Brett Kearney is eager for the Bulls to make the play-offs with something to spare this season.

Monday’s high-scoring victory over Castleford lifted Mick Potter’s men above rivals Leeds into eighth spot – the final Super League play-off position.

The Bulls have not enjoyed play-off football for the past three years but their form this term has encouraged hopes of ending that unwanted sequence.

Now Kearney wants to do more than merely scrape into the top eight at the end of the regular season.

The full back, who scored twice against Castleford, said: “If we play well enough in the second half of the season, we want to be looking at finishing sixth or seventh. We don’t want to be that last team in the eight.

“We want to win the majority of our games and if we do that then we’re going to get a spot in the play-offs.

“We’re putting ourselves in position to win every game. Every game bar two this season we have been in contention.

“I think we’ve got to improve on that and start taking the points away from these games, not just being in the match. We’re trying very hard to make sure we don’t just look good and lose.”

Potter takes his men to St Helens tomorrow night as they bid to complete a league double over his former club.

He has named an unchanged 19-man squad for the Bulls’ first trip to Langtree Park and is hoping John Bateman will shake off an ankle knock.

Bateman, fitness permitting, is expected to captain England’s Academy side against France at Odsal on Friday, June 15 after being named in the squad yesterday.

Joint-Bulls skipper Heath L’Estrange has not been included in the Exiles’ final 22-man squad for the first international fixture of the summer against England on Saturday, June 16.