Bradford Bulls and Eamon O'Carroll proud after Toulouse loss

The Odsal outfit put their all into a gutsy semi-final display in the South of France on Sunday evening, but the visitors fell short in a narrow 21-20 defeat.

Asked if he has confidence in his side’s ability to bounce back from this setback next season, O’Carroll said after the match: “We will (reach that next level) because we can’t afford not to.

“You learn some of your best lessons in adversity and we are certainly going through a bit of that now. However, this defeat will be a great reminder moving forward.

“Whenever we get a bit loose when those tough pre-season training days arrive, you know exactly why we are doing it, because we want to be on the positive side of these knockout matches.

“It’s my first year here, so it’s the start of our journey together. I think the way in which the group has responded to a new coach coming in has been really positive and they’ve responded well.

“I can be intense at times, but that’s what you need to be, and they’ve fully got on board with that.”

Speaking of bouncing back from adversity, Jayden Myers looked distraught on the touchline following his second half sinbin; a period which resulted in the hosts scoring two quickfire tries to taking the game away from Bradford.

However, O’Carroll admitted that he has full belief in Myers and his ability to comeback from this incident.

He said: “I’ve given him (Jayden Myers) a hug, put my arm around him and told him to relax.

“I’ll have a proper chat with him soon because I’m not having him feel like it was all on him, because it wasn’t. We’re all in this together, and that one incident wasn’t the contributing factor to why we lost.

“Jayden is going to be an amazing player - he’ll be a Super League player - I have no doubt about that.

“He’ll also have a very long and successful career at Bradford, but things happen in games, however, he has good support around him, and I know that he’ll respond well.

“There’s no need to make an issue with what happened with Jayden (sinbin). He cares a great deal and that’s why he was visibly upset.”

Jayden Myers has been one of Bradford's standout players this season, and his yellow card doesn't take anything away from that (Image: Tom Pearson) Reflecting on Bradford’s season as a whole, O’Carroll said: “It’s difficult to reflect now because I’m emotional, but I’m still extremely proud of where we’ve got to.

“It’s easy for us to say that the club has been through a bit (of challenge), but every club does. However, when you’re in it day-to-day and you see the challenges that we’ve faced, then it does make you take notice.

“I’m probably most proud of just how close my team are. Last year I was really lucky to be involved with a wonderful club, in Catalan Dragons, and I crossed paths with some of the best people I’ve ever met during my time there.

“In France, it was an unbelievable group; they were all extremely close and they cared about what they were doing.

“At Bulls, it’s extremely close to that (environment) or just as good, so to think that I’m the head of that, along with the rest of the staff, it makes me very proud.”