Luke Gale believes there is plenty of room for improvement as the Bulls gear up for their final pre-season friendly at Hull this weekend.
The England Knights scrum half enjoyed an outstanding debut in Sunday’s 42-16 win at Dewsbury, scoring two tries, kicking seven goals and generally orchestrating affairs throughout.
Yet the former Harlequins playmaker knows far sterner tests lie ahead in the coming weeks.
A young Bulls side is expected to feature at Keighley on Friday before the testing trip to Hull for Lee Radford’s testimonial two days later.
With the Super League opener at home to Catalan Dragons looming ever closer, Gale declared: “I was pleased with the performance against Dewsbury but there is still a lot to work on and plenty of room for improvement.
“We’ll work hard in training this week and improve again for the Hull game and then straight into Catalan, which I’m looking forward to.
“I think the rest of the boys are too. But there is plenty to work on through the week.”
While Gale, 23, stressed his desire for continual improvement, he admitted he could not have scripted his debut much better.
His performance lit up a vibrant Bradford performance in which trialist Phil Joseph also excelled with a barnstorming display in the front row.
Gale added: “It was great to get a run-out and I think the boys did well.
“Obviously a few of us haven’t played together so it was good to do that on Sunday.
“I think we needed it after the postponement of the Featherstone game. There were some good things happening.”
Gale, who worked well in combination with fit-again hooker Matt Diskin, believes the Bulls will get much stronger as more players come into contention.
Heath L’Estrange, Karl Pryce, Elliott Whitehead, Jamie Langley, Olivier Elima, Elliot Kear, Manase Manuokafoa, Jarrod Sammut and Keith Lulia were all sat in the stands at Dewsbury as the depth of the Bulls’ squad became apparent.
“I thought Matt Diskin was outstanding against Dewsbury,” said Gale. “He’s a really smart hooker and the squad is getting stronger all the time.
“Once everyone is back we should be flying.
“We stuck to the gameplan at Dewsbury, kept it simple and I think that worked for us.
“The second half was hard because we went 36-0 up and things started getting scrappy.
“But there was a lot to take out of that first half and even parts of the second half, when we did a lot of good things.”
Meanwhile, the Bulls are set to announce their captain for the 2012 campaign this week, with hooker Heath L’Estrange leading the race to land the job.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel