SHEFFIELD boss Mark Aston insists his side have come nowhere near to reaching peak form this season ahead of Sunday’s crunch trip to Odsal.

Aston’s men will draw level on points with the second-placed Bulls if they win this weekend and a number of players could be set to return.

Prop Tony Tonks, former Bulls star Jamie Langley and back-rowers Pat Walker and Duane Straughier could all be in line to play.

Director of rugby Aston, whose side steamrollered Halifax in the first half of last weekend’s 36-10 success, told the T&A: “We’re going okay.

“We’re winning and we won ugly again last week but I’m looking for that fluency and we’re still not getting it.

“There are some people putting their hands up and saying ‘pick me’ and there are others who I’ve been disappointed with.

“We’re a little bit inconsistent within the 80 minutes but we’ve had a few players missing as well.

“Tonks is back this week and people like Langers, Pat Walker and Duane Straughier, so there are four first-teamers on the road to recovery.

“It gets a bit more interesting then because there is competition for places and we’ve just got to pick the right team.

“We want to be in the middle eight at the end of the 23 regular rounds and we’re going to have to be a lot better then.

“But these are the games – against Leigh and Bradford – which are the benchmark.

“The pressure is not on us this weekend, it’s on Bradford, and it would be fantastic if we could go there and get a win.”

Aston watched the Bulls’ 56-38 win over Doncaster at the Keepmoat Stadium and pinpointed Lee Gaskell as the obvious dangerman.

Aston added: “Gaskell’s a class act and if you switch off at any point he will score tries and set them up.

“With the ball, Bradford are clinical and you know that with the players they’ve got out there.

“We understand they’re going to throw loads of threats at us but can they handle the threats thrown at them?

“What we need to do is ask the questions and see if they can come up with the answers.”

Aston reckons Jimmy Lowes will put his players through a tough week of training after they shipped seven tries against the Dons.

“Jimmy is a fighter and a winner and he will certainly be going hard on them this week,” said Aston, whose team has conceded 23 points fewer than Bradford after ten games.

“Jimmy will have worked hard on defence because they let in 30-odd points against Doncaster.”