Analysing potential head coach options for Bradford Bulls including Leeds Rhinos legend and former boss

Bradford Bulls are on the hunt for a new coach for 2025 after Eamon O’Carroll tendered his resignation with the Championship club earlier this week.

O’Carroll has been offered a full-time opportunity at a Super League club next year, leaving the Bulls looking for a replacement as they look to continue to make strides towards the top-flight themselves.

The Bulls have put an impressive-looking squad together for next year, meaning whoever succeeds O’Carroll will be inheriting a group of players capable of competing for the Championship title.

But who could take the role? Here are seven potential candidates.

Rhys Lovegrove

Lovegrove is keen to return to head coaching having left Keighley Cougars – where he did an impressive job before being let go.

Currently the academy head coach at Hull KR, Lovegrove is well thought of within the game and is almost certain to get a Championship opportunity at some stage.

The Bulls and Rovers have had plenty of dealings in recent years – could Lovegrove make the move to Odsal?

Ian Watson

It is categorically the most bold and ambitious option of them all: but you wonder if, at this stage in their respective journeys, Watson and the Bulls could be a worthwhile fit for one another?

Watson will clearly have aspirations of coaching in Super League again. The Bulls retain that ambition themselves. Could they help each other out by teaming up?

Bradford are hopeful they’ll get the nod to Super League at some stage in the near future under IMG’s plans but even if that wasn’t while Watson was there, the Bulls could be an ideal home for him to build his reputation and coach Bradford to Championship success.

Andrew Henderson

An individual who has strong links with some key members of the Bulls’ hierarchy, Henderson is another who is seeking a coaching role after his exit as York Knights’ head coach earlier this season.

The former London Broncos head coach is another who could fit an ambitious project like the one Bradford are putting together.

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Mark Dunning

Dunning is attracting admirers in the Championship given the work he’s put together at Midlands Hurricanes this season in guiding them to the League 1 play-offs. And of course, he knows all about Odsal and the Bulls.

Dunning was on the books at Bradford for years, even having had a stint as head coach until he was let go in May of last year. Having gone elsewhere and proven his capabilities, could he potentially return to Odsal?

Laurent Frayssinous

Another bold option: but a coach who is on the market and available.

Frayssinous has left St Helens following the end of the Super League season – and while it remains to be seen whether the French head coach would be keen to remain in England, he could easily be attracted by the prospect of the Bulls’ project.

It also depends on whether he would wish to go part-time: but if a route back into head coaching at club level is what Frayssinous desires, Bradford could be a good fit.

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Danny McGuire

This would certainly get people talking!

Currently the assistant coach at Castleford Tigers, the notion of a Leeds Rhinos great – and one who had the better of the Bulls on so many occasions as a player – taking charge at Bradford would definitely cause a bit of a stir.

But given the geographical proximity between the two clubs, could McGuire feasibly combine a role coaching Bradford part-time while also working full-time at the Tigers? It may be tricky, but it’s been done before: current Castleford head coach Craig Lingard did it at Batley, after all.

Scott Grix

Again, another potential coach that might make supporters of a certain club wince given Grix’s affiliation with Halifax!

But similarly to McGuire, Grix is a coach currently in an assistant’s role at a Super League club, namely Leeds Rhinos. The Rhinos and the Bulls have forged strong links at boardroom level, and you would suspect would be open to a possible deal happening.

Could Grix be another who, if on the lookout for his first big break as a head coach, go down the route of combining the two jobs? Or do Bradford need an individual all-in on their own project?

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