{"id":493817,"date":"2026-03-25T04:25:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T04:25:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/493817\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T04:25:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T04:25:18","slug":"bradford-bulls-coach-assesses-massive-impact-of-standout-pair-as-incredible-stats-revealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/493817\/","title":{"rendered":"Bradford Bulls coach assesses \u2018massive\u2019 impact of standout pair as incredible stats revealed"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Bradford Bulls assistant coach Lee Greenwood has had his say on the \u2018massive\u2019 impact of two new recruits who top one of Super League\u2019s most impressive stats.<\/p>\n

The Bulls registered their third win of the season on Friday night as they overcame Huddersfield Giants<\/a> in a game that many externally felt would be far easier for Bradford.<\/p>\n

A 26-14 win saw Jayden Nikorima claim Man of the Match as he scored two crucial tries on his Super League debut for Bradford<\/a> but it was two of the Bulls\u2019 other signings who caught the eye.<\/p>\n

Joe Mellor and Ryan Sutton made a whopping 61 and 57 tackles respectively with the pair now both over 200 for the season in Super League, making them the only players to reach that mark.<\/p>\n

Not only has Mellor passed 200 tackles, he\u2019s pushing close to 250 with the loose forward averaging over 48 tackles a match. Perhaps even more impressive is his tackle efficiency of 96% and his penalty count of just two, showcasing his discipline as well.<\/p>\n

As for Sutton, he\u2019s added on almost 90 running metres per match to his average tackle count of just under 42 per game with the former NRL man disproving any doubters when he was first signed.<\/p>\n

Luke Robinson sacked, Hull KR struggling and why it could actually be Warrington Wolves\u2019 year? \u2013 click here to watch the latest episode of the Serious About Rugby League Show<\/a><\/p>\n

Bradford Bulls coach raves about duo\u2019s impact<\/p>\n

It\u2019s obvious that the pair have been in instrumental in getting things going on the pitch at Odsal, but assistant coach Lee Greenwood pointed to their off-field impact and differing demeanours when asked just how important the pair have been to the club\u2019s early success on their return to Super League.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn terms of impact from them just within our building off the field, they\u2019re two different types of characters, but both having a big impact on everyone around really,\u201d Greenwood told Serious About Rugby League.<\/p>\n

On Mellor, he said: \u201cJust watching Joe, how he goes about his business, he\u2019s obviously been around the game a long time, played in different positions at different clubs, and he\u2019s had a long career and you can see why.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe very rarely misses sessions. He leads by example. Quiet, but people obviously listen to him when he speaks.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for Sutton, he added: \u201cHe\u2019s obviously had a bit of a struggle last couple of years in terms of injuries and games but again, his impact, the way he speaks, and the knowledge he\u2019s got about the game and all the little bits, people are always ears when he talks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Greenwood pointed to Mellor\u2019s creative ability as a reason why teams are perhaps targeting him defensively, thus leading to such high tackle numbers for the veteran.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cTeams are targeting certainly Joe in and around the middle so he\u2019s having a lot of work to do, which obviously opponents are hoping that he has a lesser impact on the ball with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whilst it is perhaps ensuring that he\u2019s less of a ball player, one thing it hasn\u2019t stopped is Mellor\u2019s offload game with the ex-Salford man managing to get the ball away a whopping nine times so far this season, more than once every eight carries.<\/p>\n

That second-phase play is something that already epitomises the identity of Kurt Haggerty\u2019s Bradford and coupled with the grit of the pair\u2019s tackling efforts, it\u2019s fair to say Mellor and Sutton are proving two of Super League\u2019s most impactful recruits for 2026.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bradford Bulls assistant coach Lee Greenwood has had his say on the \u2018massive\u2019 impact of two new recruits…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":493818,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-493817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493817","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=493817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493817\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/493818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}