Bradford Bulls’ Brian Noble sends message to players as ex-St Helens forward earns high praise

Bradford Bulls take on Keighley Cougars in the first pre-season game ahead of 2025 and coach Brian Noble has outlined what fans can expect.

Typically, the first game of pre-season comes on Boxing Day with Leeds Rhinos and Wakefield Trinity, who will go at it again this year as they traditionally do. However, that’s not the first pre-season game this year.

That’s because Bradford Bulls host local rivals Keighley Cougars at Odsal on Sunday with fans able to witness the start of a new era at the club under former coach Brian Noble.

Noble was reappointed after Eamon O’Carroll left the club to return closer to family and take on a role with St Helens. The return of Noble marks the first time he has been a head coach since 2014 and the first time he has led the Bulls since 2006.

Expectations and anticipation are high at the club given the impressive squad that they have assembled and that could translate to strong ticket sales for Sunday, particularly given that plenty of the signings and former Super League men have been named in the 25-man squad.

Noble has now provided an update on what to expect, which players could miss out and sent a final message to his players.

Bradford Bulls boss outlines friendly expectations

Pre-season games are almost always about getting minutes under the belt but for Bradford it will be about returning to contact with Noble revealing that the club are yet to undergo any real contact work thus far.

“We haven’t done any contact in our phase one, other than some little bits on the field, he explained when commenting in an interview shared on the Bulls’ website.

“That’s always a shock to the players when it comes around and somebody tries to belt you into next week. Keighley and Bradford is an emotionally strong fixture for everybody and I don’t doubt that the start will be like that.”

He also confirmed: “We’ve got some new players as well, where we’ll be wanting to see some combinations.”

One of those new players named that could be involved in the combinations is James Meadows with the playmaker signing from London Broncos and he looks primed for a big role given that Jordan Lilley misses out.

Speaking prior to the squad reveal on who would miss out, Noble explained: “There will be five or six players missing who I would think the competitors for a starting jumper. Tom Holmes and Jordan Lilley won’t be in the mix, Guy Armitage won’t be in the mix he has a small injury, not a major one.

“I probably won’t play Michael Lawrence and James Donaldson, because we’ll need them through the season, when we’re throwing, when we’re hitting each other with baseball bats, so we have to be selective with what we’re doing, what we don’t do.”

Donaldson is one of the senior Super League men to sign for the Bulls and he and Lawrence will form a formidable leadership group but Noble is still calling on young stars to come through – much like ex-St Helens man Eliot Peposhi, of whom the Bulls head coach is a huge fan.

Brian Noble confirms he’s a ‘big fan’ of ex-St Helens man

Confirming that no starting 13 had been picked, Noble outlined that players should be using the game to stake a claim for a shirt with Peposhi namechecked as one of those to have done that.

He said: “Myself and Greeny (Lee Greenwood, assistant coach) have an idea of who we think is going to feature more but what we’ve got at the moment, if we don’t get injuries, is the ability to change the team around to be, not just different, but impactive.

“It’s the first chance for somebody to make a name for themselves. I can only reinforce the fact that you know that I’m a big fan of the Peposhi’s of this world and what he brings to a squad and what he brings to a team.

“I’m clearly looking for people to put in and cause pressure on people who are expected to be playing, nobody here has the expectancy of playing in this team.”