Bradford Bulls appointing Brian Noble makes perfect sense

It will be the club legend’s second spell in charge, having led Bradford to their greatest-ever period of success between 2001 and 2006.

Anyone who has followed the club over the last couple of years will know this appointment is nowhere near as left-field as it might look to outsiders.

Noble returned to Bulls in 2022 in a football consultant role, before taking interim charge of the first-team alongside Lee Greenwood between May and October last year.

Even though the pair of them handed the reins over to Eamon O’Carroll for the 2024 season, Bulls made no secret of the fact that Greenwood and Noble were still heavily involved with the side.

And with rumours abound that Noble was the man driving Bradford’s recruitment heading into 2025, and he was indisputably an active figure in that department, naming him as the new head coach on a one-year deal feels like a sound decision.

O’Carroll’s abrupt departure earlier this month to take up a role in Super League, almost certainly the vacant assistant first-team coach role at St Helens underneath Paul Wellens, caught Bradford unawares.

Nobody at Bradford Bulls was expecting Eamon O'Carroll to leave, and all of their 2025 plans were with him in mind as their head coach. (Image: Tom Pearson.)

Bulls CEO Jason Hirst confirmed to the T&A that O’Carroll had only informed him he was leaving two days after the Betfred Championship play-off semi-final defeat to Toulouse, so that threatened to derail the plans that had already been made.

A significant amount of Bulls’ recruitment for the 2025 season and beyond had already been finalised prior to O’Carroll’s departure.

The name of the Bradford Bulls will have been a big draw for some of the prospective candidates, as well as the fact that those among the club have genuine belief that they can be back among the Super League elite within the next couple of years.

But it would be unusual if many of those applying for the role did not have major reservations about the fact they would be going into next year with a squad that effectively ‘wasn’t theirs’.

Contrast that with the appointment of O’Carroll, which was actually made in July 2023.

Even though the incoming boss was still Catalans’ assistant at the time, Hirst revealed that recruitment for 2024 and beyond was essentially a four-way communication over texts, calls and WhatsApps between the two of them, Noble and Greenwood over the next few months.

Hirst also confirmed to the T&A when we spoke to him at Odsal last week that he himself was speaking to a couple of backs that Bulls were looking to bring in for 2025, in the absence of a head coach.

Noble will have been a part of discussions around those names already, where a new head coach would not have been.

And potentially, other than two or three more of his own additions in the next month or two, any prospective candidate outside of Noble would not have been able to put his own stamp on the squad.

It’s a perfectly reasonable assumption that some of the other front-runners for the top job alongside Noble might not have fancied half of the squad, but would not have been able to do much about that.

Even more so last year, many of the players interviewed by the T&A have namechecked Noble as someone who has had a massive influence on them during their time at Bulls, both on a personal and professional level.

Noble has worked closely with many of the 2025 squad for two years, and with plenty for the last 11 or 12 months, so that strong relationship already exists, rather than having to be built anew.

There are some understandable reservations, with many Bulls fans worried this could tarnish his wonderful legacy as a Bradford player, successful assistant to Matthew Elliott, then head coach who helped them conquer the world.

But why not flip that? If Brian Noble is the man to lead the Bradford Bulls back to Super League, and Hirst believes that is possible by this time next year, would that not indisputably cement his status as their greatest of all time?

And while sentiment is something most of us love to see in sport, it is not why decisions like this are made.

Hirst and the board have not appointed Noble because he is popular and well-loved at Odsal, they have done it because they think he is the man who will get the best out of the players.

And while rugby league is an ever-evolving sport, Noble does not need to be labelled as a dinosaur just because he has not been a head coach since leaving Salford a decade ago.

As mentioned earlier, Noble has had an active hand in coaching at the club over the last couple of years, and everyone at Bulls will tell you he has been a factor in helping turn things around from a ninth-place finish in 2022 to a double third and back-to-back semi-finals.

It might be a shock choice to many, but to those in and around Bulls every week, it actually makes perfect sense.

If Bradford are to return to Super League, who more appropriate to take them there than the man who is already their greatest-ever head coach?