Bulls assistant coach Brian Noble believes new recruit Harvey Howard could be the driving force to make their play-off rivals sit up and take notice of the champions.

A much improved 36-8 success over Warrington at Odsal left the Bulls realistically needing one win from their remaining games at Wigan next Sunday and at home to struggling Salford to pip London, who face St Helens at home on Friday and travel to Castleford in the final round, to clinch fifth spot.

And Howard, signed on a short term contract, could be a secret weapon after a rousing display in his first start for the Bulls.

"He's explosive," said Noble. "He keeps his feet really well and makes some terrific offloads. He's possibly what the pack has needed all season with his ability to dent the line."

Now Noble is looking for the side to produce top drawer performances at Central Park next week and against the Reds to send them into the play-offs on a roll.

"Teams that have done well in the top five in the past have gone into the play-offs in some form," said Noble. "If we can string another couple of solid performances together going into those play-offs, I don't think teams will be that confident about taking us on."

Noble was full of praise for the way his side bounced back following their 34-8 reverse at London seven days ago.

They raced into an 18-0 lead inside the first quarter before taking their foot off the gas and Noble said: "Last week we looked a bit disjointed but today we played to a structure and proved that with people moving around and doing their jobs, we're a different outfit.

"The pressure was on today and I think a couple of the errors could be put down to that, but our scrambling defence was superb and we're very happy with our performance."

Noble reported no new injury worries, for a change, and prop Brian McDermott who was resting a knee will be back in contention for the clash with the Warriors.

Warrington coach Darryl Van de Velde was left to reflect on what might have been.

His side failed to take a string of opportunities in the first-half and Van de Velde said: "We had the chances early on in the game but we didn't take them and that was it.

"We missed out on four chances in the first 20 minutes through poor finishing and that was our chance of winning gone."

The Bulls Academy side drew 18-18 with Warrington in yesterday's curtain-raiser.

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