ROHAN Smith has hailed the imminent arrival of Dane Chisholm and insisted the Bulls are “huge underdogs” for Sunday’s crunch trip to Leigh.

Highly-regarded playmaker Chisholm has become a Bradford player on a deal until the end of 2017 but it is not though he will be ready to make his debut this weekend.

The half-back is due to travel to the UK shortly and will seek to emulate the impact he made during a short stint at Hull KR towards the end of last season.

Chisholm scored three tries in seven games, including one against Bradford in the Qualifiers, but has struggled badly for first-team opportunities at the Canterbury Bulldogs this year.

The 25-year-old Australian has been playing in the New South Wales Cup but Smith is delighted to have the France international, who has also had spells at Melbourne Storm and Manly Sea Eagles, on board at Odsal.

Head coach Smith said: “I’m really pleased we have been able to bring Dane to the club.

“He has been involved in quality NRL systems at Melbourne Storm and most recently Canterbury Bulldogs, and showed his ability when he played for Hull KR for a short stint last season.

“Dane will slot into the halves and will be great addition to this talented squad.”

Chisholm helped Rovers to seven straight wins in the Qualifiers and is looking forward to returning to England.

He said: “I’m delighted to have joined Bradford and start the next chapter of my career at the Bulls.

“I’m looking forward to getting over to West Yorkshire and ripping in with the lads and getting into the games.

“I experienced English rugby league last year and I can’t wait to be involved it again.”

Chisholm could form a half-back partnership with Leon Pryce next year with Lee Gaskell set to move to Huddersfield and Joe Keyes viewed as a more long-term prospect.

Heading into this weekend’s trip to Leigh, Smith is likely to pair Danny Addy and Oscar Thomas in the halves.

Leigh are top of the Championship and can virtually seal top spot with a win, with then Bulls desperate for a win to keep their top four hopes alive.

Smith said: “We treat every game like it’s gold and do our best every week.

“It’s a great challenge and we will be huge underdogs, obviously, against Leigh.

“Everyone else will be expecting only one result but we’ve got a lot of belief in the group.

“We realise we need to improve on last week’s performance against Halifax and we will be doing that.”

The Bulls have enjoyed some memorable battles with Leigh since they were relegated to the Championship and produced their finest display of the season during the Summer Bash defeat in Blackpool last month.

“People tell me that was Bradford’s best performance this year – it was the best since I’ve been here,” added Smith.

“There is certainly some confidence to take from there, but form is temporary and it’s about coming up with a good performance this weekend.

“No-one else’s form matters come kick-off time. We’ve been training well over a period of time and I believe that quality of still always counts, even if it doesn’t always reflect in the performance at the weekend.

“It accumulates and eventually it can produce a significant impact. Last week’s performance was definitely disappointing but we addressed some issues on Monday.

“At the end of the review, I told everyone to move past it, take ownership of your errors and move on because we can’t look back.

“I’m looking forward to this weekend because, like I said, everyone will be expecting Leigh to go through the motions and get another win. We will be doing our best to do something about that.”