Bulls: Karl Harrison confident in Bradford’s chances

Bradford assistant Karl Harrison believes the Bulls have a significant advantage over their Championship rivals thanks to being full-time and having nearly 30 names on their roster.

The Odsal outfit are one of only three full-time squads in the league (Leigh and London being the others) and Harrison says it allows the team to train at maximum intensity throughout the season.

“Part-time teams still train four times a week. Yes, the majority of the players are working but they do still train on evenings,” he told the T&A.

“However, with them working full-time, I don’t think you can push them too hard physically because they have had a full day at work and have to travel home.

“You have to manage things but when you’re full-time, that is your job and you can spend more time on things, whether it be on the field or video sessions.

“I always felt in a part-time environment you were holding something back all the time because you can’t give them everything.”

Bradford currently have 29 names in their squad and Harrison believes the competition this will generate will be a great asset to the Bulls.

“It’s a strong squad but you can only play 17 out of the 29,” he said.

“You have to earn the right to get into the 17 and you need to play well to keep that jersey.

“With a big squad, you’ve always got people chomping at your heels and we need to create that competition for places so everybody is playing to the best of their ability in the top squad.

“The challenge is to mould a team from this group and there are a lot of new players, so there is a lot of hard work to be done between now and February.”