Experienced star John Davies loving life at Bradford Bulls

With Davies being one of the more senior members of Bulls’ squad, the former Featherstone Rovers man has stepped into the unusual position of stand-off, where he has quickly established a blossoming partnership with Jordan Lilley.

It comes after the injury to Lee Gaskell, who came off with a torn hamstring on the opening day of the season at Wakefield Trinity.

Davies, despite usually playing in the back row, admitted that he’s more than happy to help the squad and coaching staff by filling in the voids.

He said: “We’ve had so many injuries early on this season, so me and Eamon had a real honest chat about where I could help the team on the field.

“On paper, with the challenging start we have, particularly the opening five games, as well as the injuries we’ve suffered, I don’t think many people would have given us much chance. Perhaps, two wins might have been a good target.

“But I’ve filled in before and I was happy to do so this time around. My job is to help Jordan in the game; I’ll organise things, talk, shout at people and tell them what to do.

“It means that Jordan can focus on what he’s good at, and it seems to work. I was more than happy to put my hand up and take the responsibility.

“If it doesn’t go to plan, it’s my fault and I’m happy to accept that. But so far, I think it’s working well.”

John Davies has played this season so far in a different position (Image: Tom Pearson)

The Bulls have started the season strongly, with victories over potential play-off rivals in Halifax, Featherstone and Toulouse already, and Davies believes that those wins may benefit the team in the long run.

He said: “We’ve beaten three good teams, that, over the course of the year, will be there or thereabouts.

“Not only have we got points on the board early, but we’ll have given them (Halifax, Featherstone and Toulouse) a physiological blow.

“When it comes to playing a side again that you have already lost to during the season, then there can be that feeling in the back of your mind that this team have already beaten you. This can pay dividends particularly when it comes to the play-offs.

“If they (teams like Toulouse) have to come to Odsal again, then they know they’ll be in for a tough game.”

Head coach Eamon O’Carroll has continually referred to the connectivity between this current crop of Bradford players, and Davies was able to reaffirm the boss’ stance when asked about the closeness of the group.

He said: “I think it boils down to the fact that we are just a good group of blokes.

“Everybody gets on with each other, there’s no small groups, there’s no divides, we all do stuff together and we all enjoy each other’s company.

“That means that when it comes to gameday and you have your backs against the walls, then you’re naturally going to work harder for one of your mates.

“Especially some of the situations we found ourselves in today (against Toulouse), and how we dealt with them, I think you could quite clearly see that people were going above and beyond to work hard for one another.”

The Bradford squad huddle together after their brilliant victory against Toulouse (Image: Tom Pearson)

Defensive resilience and maturity have been a key aspect of Bradford’s fine start to the season so far, and Davies spoke of his delight when discussing just how strong the team have been at the back.

He said: “I didn’t play in the Wakefield game, but the three games that I have played in, we’ve come under spells of adversity and we’ve dealt with them really well.

“It’s always a sign of a good side when you can deal with difficult situations, weather the storm and then come through the other side to score points.

“It can be really demoralising as an opposition player to see your attacking efforts continuously rebuffed.

“So, big raps to the boys. I’m really proud of them.”