Francis Cummins insists the Bulls’ Boxing Day friendly at Castleford will play a vital role in preparations for the new season.

The assistant coach will take charge of proceedings at the Jungle with Mick Potter away on a pre-arranged break, as a young side takes to the field for the first of five pre-season friendlies.

It will offer few genuine hints as to how the Bulls’ new-look side is shaping up but, having started training on October 4, Cummins believes the time is right for many of the squad to get some game-time under their belts.

He said: “The young lads have been in a long time so they are itching for a game now. We’re looking for them all to get a good run-out.

“It’ll be good. You can see in training, now that it has started to develop into contact, that they’re ready for a game and really keen to get out there.

“There’s some young lads in the team and some new people but they all want to create a good impression and this is their first chance to do that.

“There’s a different focus with friendly matches but when the lads start playing they want to win any game they’re involved in.

“The main thing is that the lads put into practice a few things we’ve worked on in training and improve their fitness. As a team we’re not there yet and we’ve got a week of warm-weather training which will help us build more things into our game.”

The Bulls have included nine debutants in the team to face Cas, including new signings Patrick Ah Van, Shaun Ainscough and Ian Sibbit, as well as a host of academy graduates.

Although Cummins didn’t know what to expect from the club’s younger players when he arrived at Odsal early last month, first impressions have been good.

“Right from day one when I came in, they’ve trained really hard with Geoff and are looking in good nick,” he said.

“They’re doing really well because the conditions have not helped preparations. We’ve had to move quite a few of our sessions to Huddersfield so we can work indoors but they’ve all got on with it and not let it affect them.

“Some of the young lads who’ve got some first-team experience - probably ahead of their time - would’ve been surprised if you’d told them at the start of last season they would end up playing as much as they did.

“Many of them are still getting used to the demands on the body. You can see straight away that they can play and have an education in the game already.

“They are growing up and they’re still only babies as professionals but I like what I’ve seen.”

Similarly, Cummins is at an early stage in his coaching career and is relishing the chance to take charge of the team, even just for one game.

“You look for little things like this to help you along,” he said.

“This is a personal development and it’s good to get an early test like this. I’ll be helped by Paul Medley and Stuart Barrow and we’re looking forward to it. Really we can’t wait to get this campaign going.”