Francis Cummins has backed his players to put the adversity surrounding the Bulls to one side and produce the goods on the field in Sunday’s season-opener against Castleford.

Cummins’ side will go into the Provident Stadium clash having seen Garreth Carvell depart and with a possible points penalty, which will not be known until next week, hanging over the club.

The situation is not new to the Bulls chief, who was left with a major rebuilding job when he was appointed as successor to Mick Potter in September 2012 following the club’s previous spell in administration.

Although his squad is low on numbers, Warrington loanee Danny Bridge could make his debut on Sunday and Cummins is working to bring in more new faces.

The Bulls coach (pictured) said: “There is an ‘us against the world’ mentality but it’s been like that right from day one.

“It’s about investing in your career and improving yourself, which we will do together.

“We were building a squad with some good signings but the rug was pulled from under us and we’ve had to deal with it.

“We dealt with it all last year and we need to go again because there is only one option – the other option is to give in.

“Things like point deductions are out of our hands and I’m not wasting my energy on it because I’m sick of it.

“There are times when you think things can’t get any lower – you get to Christmas time and your directors resign and the players don’t get paid on time.

“You think it can’t get any worse but then something good happens and we get back to training and the lads have trained the house down, which motivates you again.

“If we set a goal of achieving then we will set that goal and go for it because the players have great character about them and a willingness to work hard for each other.”

Despite the lack of depth in his squad, Cummins believes his young side has the potential to surprise a few people this season.

“We know that the numbers are low at the moment but we’ve got the potential to go where we want,” he said.

“At the start of pre-season, the quality of the squad went up, even though our numbers didn’t.

“But the young lads who went full-time last season are a year older now and they will contribute more this season, which makes us better.

“We just need to recruit a bit more now because the first and second rounds of the competitions are like an Easter period for us with two games in four days.”

A number of parties seeking to buy the club from Leeds-based administrator David Wilson will meet with the RFL today to put their cases forward.