ADRIAN Purtell celebrates his 30th birthday today and has admitted 2015 is shaping up as his most important year as a Bulls player.

The Australian centre is entering his fourth season at Odsal after arriving from NRL outfit Penrith Panthers in the winter of 2011.

He has experienced plenty of highs and lows during his time in England, not least the heart attack he suffered in the aftermath of the Magic Weekend defeat to Leeds in May 2012.

Purtell showed remarkable fortitude to resurrect his career just ten months later and re-establish himself as a regular in the side, scoring 11 tries in 24 appearances last term before agreeing a new one-year deal following the club’s relegation.

“I moved over here as a 26-year-old and now it’s my 30th, so time flies,” said Purtell.

“I’m excited about the year ahead and it’s probably my most important as a Bulls player.

“Trying to get the club back up is the driving motivation for me.

“Getting relegated didn’t sit well with anyone who was involved with the club last year.

“Despite everything that happened off the field, the fact remains that we went down and that’s something we want to put right as players.

“It would be great to be part of the team that takes the Bradford Bulls back into Super League.”

Purtell, a country boy from Albury, a delightful town on the northern side of the Murray River that divides New South Wales from Victoria, is positive about the Bulls’ prospects.

He feels there is plenty more to come from Jimmy Lowes' men after their two pre-season friendly defeats at the hands of Castleford and Leeds.

Purtell added: “We’re quite confident with the training that we’ve done and we've shown in patches against two Super League teams that we’re capable of mixing it at times.

“We just haven’t done it for the full eighty minutes, which is something we’re going to have to address ahead of the opening game at Leigh.

“But we’ve got a couple of weeks to get ready for round one and hopefully we’ll be up to full strength.

“We showed character in the second half at Headingley last week and that’s something to take into the Leigh game.

“It was a tough week with all the weather we had.

“Not that it’s any excuse – our attitude probably just wasn’t there from the start and Jimmy addressed that at half-time.

“The boys had a crack in the second half and the squad is shaping up well, so I’m quite confident for the year ahead.”

Purtell snubbed interest from elsewhere to drop down into the Championship and commit himself to the Bulls’ promotion challenge.

He explained: “There was a couple of clubs who showed interest but I spoke to Jimmy shortly after he came in and he told me he wanted me to stay.

“I get along with him quite well. After the season we had, when he said he wanted me to stay it was a no-brainer.

“I’ve enjoyed it at Bradford and I don’t really want to be moving around too much, so it was a good decision for me. I’m happy with it.”