THE Bulls are stepping up their hunt for permanent signings as they aim to halt their mid-season ‘blip’.

That’s according to club operations manager Russ MacFarlane, who admits that more temporary additions like Widnes pair Ted Chapelhow and Sam Brooks aren’t necessarily the answer to their recent form, which has seen them lose four league games on the spin.

This weekend’s Challenge Cup action provides the Bulls with a weekend off, and with more time to address their position at the foot of the Kingstone Press Championship table.

But MacFarlane has moved to reassure supporters, and insists there is plenty going on behind the scenes at Odsal.

He remarked “We expected the Easter period to be tough – we knew other clubs would call back loan players and that has coincided with a few injuries, which have really hit our squad. So there has been a bit of a blip.

“Our dual-registration agreement with Widnes is going to help, but it’s not the solution. We need to find permanent players, our players, who will be there for us week-in, week-out in order for us to get where we need to get to."

On the challenges the Bulls’ management team are facing in their pursuit of fresh faces, he added: “This year has been even harder than normal because the Super League clubs are playing two double-header weekends.

“That’s meant they have wanted to keep their young players close by because they know they’re going to have higher injury rates than usual.

“With Toronto entering and signing up a lot more of the fringe players, that again makes it more difficult. At the same time we don’t want to rush and bring just anyone in – we need to make sure we have the right players at this club, not just for this year but going forward.”