Bradford Bulls coach Kurt Haggerty was full of praise for returning star Joe Mellor as the veteran helped the Bulls to a 30-20 win over York Knights.
It marks the fifth win in seven for the Bulls at Odsal with that home form enough for Bradford to sit ninth in Super League through 13 games.
In a close affair, the Bulls regularly opted for two to keep the scoreboard ticking but they broke free and even managed to score when Andy Ackers was off the field in the sin bin, before then punishing York when they were at a two-man disadvantage when Mellor scored.
It marked the first time since round six that all of Joe Mellor, Ryan Sutton and Jayden Nikorima, the club’s senior leadership group, had played together and when confronted with that fact, Haggerty was shocked.
Speaking to BullsTV post-match, Haggerty responded: “Is that what it was, Castleford the last game? Wow, yeah, it helps, doesn’t it?
“It helps in the continuity of your spine, I thought Joey linked us up like he does very, very well and it gives the pivots the opportunity to play with a little bit of freedom.
“It was nice to see that bit of continuity in the spine.”
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Bradford Bulls won without playing well, per Haggerty
Mellor was someone who came in for particular praise with the loose forward already signed up for next year, so impressive has his form been at Odsal.
Haggerty said of the loose forward: “He’s certainly a calm head. He knows how to get us around the field, he knows when we need to attack, he knows when to pull it back. He’s a great leader.”
Another significant aspect of the result was that Bradford came through without picking up any injuries bar a Jayden Nikorima stinger on his shoulder, however, Haggerty confirmed that Jayden Okunbor had missed out through injury.
He confirmed: “Jayden (Okunbor) has hurt his back. He’s got a bulging disc at the moment so he’s going to see a specialist.”
As a general assessment, the head coach added: “We haven’t played well but we’ve won.
“It’s very easy to pinpoint what we haven’t done well and we’ll look at that tomorrow morning and if we fix them areas, then we’ve got a good chance of beating Leigh.”
