Bradford after fresh start

Bradford coach Rohan Smith insists the Championship Shield is a fresh start for the club and a chance to rotate his squad.

The Bulls missed out on the Middle 8s and the squad have had their wages paid late.

Bradford head to Whitehaven this afternoon.

“I think it’s a new opportunity to move forward and start looking towards the future,” Smith said.

“It’s an exciting next phase and about giving some younger players some opportunity and also giving some of the younger guys who have been playing, a bigger role in the team.”

Despite Whitehaven’s position, Smith warned his players of a tough match ahead.

“Those trips to Cumbria are always tough,” he said.

The way we’ll look at it is a chance to spend some time together and enjoy the bus trip. We’ll enjoy the experience and look forward to playing every opposition we play in the next seven or eight weeks.”

Whitehaven coach James Coyle has welcomed the break which has allowed some more players to return from injury.

“We’ve come back a lot better than we were before the break,” he said.

“We’re not perfect yet by any stretch of the imagination but we’ve got a lot more bodies available and people ready to play so we shouldn’t be in the situation we were in for the last game of the regular season.”

Although there is a lot of attention off the field surrounding the Bulls, Coyle believes that is no reason to take them lightly.

“There’s a lot of speculation around Bradford at the minute and sometimes it does affect what happens on the field but other times it can be a positive thing and bring the squad together and make them a little bit tighter,” he said.

“We’ve got to be ready to play, we got to make sure that we perform a lot better than we did the last time we played Bradford.”