Bradford Bulls head coach Kurt Haggerty has spoken about one of his star signings and their impact, as well as injury worries with NRL import Ryan Sutton since confirmed to a leadership role at the club.
The Bulls confirmed their squad numbers at a launch event this week and that also saw their leadership group revealed with Joe Mellor taking on the role of captain, and Ryan Sutton and Jayden Nikorima appointed vice captains.
It perhaps came as no surprise that Sutton was elevated to a leadership role immediately after signing based on comments made by head coach Kurt Haggerty to BBC Radio Leeds just 12 hours earlier, when he identified Sutton as someone who had taken on a leadership role naturally.
Haggerty explained: “We brought Ryan over from the NRL and the bloke is desperate to play rugby again. He’s missed a portion of his career where he wants to play rugby again.
“He’s a clear leader of men. We’ve spoken about some things in Ryan’s game that we think we can help him with and what he can add to the team. He’s probably the one bloke who comes into the environment every day ready for a game. The bloke just wants to play rugby.”
“He’s got his own version of a point of prove, which is no point to prove to me, but he’s been first class and, again, he’s a leader of men.”
Bradford Bulls boss hopeful star signing’s beyond injury woes
Sutton has had a clear lack of game time over the past few years on account of injury, something that weighs into his strong desire to get back out playing, and it was also something that Haggerty was asked about in respect to whether he’s beyond his injury issues.
“I really hope he can for him,” Haggerty said in regards Sutton’s injury battles, adding: “He’s a great bloke. He’s a fantastic professional. I’ve met his family now numerous times, I’ve met his partner and the bloke just needs a little bit of luck.
“I’m just hoping for Bradford fans we get to see the best version of Ryan Sutton because he’s a very good player and he’s going to offer a lot for this club.”
Sutton is arguably the highest-profile name of the 16 signings that the Bulls have made so far and Haggerty admitted that the NRL man was somebody who was specifically targeted.
Haggerty explained: “He was somebody that I pinpointed that there was an opportunity to sign him. We went pretty big on getting Ryan over the line. Again, we had numerous chats before he even signed on the line so there was a lot of work that went into signing Ryan and since he’s been here, he’s been first class.”
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