Bulls boss Steve McNamara delivered his end-of-season report insisting: We’re not far off.

Although Bradford came fifth in their lowest ever Super League finish and got eliminated at the first play-off hurdle, the stats may prove him correct.

McNamara, points to the fact his side lost FIVE matches – more than anyone else in the top nine – by just a converted score or less, which had a real bearing on that final position.

He sees learning how to turn those narrow defeats into victories as vital if they are to prosper in 2009.

“We’ve just fallen short,” he said. “We fell short in the Wigan play-off game and I feel as a whole we did throughout the season.

“We finished fifth in the competition but scored third most points, were equal third best defence and had the third best points difference.

“The disappointing thing for me is, of the games we lost, one was by six, another by four, two by just two and one by a single point.

“We weren’t a million miles off over the course of the season but those small margins are actually a massive factor for us and something we must improve on next year.”

McNamara feels his squad have to be stronger in the mind as well as body to overcome that deficiency.

“We finished fifth but won more games than Wigan, who came above us,” he explained.

“The fact is they drew three while we lost too many by fine margins. That’s where it’s at now – those fine margins.

“Mentally we need to be stronger in certain situations, especially when we’ve not been able to maintain intensity. It’s a huge part of the game.

“A lot of things we do in our off-season and pre-season will be structured around self-discipline and sacrifices in order to be mentally tougher.”

Too many times the Bulls have conceded needless tries or fallen off the pace towards the back end of fixtures.

However, injuries to influential players, such as skipper Paul Deacon, Aussie Glenn Morrison and England star Sam Burgess, haven’t aided their hopes of making the most of winning positions.

“Those five games, along with Wigan and probably the Challenge Cup quarter-final, where we’ve got to within a score and not quite had the ability to go on and win it, has left us with a feeling of disappointment,” McNamara admitted.

“As a group we’ve held our dignity throughout the season and not used anything as an excuse.

"I’m not going to do that now but some of those games, if we’d have some of those key personnel, could have been different.

"We’re not hiding behind it though. We’ve fallen short and regardless of who is out there on the pitch we need to find ways of making sure we don’t next time.”