Bulls chairman Chris Caisley has given Brian Noble his full backing, saying he "most certainly" expects the coach to be at the club next year and beyond.

The knives have been out for Noble in some quarters following the Powergen Challenge Cup exit at Hull and, although fully aware that the dreaded 'chairman's backing' often spells the death knell for a coach, Caisley insists Noble has been doing a good job under difficult circumstances and that his position is not under threat.

Noble's current contract expires at the end of the season but negotiating an extension with the two-time Grand Final winner was merely a formality, said Caisley.

"It is just a question of us sitting down and finding the time to do it," said Caisley, who was happy to accept his share of blame for the poor start to the season after the club failed to achieve their goals in the player market during the off-season and in the wake of Ryan Hudson's sacking for a doping offence.

"There has been a culmination of issues that have built up over several months. It just needed a bit of honesty between ourselves to get everybody back to doing what we have done so well in the past," he said.

"One of our strengths has always been that we have always been up-front, especially with our supporters. We just had to re-emphasise that and get back to what made the Bradford Bulls so successful, which was that bloody-minded determination to succeed at all costs.

"As far as I'm concerned, with the benefit of hindsight, I could have handled one or two things differently. Some of those things were taken out of our control by third parties but, nonetheless, you have to learn from it and make sure they don't happen again.

"The players have had their own meeting to resolve their own issues and I have met with Brian to resolve some issues in relation to the coaching set-up. I am pretty clear that we are all now pulling in the same direction and can get back up to that number one spot.

"One of the things we have been looking at is making sure we recruit players with that Bulls win-at-all-costs mentality that we are renowned for, and new Australian signing Ben Harris very much fits that bill."

Noble has named a youthful 18-man squad for tonight's trip to Salford, with Andy Smith, Matt Cook and Karl Pryce all likely to feature.