IT’S fair to say that Bradford Bulls have been recruiting eagerly to ensure a better season on the field in 2023 than the one that was endured in 2022.
The West Yorkshire club finished outside the top six play-offs last season with head coach John Kear parting ways with the Odsal outfit midway through the year.
Now, though, led by former assistant to Kear, Mark Dunning, Bradford have been building superbly for the new season with a number of key signings such as Leeds Rhinos pair Jack Walker and Bodene Thompson as well as Huddersfield Giants stalwart Michael Lawrence.
As well as on the field, however, the Bulls have also been recruiting heavily off the field and chief executive Jason Hirst has revealed the extent of that.
“We have had an unprecedented number of sponsors that have shown their desire to be on our new kits and a lot of them have been new sponsors,” Hirst told West Yorkshire Radio Rugby League.
“We have done a lot of recruitment – a lot of that is obvious in players on the field, but we have strengthened the management team off the field too.
“We’ve brought in Gareth Pickles as the independent youth and academy director, Lee Greenwood as assistant coach to Mark Dunning so we’ve done a lot of off-field recruitment too.
“I think if we had gone back four months ago and said ‘we are going to sign Jack Walker,’ people would have looked at us with some doubt.
“Like with Bodene Thompson and Michael Lawrence. To get one of those in isolation would have raised eyebrows but to get all three of those together sends out a message. Tom Holmes also goes under the radar, he’s been there and done it at Championship level.”
In terms of being able to afford players such as those, Hirst explained how there is a recruitment board of four people that talk through potential transfers.
“We have a recruitment board that consists of four people: Mark Dunning, Brian Noble, Nigel Wood and me as CEO,” Hirst continued.
“Mark and Brian meet with myself and Nigel regularly, Nigel uses his extensive contacts within the game to open some doors. I sign off on the financials.
“It’s really important that i sign off on those as it takes a lot of time to get these deals and Mark’s focus is on on-field performance.”
According to Hirst, the recruitment hasn’t finished and even though signings may come later, Bradford will be eyeing up talent on the fringes of Super League.
“The recruitment hasn’t finished, I want to make that clear. We’re still looking to bring in a couple of players before the start of the season. Will that happen? Hopefully, but if not we will be relaxed.
“What’s important when the season starts, particularly in Super League, there will be some players that think are in the first 13, or 17 but are in the first 25 instead and might look at another club and that’s where we need to be ready.”
