RATHER than deliver the tired old cliché about needing to take the season a game at time, Bulls head coach Eamon O’Carroll admits he has specifically targeted the next three Betfred Championship fixtures as one block for his team to show him what they are made of.

On paper, the rest of June looks fairly kind for Bradford, as they visit struggling Whitehaven and Dewsbury, with a home match against newly-promoted Doncaster slotted in between those trips.

Despite that, he admits he’d feel more comfortable with his sixth-placed side facing a trio of the so-called ‘big guns’.

Bulls want to win every game they play of course, but O’Carroll is well aware than anything other than six points from six across these next three games will be viewed as a massive disappointment for a Bulls side who have already beaten Sheffield, Featherstone and Toulouse this season.

Bulls were superb in beating high-flying Sheffield last month, but have slipped up against a couple of so-called 'lesser sides' this season. Bulls were superb in beating high-flying Sheffield last month, but have slipped up against a couple of so-called 'lesser sides' this season. (Image: Tom Pearson.)

Ahead of tomorrow’s trip to Whitehaven, he said: “I’ve shown the group the next three games as a block and told them how important they are to us.

“I was really open and honest with them and said I’d probably feel a bit more comfortable if we were playing Featherstone, Sheffield and Wakefield in those matches.

“We know this run is a huge challenge for us, because these teams are competing very hard and fighting to work their way up the table, as we are.

“They’re going to be desperate, so we need to be as well.

“I don’t look it and say these are just three winnable games, because I think that would be extremely disrespectful and naïve, especially the way we’ve performed in some games this year, like when we went to York and Batley and didn’t come away with the results.

“I laid that marker down in training the other day and told the lads I was glad these were our first three games back after the break.

“They’ll all test our attitude and where we’re actually going to be at the end of the year.”

Despite Whitehaven being sat down in 10th in the 14-team table as it stands, they have shown real improvement of late, with two draws and a win in their last four games, their only defeat in that spell coming against runaway leaders Wakefield.

Wakefield eventually thumped Bulls in the AB Sundecks 1895 Cup last month, and they are the only team to defeat an improving Whitehaven of late too.Wakefield eventually thumped Bulls in the AB Sundecks 1895 Cup last month, and they are the only team to defeat an improving Whitehaven of late too. (Image: Tom Pearson.)

And O’Carroll warned: “I think they’ve got a really well-connected team, with some dynamite in their outside backs.

“We’re going to have be very good in terms of our one percenters, our kick chases and our concentration more than anything.

“They pose similar threats to the Barrow side we faced in our last game, where they’ve got an element of structure, but they’ll also throw the ball around and do things you might not expect of them, just to test you.

“I certainly believe our concentration levels are going to have to be at their utmost best this weekend.”