Bradford Bulls hooker bounces back well at Swinton Lions

Souter and fellow pocket rocket Jordan Lilley were Bradford’s standout players in Greater Manchester, with the former coming up with two well-timed assists and a try either side of the break.

The Australian looked as if he could do no wrong in a Bulls shirt earlier this season, but he was poor in the defeat at York, and was dropped at number nine in favour of Tyran Ott against the Vikings.

Asked after the win at Swinton whether Souter’s return to form was a factor in getting the team back on track on Sunday after two straight defeats, Bulls head coach Eamon O’Carroll said: “I thought Mitch was actually one of our better players last week.

“He responded well to being left on the bench and his effort defensively is outstanding, I can’t question that.

“I think now the grounds are starting to firm up we’ll see that he’s got a good running game as well.

“Mitch has been good for us, I’ve been happy with the majority of his games, but he’ll be the first one to hold his hands up if he drops below his standards.

“I love everything Mitch is about, I think he’s playing great at the minute, and he did so again today.”

O’Carroll was able to put Michael Lawrence into the front row alongside Souter on Sunday, with the skipper making his first appearance since the opening day defeat to Wakefield.

His return from a torn groin at Swinton after six weeks out was most welcome, especially with experienced forwards John Davies and Dan Smith missing, out with illness and a calf problem respectively.

O’Carroll said: “He’s our captain and there’s a reason for that.

“He has a real influence on the side and it’s not just what he does on the field, in terms of our games, but it’s what he does around the group.

Michael Lawrence's influence on Bulls does not just start when the whistle blows for kick-off on matchday. (Image: Tom Pearson.)

“He’s been in our team meetings, even though he’s been injured, but just having him around training, the standards go straight up.

“He doesn’t accept anything other than high standards, and it’s really good to see the lads getting on board with that.

“You notice when Michael’s involved, he make those around him better, and that’s the quality he possesses.”

It was a timely return to form for Bulls, especially with their huge AB Sundecks 1895 Cup semi-final against Wakefield coming up at Odsal this Sunday.

And after his side’s win in Greater Manchester, O’Carroll enthused: “They’re really impressive Swinton, they won’t give you a minute off, so you have to be at your best throughout.

“I thought this was the perfect game for us to see if we could respond, so I’m really happy with how it went.

“We were way, way off at York and though we went into the Widnes game with some adversity, and had some of our younger boys playing, we were really disappointed because we did enough to get the game done, so we let ourselves down in that department that day.

“But today we responded in a good manner, and in the way that we wanted too, so we’ll take positives out of that.”

Another positive at Swinton was that Bulls virtually got through the game with a clean bill of health, with the shoulder niggle that kept powerful prop Eribe Doro off the field late on not expected to be serious enough to keep him out of Sunday’s 1895 Cup semi-final.