Bradford Bulls may soon have selection dilemma at full back

Tom Holmes was probably Bradford’s best player in 2023, while that honour surely goes to Aidan McGowan so far this season.

The trouble is, both are most at home at full back, and two does not go into one.

With Lee Gaskell still recovering from a hamstring injury, Holmes, only just back himself following lengthy cancer treatment, can slot into the halves alongside Jordan Lilley for now.

But given how successful Gaskell and Lilley were alongside each other in the second half of last year, the former should walk straight back into the side when fit, potentially leaving O’Carroll with a difficult call on Holmes, initially brought to the club as a half back, and McGowan.

He told the T&A: “It was important just to get Tom back playing again first and foremost.

“Aidan has been playing well this season, and we’re lucky to have quality like him and Tom in that full back position.

“But we had to play four games with a back row (John Davies) in the halves until last weekend against Widnes, so it suits us to put Tom in there right now, especially as he and Jordan can help each other out.

“Full back requires more running, so we feel its smart to keep Tom in the halves while we’re getting minutes in his legs, as he’s played a lot there in his career anyway.

“I’m sure I’ll have a knock on my door soon from Tom though, telling me he wants to play at full back again, but that’s a selection headache I’d welcome.”

Aidan McGowan's continued excellence at full back could mean a tough call or two for Eamon O'Carroll. (Image: Tom Pearson.)

Bulls visit Swinton in the Betfred Championship tomorrow, in what should be a trickier assignment than in years gone by.

The Lions already look like a far better side than the one relegated from the second tier in 2021 and the one who finished two points clear of the Championship drop zone last season.

This year’s iteration have already achieved brilliant victories at Toulouse and Halifax, while they put 50 past Dewsbury in a thumping home win two weeks ago.

O’Carroll warned: “They’re a really dangerous side who have quality and experience.

“They’ve obviously got Dec (Patton) in the halves and Josh Eaves is an excellent nine.

“They’ve got a couple of Super League loanees of real quality we’ve got to watch out for too, like (winger) Tee Ritson and (back row) Matty Foster.

“But they were a competitive side before those two came in anyway, and they’ve maybe gone into games like Toulouse with an underdog mentality and used that to their advantage.”

Swinton have already provided one real test for Bulls this season, losing a tense AB Sundecks 1895 Cup quarter-final 21-12 to their hosts at Odsal.

Asked if that encounter would give Bulls a guide heading into the pair’s reunion in Greater Manchester tomorrow, O’Carroll said: “Swinton made it difficult for us last time, and we’ll need to produce an 80-minute game this weekend because if we drop our guard, they’ll expose that.

“But this is a different game to that one, and I reviewed the footage of their last two games before rewatching our cup quarter final, to see if they were doing similar things still.

“The thing is though, teams can always throw something different in there tactically for a game, so we have to just focus on ourselves first, as that puts us in a better position to deal with what they might throw at us.”

O’Carroll’s side did not deal with what Widnes threw at them late on in their last Championship game, losing 14-13 at Odsal despite being seven points ahead with eight minutes to go.

The Bulls head coach was unimpressed with his side’s game management in those closing stages, but was keen to point out that the hosts did a lot of things right.

Generally, the performance did not seem anywhere near as poor as the one that saw them deservedly beaten at York the previous weekend, and O’Carroll said: “I thought there were periods where we were really good against Widnes.

“But I’ve spoken to the guys in the week about how we can’t make excuses for the defeat we ended up suffering.

“I think about eight of our first team were missing, but we want to be better than that, and I still had full confidence in the side I had out there that they could do the job and get us victory.

Bulls' players were left crestfallen after throwing away what looked like a certain win over Widnes last time out. (Image: Tom Pearson)

“I said after the game it was dumbness that cost us and even though I’ve calmed down a bit since, I’d certainly call it naivety at least.

“We could have done better for Tom Gilmore’s drop goal to win the game, but my big issue is the silly errors we made for their try with a few minutes to go.

“We were seven points up at that stage and that should have been enough for us to see the game out.”