PICTURE the scene: the final hooter sounds at Odsal to signal a victory which clinches Bradford’s promotion back to Super League.

A huge crowd well in excess of 10,000 erupts while Jimmy Lowes and his players celebrate like wild men on the pitch.

Sheer delight is everywhere as the pain of last year’s nightmare campaign is washed away.

Marc Green, naturally, takes centre stage by leading a conga down the terraces to celebrate being back in the big time.

These are the kind of ecstatic scenes that Green and every Bulls supporter will be dreaming about at the end of the Super 8s.

The reality, of course, could be somewhat different.

The fixtures were published yesterday and the Bulls' opening two games against Sheffield and Wakefield encourage hopes of two victories.

But as the RFL’s restructure of the game moves into its next pivotal phase, nobody can say with any certainty how it will pan out.

What cannot be denied is that it will not be for the faint-hearted.

There will be no shortage of blood, sweat and tears as clubs battle to go up, stay up or compete for a place at Old Trafford.

If the RFL’s ‘every minute matters’ mantra did not quite ring true during the regular rounds, it certainly does now.

As Green remarked on Twitter this week, “It almost feels like we have been on a 23-game pre-season warm-up.”

Now the Bulls must perform well enough to claim the four wins they need to have a chance of promotion.

Now all the talking must stop.

Will the squad that Steve Ferres assembled prove good enough to go up?

Can Lowes, such a legendary figure as a player, write his name into Odsal folklore as a head coach?

Can Green right the wrongs of a disastrous 2014 campaign which began with administration and ended in relegation?

Time will tell, but the fact that four of the seven games are on home soil gives the Bulls a fighting chance.

There is no denying the excitement the new structure has generated.

For a start, it has breathed so much life into the Championship.

Bradford’s huge travelling army have helped rival clubs set attendance records and poured valuable funds into their coffers.

Teams such as Sheffield and Halifax have made huge strides – as evidenced when beating the Bulls during the past month.

Sheffield will go full-time next season, making the second tier more competitive than ever.

That has put added pressure on the Bulls to go up at the first time of asking.

Halifax have no plans to go full-time and the Eagles, by their own admission, are not ready for Super League yet.

Which leaves us with the six full-time teams – Hull KR, Widnes, Salford, Wakefield, Leigh and Bradford – competing for four places.

Hull KR and Widnes both have four home games and are clear favourites to be in the top two at the end of the seven rounds.

Yet Chris Chester’s side, who scored 50 points at Odsal in the Challenge Cup in April, have wobbled alarmingly in recent weeks.

They are without captain and playmaker Terry Campese for the rest of the season and were tipped for relegation by Mike ‘Stevo’ Stephenson last week.

Widnes are strong on their notorious i-pitch and it is a blessed relief that Bradford play them at Odsal.

With talismanic playmaker Kevin Brown due to return from injury, the Vikings should have enough quality to survive the dreaded drop.

Salford, a shambles on and off the field for much of this season, are vulnerable. Very vulnerable.

So are Wakefield, who may have improved performance-wise under Brian Smith but have still lost all every game bar one since the former Bulls coach took charge.

Leigh appear a decent bet to go up.

They have proved to themselves and the rest of rugby league that they can beat Super League opposition; not once but twice.

As for Bradford, the hope is that their best 17 will prove good enough when it matters most.

Key men such as Jake Mullaney, Lee Gaskell, Harry Siejka, Adam Sidlow, Dale Ferguson, Danny Williams and Adrian Purtell all missed Sunday’s defeat at Halifax.

Add them and new recruits Matt Ryan and Dane Nielsen to the mix, and the Bulls are a very different proposition. Or at least they should be.

After 23 regular rounds in which the Bulls rarely hit the heights, we are about to discover how good they really are.

You would hope that at the very least they will make the so-called “Million Pound Game”, which sees fourth play off against fifth for the fourth promotion spot.

Whether or not Bradford are capable of winning promotion remains to be seen.

But it should be fascinating watching them try.

Rugby league fans everywhere should strap themselves in and sit tight – the ride of their life is about to begin.