BRAD England has candidly admitted to having a “really disappointing year” at Bulls, but hopes he can salvage some pride by helping them to a surprise derby victory at Halifax tomorrow.

England also revealed that his Bulls future has been decided, but was unable to confirm whether he would be staying put for 2023, or leaving for pastures new.

The second-row has been in and out of the side this season, and he confessed: “It’s been a really disappointing year for me.

“I had no pre-season because I tore ankle ligaments against Whitehaven in the last league game of 2021.

“I got chucked back into the team early this year after a week of training, had to sit out again with a niggle, returned, but then tore my calf and missed eight weeks of action.

“It’s been disappointing for me, but I just hope the team and I can finish on a high.

“After that, I can look forward to next year. My future has been decided, but I’ll wait for the club to announce what’s happening before I comment any further.”

While John Kear was still in charge of Bulls at the start of the campaign, he insisted England “wasn’t at the stage we needed him to be” after he sat out a Challenge Cup victory over London Broncos in late February, before saying a few weeks later that the prop was “applying himself in a better manner than before”.

Asked if he felt his former head coach was having a dig with those comments, England said: “I think those comments from John were fair, not him being critical.

“You build up all your fitness in pre-season over three months and I missed it with that ankle injury.

“Normally you use your pre-season friendlies to build up your match fitness, but I was still missing for those too.

“It’s hard when you’re playing competitive games, because you’re not getting fitness, as you need time afterwards to recover.

“Right now, I feel the best I have fitness-wise all season, but it’s the wrong time of year really, with the season ending and us out of play-off contention.”

It will not make up for a poor season, but Bulls fans will be rightly proud if their side win at third-placed Fax tomorrow, with this weekend’s hosts having won nine of their last 10 Championship games.

England said: “A derby is always massive, the kind of game you jot down before the start of the season.

“They’ve got one over us twice this season already, so we’ve still got something to prove, even if our season is over in terms of not being able to make the play-offs.

“We want to beat Halifax any time we face them, because the two sets of fans don’t like each other, and nor do the two sets of players.”

England added: “We’ve had an up and down season, where we struggled badly with injuries as a squad early on, and now we’re in a situation where we basically have no half-backs.

“But we won’t be using that as an excuse this weekend, and all 17 men that play at Halifax will be trying to get one over them.”

England is set to miss next weekend's game at Batley, after being handed a one-match ban for a trip against Whitehaven last Sunday.