The final piece of the Bradford Bulls coaching jigsaw is now in place and Brian Noble is a happy man.

The Bulls coach admits the decision to add former St Helens star Phil Veivers to the Odsal staff was "staring me in the face".

"I am delighted that we now have Phil involved," said Noble, who went head-to-head with Veivers during his playing days.

"To be honest the appointment was staring me in the face. He has been coming in once a week to work on the education side of things with our younger players.

"It was an easy decision to make to add him to the coaching staff as an assistant. He is a talented guy, knows the game very well and will be an important part of our team."

Noble was keen to stress that Veivers is a joint assistant with Bernard Dwyer rather than his No 2.

"We now have Bernard and Phil as assistants and Jimmy Lowes involved as well," said Noble, who has been searching hard to fill the vacancy left by Karl Harrison's departure for Salford last season.

"It is good to get Phil on board now ahead of the crucial training month in January."

Noble added that Veivers was "a very smart player" in his day and had the coaching experience necessary to help take the club forward.

Only a handful of Bulls are currently training, with the Test players and the Antipodean contingent not returning until the new year.

A lot of the serious pre-season work will be done when 30 Bulls head off on the club's warm weather training camp in Portugal for ten days.