\n The New Zealander represented Australian giants Sydney Roosters and Melbourne Storm in the NRL, as well as representing the Maori All Stars in 2022.\n<\/p>\n
\n And it was at the Roosters where he had his first test against Super League opposition, when he played a starring role in their 2020 World Club Challenge victory over St Helens, assisting two tries.\n<\/p>\n
\n He initially made the move to Betfred Super League to play for Catalans Dragons last year.\n<\/p>\n
\n But after just 13 appearances for the French side, they terminated his contract in July 2024, along with Siua Taukeiaho and Damel Diakhate.\n<\/p>\n
\n Catalans\u2019 reasoning was that the trio had been \u201cinvolved in an incident deemed to be highly unacceptable by the club and contrary to the club\u2019s values\u201d.\n<\/p>\n
\n But Nikorima was able to rebuild his reputation after moving to Salford a week later.\n<\/p>\n
\n He impressed during his time at the Red Devils, playing a key role in their fourth-placed Super League finish in 2024, before they were beaten by Leigh in the first round of the play-offs.\n<\/p>\n
\n Nikorima played 15 times for Salford last season too, but the club were plagued by financial issues and upheaval, finishing bottom of Super League and ultimately being relegated to the Championship for 2026.\n<\/p>\n
\n But the half-back will remain in the top flight, as he now links back up with Ethan Ryan, Rowan Milnes and former Salford assistant coach Kurt Haggerty at Bradford.\n<\/p>\n
\n Jayden Nikorima and Ethan Ryan both scored second-half tries for Salford in their 26-16 Challenge Cup win over Bulls back in March. (Image: Richard Sellers\/PA Wire)\n<\/p>\n
\n Nikorima, who had been linked with a move to St Helens, said: \u201cI am super pumped to be joining the Bulls.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThey were my dad\u2019s favourite Super League team when I was growing up.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt\u2019s a really exciting time for the club and I\u2019m looking forward to ripping in, meeting the fans and wearing that Bulls jersey.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Haggerty, who took over as Bulls head coach from Brian Noble a few weeks ago, added: \u201cIt\u2019s a massive signing for the club.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cJayden is a sought-after pivot who a lot of teams have been chasing, and I am really happy he has chosen to play for Bradford Bulls.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cHe is very much a point of difference, he is extremely quick, brave and talented.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cHe fits exactly how I want to play and there is a lot more to Jayden Nikorima that I can help him unlock and help him take the next step in his career.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI expect him to play both sides complimenting Rowan, making him flip and play both sides as well.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI have two very good half backs, one who can control a game and one who can break open a game.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cNumerous clubs have been chasing Jayden and they are big clubs too.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cTo get him over line shows the weight the Bulls badge has in Super League and the journey we are going on, with Jayden being a part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New Zealander represented Australian giants Sydney Roosters and Melbourne Storm in the NRL, as well as representing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":221952,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-221951","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221951\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}