New recruit Adrian Purtell was greeted by thick fog when he arrived in England for the first time on Sunday – but he has forecast a bright future ahead for the Bulls.

The 6ft 4in Aussie centre landed at Manchester Airport before linking up with Mick Potter’s men at the club’s training HQ at Tong yesterday.

Despite the bad weather which marked his arrival, Purtell is quickly becoming accustomed to life in West Yorkshire.

The imposing 26-year-old, who has joined Bradford on a three-year deal from Penrith, said: “This is my first time ever in England.

“My sister lives in Abu Dhabi so I stayed in Kuwait for a couple of nights on my way over here, which broke up the flight a little bit.

“But when I arrived in Manchester it was very foggy – in fact it was like that all the way over to Bradford.

“Stuart Duffy picked me up at the airport, brought me here and said ‘here’s your car and there’s the supermarket’.

“I got lost a couple of times as I couldn’t see twenty metres in front of me due to the fog, but it’s all good.

“I actually had a couple of mates who travelled and worked in England a couple of years ago on a European van tour. They loved it and I heard it was nice and cold before I came over, so I knew what to expect.

“I’m a single guy and it’s an exciting challenge in my life to move over here by myself.

“Hopefully I’ll make a lot of new friends and enjoy the next three years here – and maybe a few more.

“All the boys were certainly buzzing in training this morning – it was a high-quality session and things are looking good.”

The Bulls today released the squad numbers for the 2012 campaign.

Intriguingly, Purtell has been handed the No 2 shirt, Brett Kearney will wear No 1 on his back while the No 6 and 7 jerseys have gone to Ben Jeffries and Luke Gale respectively.

Craig Kopczak has been given the 10 jersey, confirming his rise to prominence for club and country.

Despite his ability to play on the wing and in the second row, Purtell insisted: “Centre is probably my favourite position, although I’ll play wherever is best for the team, be it centre, wing or second row, where I played a bit last year.

“I just want to have a good, solid year for Bradford, which means starting as many games and scoring as many tries as possible.”

The players given numbers 1 to 17 would appear to be Potter’s first-choice side, with utility player Jarrod Sammut the only new signing not among that group.

Having been handed numbers 28 and 29 respectively, Paul Sykes and Michael Platt are clearly down Potter’s pecking order.

2012 squad numbers: 1 Brett Kearney, 2 Adrian Purtell, 3 Keith Lulia, 4 Chev Walker, 5 Elliot Kear, 6 Ben Jeffries, 7 Luke Gale, 8 Nick Scruton, 9 Heath L’estrange, 10 Craig Kopczak, 11 Olivier Elima, 12 Elliott Whitehead, 13 Jamie Langley, 14 Matt Diskin, 15 Bryn Hargreaves, 16 Manase Manuokafoa, 17 Ian Sibbit, 18 Shaun Ainscough, 19 Tom Olbison, 20 James Donaldson, 21 Tom Burgess, 22 Jarrod Sammut, 23 Danny Addy, 24 Jason Crookes, 25 Adam O’Brien, 26 John Bateman, 27 Kyle Briggs, 28 Paul Sykes, 29 Michael Platt.