Wily old campaigner Frank Endacott pulled a fast one on the reigning Coach of the Year to send Matthew Elliott scurrying back to Australia with his tail firmly between his legs.

While the 52-year-old Endacott was able to savour a Super League Grand Final at the end of his first season with Wigan, Elliott was forced to hand over the Bradford reins prematurely to assistant Brian Noble following an emphatic 40-12 defeat in Saturday night's final eliminator at the JJB Stadium.

To compound his misery, the Bulls' heaviest defeat of the season was witnessed by Elliott's new boss Mal Meninga, the legendary Australian who will hand over the full coaching reins at Canberra Raiders to his successor in 12 months' time.

Endacott put his side's remarkable triumph down to shock tactics - his decision to switch skipper Andy Farrell back to his old loose-forward spot and recall veteran Tony Smith to the stand-off role after an absence of almost six months.

The affable Kiwi made his decision in the immediate aftermath of Wigan's crushing 54-16 home defeat by St Helens a week earlier but kept it under firm wraps until just before kick-off.

Smith explained: "I got told at the beginning of the week that Frank was going to put me back to six and the match could not come quick enough.

"I had no qualms about Faz playing stand-off because the team was playing so well, but I think the switch paid off.

"It was all hush-hush until half an hour before kick-off so Bradford would have been doing their homework on Andy Farrell playing at six. I suppose it was a bit of an ace card."