwood added: “He’s played half-back, so he's got that past knowledge and kick in his game that some fullbacks don't have, so we've felt comfortable in putting him back there. However, what’s been especially pleasing is that he's pulling off fullback type efforts/characteristics seamlessly and we've been really impressed with that. For example, as the opposition, once he's taking a catch, you've got to be right on your kick-chase because Tom has exceptional footwork and can easily run through or around you.”

Tom Holmes has been Bradford’s standout recruit this season (Image: Tom Pearson)

Despite running out 32-16 winners on Sunday at home to London Broncos, Greenwood admitted that his team's display lacked quality in some areas.

He said:  “I’m not sure the performance was that good. We see different things to what a supporter might see and we know what we've spoken about during the week and we know what we want to see in the display. 

“There were quite a few bits that we didn't get right, so it was a bit of a strange one to be 18-0 up at half-time after not doing the things we’d spoken about doing. I think the Dec Patton penalty just after the break to put us 20-0 ahead psychologically helped us. I think the main difference was that we defended our line, particularly in the first half extremely well. I felt we had them quite contained and we were comfortable, then we were clinical when we had the chance to attack.”

Greenwood’s men defended exceptionally well in the first 60 minutes of Sunday’s fixture in the Odsal heat, and speaking to the T&A, he admitted that creating a stable backline has been one of his and Brian Noble’s biggest focusses since taking charge as interim boss. 

He said: “We’ve worked on everything to be honest since we arrived; both sides of the ball. Play the Ball is something that coaches obviously focus on and if you can speed the ruck up, increase the speed of Play the Ball when you've got it and control things defensively, then you're halfway there. 

“As I say, most coaches do work on that aspect of the game but we’ve done a lot of work on players staying in the defensive line since we took over; that means encouraging players not to jump out of position and be too quick out of the defensive line, but also making sure that we don't have any players lagging behind.

“We saw in the first half - where we did have to defend as a very tight unit a lot of the time - that if one player missed a challenge then there would be another player available to step in and make a crucial challenge. So, overall I was delighted with the defensive efforts of my team and of course the heat made it even more challenging to keep that sort of intensity going throughout the game.”

The win against London confirmed Bradford’s fourth consecutive league victory in what was described by some as a favourable run of fixtures for the club, but the Bulls boss hinted that he doesn't get too involved with the noise and expectation that comes from people outside the club. 

James Segeyaro made his debut for Bradford against London Broncos (Image: Tom Pearson)

He said: “Honestly, we aren't looking into it (latest run and whether they have been favourable fixtures) because before yesterday people were saying that Toulouse weren't that tough, and now they've beaten Featherstone the tables have turned, and now the toughest game you can have is away at Toulouse. 

“Last Friday’s game at Newcastle was as tough as it could have been with the way they were geared up for a cup final type fixture. For us, we will continue to look at things on a weekly basis. What we did today might not work next week, but some of the things we weren't great at today might work out next week. That's how it goes and we are happy with the victories, but we won't look ahead of ourselves.”

Billy Jowitt appeared to take a harsh landing on his knee and was subsequently removed from the field with the help of two Bradford physio, but Greenwood is hopeful that the injury isn't as bad as it looked.

He said: “I don't think it's that bad. The way he landed didn't look great, but the diagnosis isn't as serious as first thought. We’ll get Billy checked up in the week, but we hope it's not serious and is only a short term injury.”