Smith: It’s business as usual at Bradford
Bradford coach Rohan Smith says nothing has changed when it comes to his plans to rebuild and revamp the Bulls.
The Bulls missed out on the Middle 8s with their defeat to Featherstone on Sunday and will now play off for the Championship Shield.
Despite missing out on the chance to chase promotion to Super League for 2017, Smith told Love Rugby League it is “business as usual”.
“Nothing’s changed as far as I’m aware its business as usual for us,” he said.
“It’s been a disappointing few days, that’s the way it goes sometimes when you leave it up to a do or die game you face a big high or a big low.
“There’s a whole season that’s passed previous to that game that’s all contributed to the situation that were in now.”
Smith was appointed to the job in May with the departure of James Lowes.
Bradford have stated that they plan to remain full-time in 2017.
“Nothings changed, one of the first questions to Marc [Green] prior to getting the job here was about the intention to go full-time for not only this year and next year but for years to come in order to build sustainable success at Super League level and that was always going to take a period of time to get to that point and Marc’s commitment hasn’t changed,” Smith said.
“He’s a passionate guy and he loves the club so I’m looking forward to building on that.”
Smith and the club’s hierarchy have come under fire for poor preparation and ordinary rplayer ecruitment from several quarters in the past few days.
“You could ask any of our players or any player that I’ve coached over the years about the level of preparation I go to, I cover as many things as i can,” the Australian said.
“So I’m not exactly sure what’s coming from where but our players certainly knew the threats that the weekend posed and the opposition, so it wasn’t through lack of preparation.”
Smith said the Bulls now want to add some silverware in the shape of the Championship Shield.
“We want to perform well every game and win at every opportunity so nothing changes there,” he said.
“It’s still an opportunity to get out there and do what you love doing as far as a player goes and representing the club, and for us to have a bit of one eye on the future and building in towards next pre-season.”