BRADFORD Bulls coach Brian Noble says that it will take a while for his players to get used to the playing style of new signing Chris Hill.
The 37-year-old former England and Great Britain forward made his Bulls debut in the 18-12 victory over Doncaster at Bartercard Odsal on Friday night.
Noble was happy with what he saw from Hill, who joined from Salford last week and hopes to play for the Bulls at least until the end of the 2026 season.
Former hooker Noble said: “Gosh Chris is a good player and it was his debut and he has only had minimal training, and to have so much impact is a reflection on him.
“I have asked him to play with a smile on his face after the trials and tribulations that a lot of players have had at Salford, and it is important that we embrace what he can do and we learn to play with him (anticipating his offloads for example) and we will get better because of that, but he should be happy with what he has done here.”
Hill, who acknowledged that the Betfred Championship is much slower than Super League, which is the level he has played at pretty much all of his career, said: “It was a good hit-out.
“I haven’t played for a couple of weeks and this is a different league to Super League.
“Doncaster made the game a lot slower, and we didn’t play our game. We played their game. We let ourselves down.
“You take the referee (Scott Mikalauskas) out of it, everything out of it – it is down to us and what we can control, and we didn’t do well enough but we will get better.”
“What did we do well? We won, we found a way to win, and it wasn’t pretty, but the lads were saying that earlier in the year we would probably have lost that.
“We will have a look at the game and try and do better for Sheffield away.”
Hill said: “I have had two training sessions – on Monday and Wednesday – and just need to get used to how the other players play, which will take a couple of weeks, but I am looking forward to it.”
The Bulls aren’t in action next weekend, and the Sheffield match is not until Friday, August 22.
Hill confessed: “I would rather be playing next weekend, but maybe the lads wouldn’t!
“I have had a long year with the stuff that I have been going through at Salford, which has been harder on my family, but I won’t take the whole week off. I will do bits on my own.
“It has been hard at Salford – mentally tiring – but you live and learn, and worse things have happened at sea as they say.
“I have been welcomed with open arms here at Bradford. The lads have been great and I am looking forward to doing the business for the rest of the year and helping them to achieve their goal.”
Noble was also chuffed with the comeback of Jorge Taufua after such a long injury absence with a hamstring issue.
He said: “I was absolutely thrilled with Jorge. To have not played for 20 weeks, 18 weeks and not to have had a competitive hit out with the reserves and to jump in . . . I am sure that he will sleep for a couple of days on the back of that.”
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