Bradford Bulls' hopes of attracting their best crowd of the season for the top-of-the-table showdown with Ellery Hanley's St Helens next month have been dented by the news that Sky Sports has selected it for live Friday night coverage.

And they can no longer console themselves with a payment from the satellite company which has dispensed with the policy of compensating home sides for loss of revenue.

The match was originally scheduled for Sunday, June 27 but has now been brought forward to Friday, June 25 with a 7.30 kick-off, meaning they will face their two main Super League title rivals on successive Friday evenings following the visit to Leeds on June 18.

The Bulls' biggest crowd of the season so far was the 16,049 for the visit of Leeds in April.

But attendances for the visit of big potential crowd pullers Wigan and Halifax have fallen well short of expectations and another TV date with high-flying Saints has raised more concerns of a reduced gate.

But Bulls media manager Stuart Duffy says: "Our meeting with Saints is the game of the season so far and I don't think there is anyway Sky were not going to make it their main Friday feature match that weekend.

"If ourselves and Saints keep winning it will really set the game up superbly and I'm certain that it is a spectacle fans will want to witness first hand."

Meanwhile former Bulls duo Paul Loughlin and Paul Cook are pencilled in for an Odsal return with struggling Huddersfield Giants on Sunday (6.00pm).

Malcolm Reilly's side are expected to be boosted by the return of David Boughton and Andrew Tangata-Toa.

Nick Zisti was among the try scorers as the Bulls Alliance side recorded a 34-26 win at Huddersfield last night. Others came from Steve Pickles, Joe Simpson, Gavin Johnson, Craig Horne and Steve Thomas. Lee Radford kicked five goals.

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