Richard Hercock: Giants go under radar as Bradford takeover saga drags on

An afternoon out with the family had seen Mandy Koukash watch the Bulls – who she later admitted defeat in her bid to buy – collapse to a 66-18 defeat to neighbours Huddersfield Giants.

All eyes, and binoculars, were focussed on Mrs Koukash – along with husband, Dr Marwen Koukash, the Salford Red Devils owner – as they watched the match from an executive box.

Trailing 32-6 at half-time, the Koukash family failed to appear for the second half and the press box talk was that they had maybe seen enough.

But in a good piece of PR, they soon turned up in the main stand, prompting plenty of not-too-subtle pointing and elbow nudges from surrounding fans.

It was all part of a high-profile bid from Mrs Koukash to sway the administrators into accepting her offer to buy the Bulls.

A total of five bids were received by Leeds-based administrator David Wilson, himself very low-key in keeping the process out of the media’s glare.

That has meant social media, Twitter in particular, has been a key source of information for fans and journalists alike. How times have changed. There’s still the old-fashioned way, of picking up the telephone of course, but it wouldn’t be the first time I have called a contact, got no answer, only to see them Tweeting the next minute. Maybe that’s just me they don’t like, LOL (that means laugh out loud in texting definitions).

While the Bulls’ future has been grabbing the headlines this last week, it meant Huddersfield’s impressive demolition on Sunday went under the radar.

It’s easy to say Bradford were depleted and, therefore, easy pickings – although they had picked up back-to-back wins against London and Wakefield – but Huddersfield were ruthless in possession, even if the game was scrappy.

Paul Anderson’s side had found life difficult in Super League as they started the campaign with a huge target on their back, after coming top of the pile last season. They were there to be shot at, and after defeat to Widnes and frustrating home draws against Hull KR and Leeds Rhinos, questions were being asked about their ability to repeat last season’s stunning achievement.

It was a case of glass half-full or half-empty? Yes, Huddersfield had only won once in four Super League games, but they had only lost once too.

You can turn those statistics around to support both sides of the argument, but you can guess how coach Anderson interpreted them.

And that optimism was confirmed at Odsal with a 12-try rout that showed Huddersfield are not to be under-estimated this season, ahead of tonight’s trip to Catalan Dragons.

Their target is silverware this year, and if that can’t be obtained, then finishing as Yorkshire’s top club in Super League will give them bragging rights for another 12 months.

As for Bradford, the takeover talks have dragged on to next week, but better a minor delay than make a rushed decision and we end up back at square one in 12 months time yet again. Watch this space.