Kurt Haggerty makes Bradford Bulls’ recruitment admission with flurry of signings expected

Bradford Bulls head coach Kurt Haggerty has admitted that he has a big task on his head to create a Super League-level squad after confirmation of the club’s return to the big time.

The Bulls gained automatic entry to Super League by placing tenth on the IMG grading criteria, effectively replacing Salford Red Devils in the competition before Toulouse Olympique and York Knights were confirmed as the 13th and 14th expansion teams.

Having returned to the big time, the Bulls now need to quickly assemble a squad which is something Haggerty has admitted is his ‘big challenge’.

“I’ve got to try and get a Super League team together in six weeks so that’s my big challenge. I’ve got a big job to try and get a team ready in a very short space of time,” he admitted to BBC Radio Leeds.

Speaking at Odsal on Thursday, he was also quoted by All Out Rugby League as stating: “I think I probably need 12 to 14 players,” highlighting the enormity of the task.

Since those comments, the Bulls have signed Rowan Milnes with the half-back having progressed through the Bradford academy before debuting back in 2018.

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Bradford Bulls coach talks recruitment after Super League return

He was the club’s second Super League signing this past week after the addition of Andy Ackers and Haggerty had admitted to BBC Radio Leeds that he was hoping confirmation of the club’s return to Super League would help the recruitment process.

The 36-year-old said: “Things are moving, things had plateaued a little bit but now that the announcement is out, I’m hoping things pick up again.

“It’s not easy but it should be easier now that we’re in Super League. So when we’re speaking to a player before it was ‘when we’re hopefully in Super League’ because the calibre of player we’re speaking to want to be in Super League, like Andy Ackers.

“Now that announcement makes it a little bit easier and I’ve probably got another ten or fifteen phone calls to make today saying ‘we’re in Super League’, so it does help in that sense.”

Talking about expectations of 2025, Haggerty explained that his side would play a similar style of rugby to Salford, where he was an assistant coach, with the club putting out offerings that fans could be proud of.

He admitted: “We’re a million miles from (the glory days) but we’re a Super League team and will hopefully put a product on the field that people will want to come and watch and enjoy Bradford playing rugby, and I think that will be a really good starting point.”