Bradford confident but need "18th man" for Featherstone

And he wants revenge over his old side, who won a tense league match at Odsal by one point in mid-August.

The two teams reconvene this weekend for a knockout encounter in BD6, with Bulls going into the play-offs off the back of a thumping 50-0 victory over Swinton Lions on the final day of the regular season last Sunday.

Holmes said: “I am really excited to face Fev, who are one of my old teams, although disappointed that we lost to them last time.

“We are at home, it is a good fixture for us and we are excited to perform in front of our own fans and we are ready for the play-offs, especially after that performance against Swinton.

Bulls are confident they can make up for their disappointing home defeat to Featherstone a few weeks ago. (Image: Tom Pearson.)

“We have competition for places, which is probably going to give Freddie (head coach Eamon O’Carroll) some headaches, but that is a good position to be in.

“We are looking forward to a good week of training and we are ready to go.

“We had a chance to reset with this (Swinton) game and lay a platform and we have hit some form over the last few months, although we have had some hiccups here and there.

“We have the play-off mentality. I know that I do, as do the other boys and the staff.

“We are a team, from the backroom staff all the way forward, and we are ready.”

Holmes then stressed how important he feels it is that Bulls are the hosts this Sunday, as opposed to Featherstone.

He said: “Home advantage is always good, although even if we were away, we still might have had more fans than them.

“We will play anywhere, but we like playing at Odsal and a lot of teams don’t.

“We might get a bit of stick when we are losing but the fans can definitely be our 18th man, as they are the best in the comp.

“They are always loud, whether we’re winning or not, and they’re especially amazing when we are on the front foot.”

If Bulls get past Featherstone, they will be away to Toulouse the following weekend, and Holmes admitted there is some regret in the camp that they didn’t finish the regular season in second place, which would have guaranteed them a bye into a home semi-final.

Bulls' season came to an end in the play-off semis last year, and they will be looking to avoid a repeat if they make it through this weekend. (Image: Tom Pearson.)

He said: “We have finished as the highest-placed part-time team, but we could probably have come second had we put a few more points across.

“However, third place is still great for us after a few slip-ups.

“We used Swinton as a play-off game, and we have tried to replicate that for a few weeks, although the Halifax defeat the other week was really disappointing.

“We stuck to our gameplan a bit more against Swinton, and to keep them to zero was a big step forward for us, as it’s something we have done a couple of times to teams this year.

“When we go away from the game plan and make unforced errors and give penalties away, we are sort of beating ourselves at times, but we were disciplined here.

“Swinton had a lot to fight for and have had some good results over the last month, so it was always going to be a tough game.”