Matty Blythe is hopeful of being passed fit to face his parent club in Sunday’s trip to Warrington.

The 24-year-old centre is on a season-long loan at Odsal and enjoyed a fine start to his Bulls career with four tries in his first five games.

But he sustained an ankle injury during the 22-22 draw at Widnes on March 8 and then suffered a back problem, reducing him to the sidelines for the past seven matches.

Blythe has stepped up the intensity of his training in the past week and has not given up hope of playing some part against his hometown team.

He said: “This weekend is a fixture that I put in my diary at the start of the year and it will be nice to go back to the place where I've spent most of my career.

“I’ve started running and doing a bit of sprinting this week and it’s felt a lot better, but I’m not going to let my heart rule my head because I need to be 100 per cent.

“There’s been a little bit of pain but it’s feeling a lot better every day. Hopefully I can be passed fit to play some part.”

Blythe sustained ankle ligament damage on Widnes’ artificial i-pitch last month and was then struck down by a back injury as he awoke one morning.

“I did my ligaments against Widnes on that pitch and was out for three or four weeks,” he said.

“I then got out of bed one day and couldn’t move. I’ve been told a bulging disc had affected the right side of my leg, so the muscles weren’t working as they should.

“It’s been disappointing and frustrating because I’d had a good start to the season and you just want to keep playing.

“Purts (Adrian Purtell) has done really well since he came back, though, so I wouldn’t expect to walk straight back in anyway. I just want to be available for selection.”

Blythe is also backing team-mate Jamie Foster to bounce back from the injury setback which will keep him sidelined for the next three months.

He added: “Injuries ask questions of you as a person and force you to make sacrifices but they can also make you bigger, stronger and better.

“Hopefully we can get him back around August for the business end of the season.”