Bradford Bulls youngsters singled out by Brian Noble amid half-back pairing verdict

Bradford Bulls boss Brian Noble couldn’t be happier with the progress of his young players following the friendly win over Keighley Cougars. Bradford brought the curtain down on the calendar year in emphatic fashion as they saw off League One Keighley 26-0 at Odsal last Sunday.

Former St Helens man Waqa Blake scored his first in Bradford colours to steal the headlines, with Ebon Scurr, Emmanuel Waine and Eliot Peposhi getting over as well. Youngster Alfie Leake wrapped up the result with a try of his own, though, and he was one of six academy players stepping up to feature for the Bulls against the Cougars.

Of the youngsters it was George Rayner who arguably caught the eye the most, though, with the young full-back playing the full 80 for the Championship side, who have ambitions of earning a spot in Super League in the not too distant future.

“We had six out there, him (Rayner) and Jamie Gill, Sam Ackroyd, Jacob Bateman, Alfie Leake, who I thought was outstanding when he came on. George Rayner was probably the headliner I thought he did really really well,” Noble said. “Mason Corbett showed why we’ve taken him out of Leeds.

“When they came on it took them a little bit of a while, five minutes, to get up to the different speed. They’re a top League One team, Keighley, they’ll be hoping to push at the top and that’s a different standard to what they’ve been playing.

“He deserves a mention, George Rayner, we’ve plucked him out and given him a chance.”

Last week’s game was also the first time new Bradford Bulls half-back pairing James Meadows and Joe Keyes had played together and Noble was pleased with their partnership’s early signs, too.

“My impression is no different to what I thought when we signed them,” he said. “There are small aspects of their games that they will want to do better but at times we had a really good offensive shape and at time they made the wrong decisions but I could not be happier after our first five-week block of training.”