CONNOR Farrell will miss at least the opening couple of months of the Bulls 2020 campaign.

The second-rower recently went under the knife for an operation to deal with a knee injury that had been troubling him.

The Bulls took the decision to give Farrell surgery, even if it now means he will not be available for the first part of next season.

But John Kear views it as the right choice to ensure the 26-year-old is fully fit and firing for when the Championship gets down to the nitty-gritty.

He said: “Connor had to have the operation. He’d been soldiering on last season with it.

“I’m sure he’ll benefit from having the operation when he gets back on the field of play.

“He’ll probably be missing until March to April time but obviously we get him back for the bulk of the season. That was the theory behind it.

“And obviously it’s why we’ve signed young Adam Rooks on a season-long loan from Hull Kingston Rovers because second row was a position that we are down on.”

Farrell played 28 times last season, scoring four tries, after signing from Featherstone.

He is seen as one of the unsung heroes in the side because of his high tackle rate in each game.

Rookie back-rower Vytas Vaznys is also sidelined after breaking his thumb in training and Evan Hodgson has damaged his knee.

“We’ve got a couple of training casualties and we had a long-term injury anyway with Connor,” added Kear as the Bulls count down to their opening friendly at Castleford on Boxing Day.

“But we’re pretty certain we can get through it and be A okay.”

Kear will field a 20-man squad at the Mend-A-Hose Jungle and has promised a strong one. Rooks is expected to come straight into the team.

The Bulls coach has already indicated that nobody facing Cas will be involved for the Hunslet game on January 5, which was agreed as part of George Flanagan’s switch between the clubs.

Kear said: “One of the things we’ll be doing is getting minutes into the legs.

“It’s a trial game and you can use it for your ultimate aim, which is obviously round one against London.

“It will be a good challenge against a very good side to see where we are at and hopefully we can take some positives from it.

“We have got things we want to achieve during that 80 minutes. Then obviously when we review it, we’ll see if we have done.”

New signings Danny Richardson, Derrell Olpherts and Tyla Hepi have all been named in a 24-man line-up by Cas coach Daryl Powell.

He said: "I think it’s exciting looking at the whole of the club and the depth we’ve got with some of the younger guys pushing through who we’re hoping will go on to achieve big things over the coming years.

“I’m looking forward to seeing how we go and getting a better idea of where we’re at in terms of our physicality and our fitness.”