Bradford Bulls have announced the addition of Leeds Rhinos legend Keith Senior to the club’s coaching staff on a consultancy basis for the 2025 season.
The 48-year-old enjoyed a stellar playing career that spanned 18 years, initially representing Sheffield Eagles before a trophy-laden 12 years at Headingley.
Senior also represented England and Great Britain on the international stage, making 43 appearances and scoring 14 tries.
Having hung up his boots in 2011, Senior moved into his first coaching role in 2015 as assistant coach to Mark Aston at Sheffield Eagles before departing at the end of the last season.
The opportunity at Bulls would have been “daft to turn down” according to Senior, who has paid tribute to the vision of the club and its board of directors.
He said: “After leaving Sheffield, I was in a bit of a predicament as I wasn’t really looking to get back into rugby.
“From finishing playing I’ve stayed in the rugby environment so I have never had holidays in the summer, I have always been involved working and training.
“I’ve never had weekends free, so I thought it might be just a little bit of time for me to reflect and see what the next stage was.
“I had a brief conversation with Nobby when I told him I would be leaving Sheffield and I didn’t think anything of it.
“But having seen him take the head coach role, I just asked him out of the blue if there was an opportunity to join him as an assistant and that arose, so I was very excited.
“The club wants to go in the right direction and when you’re a coach you want to be part of that success just like as a player.
“I know the vision of the club is to get back to Super League and I know personally how important that is for the game of rugby league.
“To have the Leeds versus Bradford derby back would be huge not only for the sport, but for the game in West Yorkshire.
“The big thing at Bulls now is the vision.
“They’ve sold the vision to me and when you’re in the Championship it’s a dogfight and nobody knows what the future holds.
“With Nigel Wood, Brian and the rest of the board, their vision is to get Bradford back into Super League and when there’s a job like that available, it seems a bit daft to turn it down, especially when throughout my playing career it was all about success.
“It was all about being the best, working as a team in the best environments and if I can bring some of that experience and be part of that, then I think I can be a very valuable asset.
“It’s important the players want the success as well and that's probably the most vital element of it.
“The players have got to want it, as it's all right saying it as a coaching staff and as backroom board members, but if it's not something that the players want to achieve, then it's a non-starter.
“Fortunately, you can see success is something that the players are driven towards here and it’s what they want.”
Noble is thrilled to have Senior on board, saying: “Keith brings a wealth of experience at the highest level.
“He was an outstanding Super League and international player and he has a real depth of knowledge at this level too, having worked at Sheffield for the last nine years.
“He is a competent coach who can deliver the things that will need delivering throughout the year.
“As a Bradfordian myself, one thing I had to get over was his Leeds connections, but I think we can manage to live with that.
“Keith is really excited to be joining us and understands we are an enthusiastic, progressive club that wants to improve.
“He will help us prepare all the different types of players we have got in our squad with his skill set.
“I know Keith well, I know what he will bring and I know what he is capable of achieving.
“We have a big squad that will need a lot of attention and in essence, coaching, to the way we want myself and Lee Greenwood to go with.
“We want to change some things and now we have an extra pair of hands to add to what we have already got, which augurs well.”
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