Rikki Sheriffe is ready to recreate the kind of eye-catching performances that first earned him a move to the Bulls.
Now in his second season at Odsal, the powerful winger believes Bradford fans are gradually beginning to see the best of him.
Signed from Harlequins last year, following a breakthrough campaign in the capital, Sheriffe’s first year in Bulls colours failed to live up to his own expectations.
Despite being an ever-present for his hometown club, the 25-year-old found it difficult moving from Super League’s fringes – a big fish in a small pond at Quins – to the heartlands.
But, after targeting significant improvement during pre-season, Sheriffe has begun to see the rewards, standing out as one of Bradford’s more solid performers throughout the opening three games of the season.
He said: “It’s good because I feel like the guys let me do what I want to do.
“I don’t have to run to a certain place, I don’t have to do this or that, I just get the ball and I run, find holes and try and get us on the front foot.
“I’ve taken that job on and become confident with it as well. I was doing it for fun at Quins.
“Hopefully I can repay the faith Macca has shown in me.”
Sheriffe and fellow winger Stuart Reardon played a vital role in the Bulls’ 41-22 win against Castleford last week, both getting through a significant body of work.
The pair provided go-forward from dummy half early in sets, capably dealt with the majority of defensive tests handed to them, and returned kicks with pace and vigour.
But Sheriffe insists it’s all in a day’s work and knows the same effort will be needed if the Bulls are to record back-to-back wins at Salford tomorrow night.
He said: “Doing that kind of work comes part and parcel. If we can help our forwards out, we know for a fact they’ll help us out when it comes to good ball and tackling.
“We rely on each other quite a bit and when both are doing well, we’ll get the result.
“What we did against Castleford was pretty clinical. We were really good and it’s a good platform for the Salford game.
“We just went back to basics. This game’s not hard, you can make it as complicated as you want but if you’re not running hard or tackling hard, the opposition are going to get on top.
“Raps for our forwards who went out and absolutely destroyed their forwards and made it easier for us backs with kick returns and in good ball areas.”
Sheriffe’s early form has earned him two tries from three games but head coach Steve McNamara believes that is merely the icing on the cake.
“Rikki’s performing very well for us at the minute and consistently,” said McNamara.
“It’s always nice for wingers to put the ball down over the try-line but his other contributions, in things like yardage, are there to be seen too.
“I thought Rikki was pretty good last year. He’d like to score a few more tries but when he concentrates and he’s fully switched on, he’s a real handful.”
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