BULLS captain Steve Crossley is delighted to see Mark Dunning appointed as the club's permanent head coach until the end of next season, insisting the 40-year-old "has the balls to make big decisions".

More than 10 weeks after John Kear's departure, Bulls have concluded their search for a new name at the top by deciding that the man who has been in interim charge ever since deserved a proper go.

Crossley has been impressed by Dunning's fearlessness, saying: "He's made some big calls.

"My form had been off since my illness but I'm stubborn, and I was telling the coach I was fine when I wasn't.

"Mark pulled me aside when he became interim boss and told me something wasn't right, and that took a lot of balls to say that to a good friend of his and the captain.

"I went off to play in the reserves, got 80 minutes under my belt, and I feel my form is coming back now.

"He has the balls to make those big decisions."

Crossley's delight at Dunning's appointment was plain to hear, and he said: "On a personal level, I've known Mark for 10 or 11 years, and we've worked together before behind the scenes away from rugby league.

"He had a big hand in me coming back to the club for both the second and third time, so I'm proud as punch for him.

"Professionally, he's been really good since he came in after John left, and there's been a really good change in the atmosphere.

"He's allowed us more freedom with the ball and the shackles have come off, he just wants us to play what we see in front of us.

"We have that free reign but defensively, other than against Featherstone and Leigh, we've tightened up, particularly on our goalline.

"He's stamped that authority on how he wants us to play, and it'll be exciting to see that further now he's here permanently."

In May, chairman Nigel Wood announced that there had been "a dozen expressions of interest from high calibre individuals domestically and internationally" in the vacant head coaching role.

Asked if he was at all surprised that Bulls had gone with Dunning given the reported level of interest in the job, Crossley said: "To be fair, as a player, you can't read into that background noise.

"All we knew was that John had gone, Mark would be taking over in the interim, and there would be an announcement on the new head coach in due course.

"Since Mark told us what he wants from us, he's had the backing of all the lads, and there's been a good environment around the place.

"We all said we'd be happy if Dunno stayed, and he's done well to get it among all those other candidates.

"He's a Bradford man, who knows our history and the club inside out, from the kids coming through to the first team, and he wants to help."

Dunning oversaw a crushing defeat to Leigh last time out though, and Crossley said: "We weren't good enough defensively, or even in attack at times, but you will not see a team as good as Leigh in this division.

"I've been playing in this division since 2011, and they're the best I've ever seen, and that's including Toulouse, Toronto and the Featherstone side that finished as league leaders four years in a row.

"They're averaging about 50 points a game over the last few weeks, but we're still disappointed, because we didn't front up well enough last Sunday."

Bulls visit Newcastle tonight, having beaten them 36-20 at Odsal just a few weeks ago.

Crossley said: "We're confident for Newcastle.

"The last few weeks we've played Featherstone and Leigh, and we were disappointed and should have done better.

"But we feel we've got a good run in now and can work on getting into those play-offs by challenging those teams around us.

"It's a big Friday night game under floodlights on Premier Sports and our first match since Mark was officially appointed as head coach. We've all got something to play for."