Bradford Bulls will return to Super League for the first time in 12 years when they take on Hull FC in Round One, and whilst preparation hasn’t been easy, head coach Kurt Haggerty is ready for the campaign ahead.
The Bulls have had just six weeks to pull a squad ready for the top flight together, after it was announced in mid-October that they would be part of the expanded competition. They will be joined by York Knights and Toulouse Olympique, who also join to make it a 14-team division, with Salford Red Devils relegated to the Championship.
Ex-Red Devils assistant boss Haggerty is ready for his first full season in charge of a Super League side, after signing with Bradford on a three-year deal to be their head coach. He has brought in a huge influx of players, with many of those playing under him and Paul Rowley at Salford last year.
In an interview with Kinetic Rugby League, the Bulls boss gave a run-down of how the club had to deal with recruitment this off-season, and how challenging it was to built a squad worthy of the top flight.
He said: “The big part of it, first, was identifying players that we could bring over to Bradford, and trying to get a Super League team ready within a very short space of time. That was very difficult, getting the boys re-signed at Bradford who we thought were potential Super League players.
“There was a lot of work in regards to recruitment before I’d even got over to Bradford and looked at the training facility and put some things in place ready to change it for full-time… There was a load of changes that had to happen really quickly.
As mentioned, many recruits are ex-Salford, including the likes of Esan Marsters and Jayden Nikorima, who both will continue their Super League careers in 2026. Haggerty revealed how they had to fend off competition to secure their signatures, with many sides from around the world chasing some of their new additions.
He said: “The situation had happened with Salford, then I’d obviously left myself. Then, the players were left without a club.
“With the club getting into Super League, I knew them players were available, but I knew we had to strike really quickly to get them over the line to come to the Bulls, because there’s a lot of clubs sniffing around all the players in different capacities, whether it was NRL, Super League, Championship.
“I had to get them boys done really, really quickly and yes, a few of them have been with me at Salford before, who were due to play with me next year when I was the head coach at Salford. It was a different change of environment, but the same process for them really.
“I had to strike quickly to get then boys done before anybody else signed them and then we just had to go from there.”
The Bulls have also recruited from the Championship, with Caleb Aekins and Connor Wynne joining from Featherstone, and Brandon Douglas arriving from Halifax. Haggerty has been impressed with their transition back to being full-time, and highlighted what a good opportunity for the latter two to get second chances in Super League.
“It’s an opportunity that presents for them,” he said. “In regards to Douglas and Connor Wynne, and getting them over to the Bulls, it was almost seamless. As soon as the club was in Super League, people wanted to join the Bulls.
“I’d identified them players, I thought they could step up to Super League. Obviously, Connor Wynne has been there and done it before in some capacity. Brandon Douglas has had a very brief encounter with Castleford, but made his name in the Championship.
“We just had to be careful and identify the right players that suit my style of play and also that were available at the time for us to get.”
Bradford Bulls boss wants “respect” in Super League as off-season preparations discussed
The talk of the off-season has been how each promoted side will fare, but the truth is no-one really knows until a ball is kicked. Comparisons have been made between the current three and promoted sides of yesteryear, with the likes of Leigh Leopards and Wakefield Trinity coming into the top flight seamlessly in recent times.
However, those sides had very different preparations to the one that Bradford, Toulouse and York have had, with most of their squads getting to play a full year together in the Championship before making the move up.
Haggerty wants the Bulls to be judged on their performances, and not be compared to those teams, with the “narrative”‘ being somewhat unfair, given their stories are completely different.
“I think that’s so difficult [to answer],” he replied when asked his whether his side can emulate the likes of Leigh and Wakefield. “They were ready-made Super League teams. They recruited ready-made Super League teams to come up. We’ve had to do it in the space of six weeks. It’s been an impossible task at times They’re a lot more advanced than what we are at the moment.
“I don’t think it’s quite the same narrative. But, the big thing is that I’ll put out to the players and to the public, we want to earn respect. We want to come into this competition and be respected. There’s a lot of players in there that know what it looks like. I’ve been in Super League a long time myself, so we know what it looks like.
“We just want to earn respect and hope people enjoy the brand of rugby we play and value what we bring to the competition.”
