Brett Kearney admits he is desperate to help the Bulls end four years of hurt by finally making the play-offs this season.
The free-scoring full back joined the club from NRL outfit Cronulla Sharks ahead of the 2010 campaign but has yet to taste play-off football in Super League.
The Bulls last qualified for the end-of-season lottery in 2008, but their start to the current campaign has encouraged hopes of halting that unwanted sequence and Kearney believes this could be their year.
The 29-year-old Aussie – who has scored ten tries this season – said: “We’ve started off a little bit up and down but I think we’re showing a lot more this year and entertaining the fans.
“It’s early days but we are still third in the league. I’d love to be saying that at the start of September – I’d love a home semi-final in the play-offs. Wouldn’t that be an achievement for us after the last couple of years?
“I’ve still not played in the play-offs with the Bulls and I’m desperate to do it this year. I guess when you start thinking that it’s the back end of your career you really want to win things and your hunger increases.
“At the start of your career you want to get into the team and impress your team-mates.
“Now I just want to win some silverware and be a part of building this club back up to where they were.
“I remember watching the World Club Challenge matches with this imposing Bradford team was unbelievable.
“When I watched Bradford it wasn’t the smaller blokes such as Mick Withers and Robbie Paul I tended to take much notice of.
“It was the likes of Joe Vagana and Lesley Vainikolo – how do you stop a team with a front-rower on the wing who can probably run 100 metres in 11 seconds?
“I didn’t get to watch much English football but it was the World Club Challenge matches and Challenge Cup finals that you did see.
“That was a great Bradford side and one thing I’m looking at for the rest of my career now is getting Bradford back up there.
“I want people to look back in a few years time and think ‘they went though a financial crisis, look where they are now’.
“Re-establishing this club is definitely a big thing for this group of players.
“You’ve got a couple of homegrown players in John Bateman and Elliott Whitehead and it would be a massive thing for them.
“It’s the same for the boys who have come here from overseas.
“You come to Bradford and you get taken in by this club.
“It becomes your club very quickly and I’d certainly love to be part of a Bradford side first of all back in the eight and then starting to compete and get some trophies.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel