Bull Masters - Brian Noble
For almost 15 years no Bradford side was complete without Brian Noble in the No 9 shirt. Brian was a fixture in the Northern version of the ‘Terrible Six’ and formed a fearsome front row with Kelvin Skerrett and Jon Hamer.
The Bradford pack at that time was as good as any that the game has seen and ‘Nobby’ guaranteed that a good supply of ball was on hand to ‘feed the Beast’.
He was a master of dummy half play and could always be relied on to make the hard yards and come up with important try when he had to.
Brian was member of the Police boys club and came under the wing of Trevor Foster before signing for Bradford. His debut came in the 1978-79 season against St Helens and didn’t end until the Centenary Season of 1995-96 after a spell at Wakefield Trinity. He had some ferocious battles with David Ward of Leeds from whom he took the Great Britain hooking role.
It was as a Great Britain player that he attained his highest honour in the game. In 1984 he was chosen as the Captain of the Great Britain Lions to tour Australia and New Zealand. To tour with the Lions is one of the goals of every Rugby League player but to be chosen, as the Captain is an honour that Brian could only have dreamed about when he started playing the game. Brian played in all seven Tests on the tour, including the Test in Papua New Guinea, and was judged by many who were there as the ideal Tour Captain.
Brian Noble was Bradford through and through and it was no surprise when he came back to Odsal at the end of his playing days to take up a Coaching role under Brian Smith. The respect that he earned in his playing career stood him in good stead and it was no surprise when he was eventually handed the Head Coach’s Role in succession to Matt Elliott for the 2001 season.
If Nobby’s days as a player had been a success then they paled into insignificance when he became Head Coach. A Challenge Cup appearance in his first season was followed by a comprehensive defeat of Wigan in what was to be the first of five consecutive Grand Finals. In 2003 he became the first Coach to win ‘all four cups’ in the Super League era when he led the club to Challenge Cup, League Leader’s Trophy, Grand Final victory and then a victory in the World Club Championship. In 2005 he became the first Coach to lead a side from outside the top two to a Grand Final success when the Bulls defeated Leeds at Old Trafford.
He left the club somewhat acrimoniously in 2006 to take up an appointment with Wigan but his place in Bradford history is assured. He was a great player and probably an even better Coach.
Stuart Duffy