Not much in the way of previous head coach experience, so difficult to have any expectations one way or the other.

Let's hope the club have made a better appointment this time around. They seem confident, judging by the 3 year deal offered. Fingers crossed.

He got Newcastle promoted, only left because he was shafted by the owner to be fair

And I think he will have learnt 2 important things from that - get assurances from the owner in writing and also what not to do when transitioning a squad from part time to full time. Which may or may not be useful for us in the next 3 years

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Didn't Newcastle go up because of Toronto's demise?

I don't think he's the cheap option by any means. As another poster has said I'm neither ecstatic or disappointed he's signed. 3 year deal is certainly a vote of confidence.

Sam Tomkins fully backs him, he's assistant to the best side in SL, he's had a head coaching job before, the media think is smart business (having said that some said they were happy Andy Last got the Cas job when the whole world could see they needed a fresh face)

On the flip side this is still one of the most pressurised jobs in the game. Newcastle get hammered, it's disappointing, bulls get hammered the whole world is about to end.

Considering Stevie Mac.. got thrown in the deep end at the beginning of his Coaching career and has finally come out on the right side of the pool, I expect plenty of advice from him and Nobby re the Bulls recent past.

EOC is highly regarded by many 'in the know' journalists and current/former players. The reaction of social media appears positive and well-received.

This will hopefully be a very good appointment for the club.

I don't have an opinion good or bad really. The championship is a logical step for a SL assistant coach. It will be interesting to see what sort of character he wants as his own assistant.

Maybe Greenwood will stop on as assistant and Nobby take a back seat in some way

Happy with the appointment and think it’s the best we could have hoped for in the circumstances. Positive enough signs so far from EOC although a lot of factor will affect how his time at Bradford will go.

I’m interested to know if he will be full time as the vast majority of our squad is part time. Is he moving from France for a part time head coach role and another job? Or could we see a move to more full time again over the next 3 years as we go into the world of IMG.

I mean yeh, it’s a positive but it’s not a massive achievement for any coach with a reasonable budget. As I say, he comes in as a bit of an unknown quantity and perhaps in his favour he has no ties with the club. I think most fans are of the same opinion, hence the fairly lukewarm response. Hopefully that might work in his favour if he can take the side to the next level and bring some consistency to our performances on the field.

full time

Could be a good choice. He's seen how McNamara has transformed Catalans from being a club with a poor culture of Aussies on a holiday to genuine SL champion contenders. Of course it all depends on how well he's backed by Nigel. This level of coach is where I would expect us to be looking. Talk of getting an experienced SL or even NRL coach is unrealistic IMO.

Im happy with this. He’s got lower level head coach experience, SL assistant experience, knowledge of running academies, how to work with p/t and f/t squads. He’s packed a lot into his career so far.
From a budget pov, I think the club is slowly increasing income streams every year so it follows that the playing budget should maintain at worst.
The 2 unknowns that could boost the club are IMG and the stadium ( not really unknown, but not happening I suppose) so a 3 year deal gives him a chance to build.

The stadium is a whole other discussion. Probably worth it's own thread which I will start...

There’s an Eamon O’Carroll interview on the 5 live RL podcast. Mainly Catalans but a segment on Bradford and what he’s hoping to bring to the club