Matthew Elliott believes his Bradford Bulls squad are much better equipped to challenge for honours this season than his Super League-winning side of 1997.

The Bulls have substantially boosted their squad with several high-profile signings during the winter to whet the appetite of the Odsal fans.

New Zealand star Henry Paul is potentially Elliott's most influential signing, the other top-quality men being Cronulla back Nick Zisti, centre Michael Withers and back-rower David Boyle.

And this, coupled with the emergence of youngsters such as Stuart Fielden and Paul Deacon, along with the late-season capture of Scott Naylor, has left Elliott in confident mood.

He said: "There was a suggestion from someone that I had gone for quantity, rather than quality. I need help from whoever that was to help me see the signing that is not quality.

"Last year we under-achieved - there is no getting away from that. We have had to look at our systems which were in place to make sure that it doesn't happen again.

"There are a whole lot of issues, and we are satisfied that we have covered most of the ground. At this stage of the season a lot of people beat their chests and talk about what silverware they will be winning.

"I have never professed to be a rugby league prophet, but I know what I want this team to be doing in early May, and then again in October.

"What I will say is we have a stronger squad than when we won the title, and that's not being disrespectful to those players because the club is evolving all the time.

"We went through the ice age last year - we were a bit static. We have to make sure that doesn't happen again. Fifth place is not good enough."

Elliott also revealed at a press conference staged to announce the new 12-month sponsorship deal with Asics that centre Danny Peacock was back in training.

The return of the Australian would be a massive boost for the Bulls because the knee injury which caused Peacock to miss the last five months of the season hit the club hard.

Elliott said: "Danny is in full training, and far be it from me to tell the medical staff their job, but if you asked him if he could play tomorrow, Danny would say yes.''

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