Former Bradford Bulls hooker James Lowes has thrown his hat into the ring for the coaching vacancy at Odsal.
The relegation-threatened Bulls have begun the search for a successor to Francis Cummins after he and assistant coach Lee St Hilaire were sacked on Monday.
Club captain Matt Diskin has been handed the reins on a temporary basis ahead of Friday’s home game against Hull KR but is not expected to be a contender for the job.
Former Bulls coach Brian Noble, out of work since resigning from Salford in April, has been linked with the vacancy and Lowes, who is on a rolling contract as head coach of rugby union side Leeds Carnegie, admits he is interested in the job.
“I’d like to at least sit down and talk with (owner) Marc Green to hear his plans,” Lowes told the Bradford Telegraph & Argus. “That would be the first step and it would be nice to meet with the bloke.”
Lowes, 44, who was briefly head coach of Warrington Wolves in 2008-09, applied for the Bradford job when Australian Mick Potter was appointed as the successor to Steve McNamara ahead of the 2011 season.
“I didn’t even get a reply to my application, which was very disappointing and left a sour taste,” he said. “But it’s obviously a job I’d love to do whether it’s now or in the future. It’s Bradford Bulls – it’s my club.”
Lowes was at the heart of Bradford’s success at the start of Super League when they were crowned champions four times in nine years and twice won the Challenge Cup.
John Kear, who famously kept Wakefield Trinity Wildcats in Super League in 2006 and is currently coaching Batley on a part-time basis, and former Bradford player and current Dewsbury coach Glenn Morrison are also possible candidates.
Bradford say they will take their time to appoint a successor to Cummins, who paid the price for the clubs’ failure to pull away from the relegation zone in the First Utility Super League.
The Bulls are in a seemingly hopeless position, eight points adrift of Wakefield with 11 fixtures left of the regular season after failing in their bid to have their points deduction for going into administration overturned on appeal.
“We don’t want to make any mistakes,” Bradford chief executive Robbie Hunter-Paul said. “If we go in all guns blazing, then we can come unstuck. It’s important we get the right person.
“We don’t want to play the coaching merry-go-round. We know we haven’t got a lot of time but we’re not going to rush into it.
“Mathematically we’re not out of it yet. Our main objective is to try and do as well as possible and to put as much pressure on those teams sitting above us.”
