Bradford Bulls head coach Kurt Haggerty has spoken about the club’s recruitment plans for 2027 whilst also fielding questions on the club’s links to NRL stars John Bateman and Kodi Nikorima.
Bateman, a Bradford native, is off-contract at the end of the season and is expected to leave North Queensland Cowboys, whilst the Dolphins’ playmaker Nikorima, the brother of Bulls’ star Jayden, is also thought to be entertaining offers from a number of clubs.
Bradford are reportedly one of those linked with a move for Nikorima and when asked if he could comment on that, Haggerty offered a blunt response of ‘no’.
That was the same response he issued when asked about John Bateman, before adding: “Good player.”
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Bradford Bulls boss talks 2027 recruitment plans
Whilst not forthcoming with confirming or denying those links to the NRL talents, it’s a sign of just how far Bradford have come that they can be linked with players of such a level and Haggrty admitted that the club are in exciting times.
On recruitment opportunities and the attraction of the Bulls, Haggerty admitted: “I have spoken and met with other players. The big thing with it is the style of play that people speak about.
“It’s a little bit different, they want a little bit of that, and also they’ve seen the resilience that we have as a team and Vegas helps and the noise that the club’s making and the matchday experiences we’re putting on, so there’s a lot of things to be positive about the Bradford Bulls at the moment.”
As for the positions that are being recruited, Haggerty said: “We’re still looking pretty holistically at the moment.
“We’ve got to sit down and properly debrief the squad. Obviously we were in a very difficult position where we had to recruit a team in six to eight weeks, so there were some signings that were rushed, there were some signings that I did have in the pipeline, so it was a pretty crazy six to eight week.
“Ultimately we’re still looking at some players on the edges and also some people in the middle, so we’re still pretty holistic in regards to recruitment.”
The Bulls boss also confirmed that he doesn’t believe there to be a specific age group that needs recruiting with the message simply being that if a player is good enough, then no matter old or young, they would be of interest to Bradford.
He said: “There’s nothing specific and ultimately we’ve re-signed Joe Mellor who is around 35 or 36 years old, so ultimately if we think they can still do a job and they’re fit enough and competent enough to still play elite level at Super League, then we will open a conversation with them for sure.”
