Skipper Paul Deacon admits he must fight to win back his place on his return from knee surgery.

The Bulls scrum half hopes to be named today in the 19-man squad for their Magic Weekend clash with Wakefield, having missed the last four matches.

Paul Sykes shifted to stand-off and Ben Jeffries switched to No 7 in his absence and they combined brilliantly to pull off an amazing win at table-toppers St Helens last Friday.

And last night Deacon said: “I’m going to give it a run for the first time at training tomorrow and hopefully, if it reacts okay, I’ll be up for selection.

“But obviously I’ve got to get picked and after last week’s performance that isn’t definite.

“One to 17 we played brilliantly at Saints. Everyone stepped up to the mark and a lot of credit has got to go to Sykesy and BJ.

"A lot of credit must go to Steve (McNamara) as well.

“The coach set the team up so well. Everyone knew their job and what they should be doing.

“We had nothing to lose and Steve had us prepared really well for the game.”

Deacon feels Bradford, who had been second bottom, took a big step forward and that must continue against the Wildcats on Saturday.

“It was a much-needed win and one of the best we could have hoped for away at Saints, probably the best team in the competition.

“I know we beat Leeds at home but going to Saints we played a different style of rugby.

“We played a lot with the ball and we’ve not been doing that much recently. Hopefully it will have given us confidence to continue that and keep playing in the same vein. We’ll need to do it against Wakefield.”

Wildcats have emerged as surprise early challengers in Super League, lying joint third with champions Leeds after delivering seven victories so far.

That included three wins over Easter, including success against Bradford, although they fell 40-26 at home to Wigan last weekend.

Deacon said: “To win all three games over the Easter period takes some doing.

“Even if you’re 100 per cent against Wakefield, they can still hurt you.

“They’re probably thinking they had their off day for the Easter period last week so they’ll be wanting to get back to winning ways in Scotland.”