Bradford Bulls chief executive Jason Hirst insists he is relaxed about his club’s IMG grading heading into the 2025 season. Bradford dropped two places in the rankings but managed to increase their IMG score marginally from 12.02 to 12.15.
The
Championship club were still some way off the threshold to become Grade A, though, with three Championship sides, Toulouse Olympique, London Broncos and York, all being closer to Super League than the Bulls. However, the Bradford chief believes that his side will be in a position to rise up the rankings in just a few weeks, when a new directors’ box is completed at their home ground of Odsal.
Therefore, while the club only posted small gains, Hirst insists he is pleased with the club’s progress, with the potential for a big leap to be made in the next 12 months.
I’m relaxed and calm about it,” Hirst told the
Telegraph and Argus. “Our score has gone up, when there are at least 13 teams in the top three divisions who’ve gone down.
“Why am I relaxed about it? Because we were never going to score enough to get into a 12-team Super League in 2025. It’s always been about the longer term for us, with next year being a critical one in terms of on-field, off-field and IMG for how we rank before the 2026 season.
“I also know for a fact that if we were to be scored again in five weeks’ time, we’d be scored an additional point to move up to 13.15, which would immediately move us from 16th to 14th.
“The reason I say that is because, for anyone who comes to Odsal regularly, they’ll have seen we’re building a new facility behind the main stand, which is a directors’ box with seating on the halfway line.
