BULLS full-back Elliot Kear is having to firefight in more ways than one, as he combines his gruelling physical job with trying to put an end to the club's five-game losing run.

The experienced Welsh international had been a full-time rugby league player for years, but made a surprise move to Bradford last year so he could follow his dream of working for the fire service too.

Asked how difficult that switch had been, Kear said: "Becoming a firefighter was something new that I really wanted to try.

"Making that transition from full-time rugby league to part-time has taken some getting used to but I'm loving it.

"I'm working hard on getting the balance between training, playing and my job just right, but I can't complain.

"It is a taxing job, but others are in the same boat.

"Matty Dawson-Jones is a postman for example, so often he might be walking five miles in a day.

"Other lads work in trade jobs like Tom Doyle, so there's a lot of physical work for them too.

"For me, I'm just enjoying the challenge of being a fireman."

Kear's challenge on the pitch is to help his side to a Championship home win over rock-bottom Workington on Sunday.

The full-back said: "Workington will be desperate, as they're still looking to stay up.

"They'll put in a lot of effort on Sunday, so we can't take them lightly.

"We're not doing well ourselves at the moment, so I'm sure Workington will look to target that.

"We do obviously see it as a game where we have a good chance of getting back on the horse though."

Kear is an experienced figure, who has been through bad spells with other sides in his career before this.

Talking about how Bulls are addressing this poor run, he said: "We've sat down as a group and looked at what we need to do.

"I'm not going to say what's been said but we're determined to work as hard as we can to bounce back.

"I think we saw that a bit at the weekend against Halifax. We were beaten by a good team but our team ethic was better than it had been in previous games.

"We want to build on that, but there's no magic button that will automatically make us win.

"We just have to find what we need."

Kear had to play in the halves in Jordan Lilley's absence on Saturday at Headingley, and he said: "I think it is hard just dropping into the halves like that.

"Jordan pulled out late on with his ankle injury but when (head coach) Mark (Dunning) asked me to step in, I was happy to, as I'll always do my best for the team and this club.

"It's not my natural position but I'll always do my best in there."

With Kear at half-back, Joe Burton had to move to full-back, and the youngster was at fault for a couple of the Halifax tries.

But Kear said: "Every player has it tough sometimes, but I don't even think Joe had a bad game.

"When you're playing in a certain position that's new, it takes a few games to get into it.

"I still think Joe can take confidence from Saturday though, as it was a big occasion and a quick game, in conditions that weren't the best.

"I don't think any of us were great anyway, and it's important that Joe doesn't now dwell on anything that went wrong for him."