INTERIM Bradford Bulls head coach Lee Greenwood admits the important contract extensions that have been signed over the last few weeks have been all about ensuring the 'culture of the club' continued to head in the right direction.

A rot looked to have set in last year, famously coming to a head in outgoing captain Steve Crossley's extraordinary exit interview with the T&A.

Then head coach Mark Dunning insisted he was working hard to change the culture at Bulls, and a happier camp has emerged over the last few months.

That being said, Greenwood feels there is a way to go, and he and Brian Noble wanted to ensure the right people were in the building for 2024, with Jordan Baldwinson and George Flanagan Snr following the likes of Ebon Scurr and Jordan Lilley in signing new deals.

On Baldwinson, Greenwood said: “Jordan’s not been playing, but Brian and I have given our thoughts on who we feel the club should keep here.

“What Jordan brings to the environment, on top what how hard he trains and plays for the club, guys like that are hard to replace.

“I thought Mark (Dunning) and the other staff did a good job of trying to bring a better culture to the club.

“But there was still a way to go after he left, and we didn’t want to go backwards with that.”

Newcastle, tomorrow’s opponents, have gone backwards since last season, and sit bottom of the table, hot favourites to go down.

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Keven Appo scores in the reverse fixture at Kingston Park.Keven Appo scores in the reverse fixture at Kingston Park. (Image: Tom Pearson.)

But they have won three of their last seven games and gave Bulls a real contest up at Kingston Park in June, so are no whipping boys heading to Odsal.

Greenwood said: “The Championship has been like this (competitive) for a while.

“But this year especially, you can’t go into any game thinking it’ll be an easy contest.

“Other sides and ourselves have been on the end of a few shocks this season, and down at the bottom, a couple of good performances and results are all that matters.

“You’d say eight or nine wins this season should keep teams up, so Newcastle probably need to beat us, because if they don’t and others win above them, that gap will only grow bigger.

“They’ve got six cup finals now, and probably need to win four of them.

“With our form being patchy, if I were Newcastle I’d be looking to target this game as one to win.”

Bulls' reserves were due to host their Newcastle counterparts today, though that has been cancelled due to a lack of availablity for the visitors, but the Bulls women are in action immediately after the men's fixture tomorrow.

The Physical Disability Rugby League side are also down at Warrington for a festival, in another packed weekend schedule for the club.

Greenwood reflected: "We're different to other sides in the Championship, in that we're constantly busy down at Tong or Odsal.

"We don't want to just be about the first team and we're comparable to Super League with the amount of sides we're running.

"Maybe that's to the detriment of the firsts, because we have to fund all the sides not just one, but it's admirable that we do that and I've only got positives to say about the set up."