Fallen giants Bradford set for ’emotional’ Super League return

A previous version of this story was published on 16 October 2025 after Bradford Bulls’ return to Super League for 2026 was confirmed.

Love them or hate them, Bradford Bulls are a club that certainly generate opinion in rugby league circles.

They also have a rare quality, a pull beyond the usual horizons, a brand that even laypeople can associate with, however faded the memory.

After 11 years away from Super League, time in which the club were liquidated, reborn, revived and finally returned, the Bulls will run with the elite again in 2026.

For a support starved of the top table it will feel special; a club that once posted a 24,000-plus attendance for a derby with Leeds Rhinos – that is another factor to savour – can again sing its name proudly under the spotlight.

Head coach Kurt Haggerty is the man tasked with guiding Bulls on their return, which starts away to Hull FC on Saturday, and all the expectation that comes with being at a former champion club.

“We’re the new era Bulls, we’re on our own journey,” Haggerty told BBC Sport. “I’m very careful when using the history and the narrative with the players as I don’t want to put that pressure on them.

The sheer drop from being one of the game’s major players to a side rebuilt in the bottom tier has taken some of the edge away from Bradford’s claim to be a powerhouse.

It had an effect on the fanbase, the type of player they were able to recruit, and their sway with investors.

However, any fears of the Bulls sliding back into their prior demise have been allayed thanks to the investment of a passionate board, and the club-at-heart mentality of chief executive and hometown fan Jason Hirst.

Their foundation carries the important role of spreading the sport to a new audience, while partnerships with amateur clubs in the area are also a vital way of establishing links with the community.

Off the field, Bulls have consistently turned a profit in recent seasons, while on it there has been careful rebuilding by a string of coaches starting with John Kear, who brought them back from the League One doldrums and restored pride at Odsal, before Mark Dunning maintained the upward curve.

Up until the end of last season, former boss Brian Noble – who led Bulls to multiple major trophies during their heyday – was brought back after highly-rated Eamon O’Carroll was snared by St Helens to join their staff, and Noble’s legacy as a Bradford legend helped restore some of their DNA, passion and professionalism.

Now the reins are to be entrusted to another excellent young coach in Haggerty, who served his apprenticeship at Toronto Wolfpack, Leigh and Salford Red Devils before taking this job.

“I couldn’t be prouder, but it’s for people like Jason, Brian and the board of directors, the journey they’ve gone through to get this club into Super League is pretty amazing,” Haggerty added.

Most rival fans, even begrudgingly, cannot fail to be impressed by Bradford’s rebirth and the progress made.

That said, while Odsal Stadium has a history as rich and storied as any of Bradford’s legendary players, the venue which opened in 1934 had been showing its age.

For large parts it is a huge, open-air bowl with vast concrete terracing cascading down to the pitch, and work has been done in installing a big screen, LED advertising hoardings, and extending the TV gantry, among other developments.

Investment has been made in trying to make the setting a fitting one ready for their first home game against Catalans Dragons on Friday, 20 February.

“It will be a really emotional day for a lot of people,” Haggerty said.

“This is the first game back in Super League at Odsal, we’re playing against a French team which adds a little bit of incentive to us.”

When captain Jamie Peacock thrust the Super League trophy into the air at a packed Old Trafford in October 2005, it proved a turning point – and perhaps a zenith – for Bradford Bulls.

Their fourth title in just nine years was to be their last to date, as stars such as Peacock, Robbie Hunter-Paul and Leon Pryce all departed and the key components of ‘Bullmania’ began to slip away.

By the time the Bulls were relegated in 2014 under the coaching of talismanic former hooker Jimmy Lowes, the aura had faded drastically.

How does this new-look Bradford seek to re-establish itself among the top dogs in the competition?

Recruitment had to be accelerated, given the late nature of the announcement of their acceptance back into the top flight, particularly with Toulouse and York also shopping for new talent on the back of their promotions.

Among the headline arrivals were hooker Andy Ackers, signed from Leeds, English prop Ryan Sutton, whose most recent club was Gold Coast Titans, as well as Jayden Nikorima and Loghan Lewis, who both arrived after leaving Salford.

“What I found as the head coach was you’d be surprised how many people want to play for Bradford,” Haggerty continued.

“There was a window of about two and a half to three weeks where once we were officially in Super League we had to strike really, really quickly.

Not that much has changed since they went away.

After all, Hull KR’s 2025 triumph made them only the fifth team to win the competition – the fourth had been way back in 2004 when Bulls lost to allow Leeds to join the title-winning club.

Yet it is Hull KR that Bradford can gain heart from. They too had to rebuild and regroup back in 2016 when they were relegated via the Million Pound Game and were promoted a year later.

The Robins have shifted from perennial strugglers to champions, doing so by establishing a core of hungry players, initially to set the culture, and appointing a shrewd, driving force coach in Willie Peters.

Now that core in Elliot Minchella – coincidentally a Bradford lad signed from the Bulls – Jez Litten and Dean Hadley provide the heart, lifeblood and spirit of the team, while Mikey Lewis has grown from young talent to world-class star in that environment.

Rovers have given heart to everyone, and smashed the big-four ceiling.