ETHAN Ryan may be young in years, but he is long in the tooth when it comes to dealing with cash-flow problems like those being suffered by tomorrow's opponents Whitehaven at the moment.

The 22-year-old Bradford Bulls winger, who came through their Academy, admitted: "I have been here since I was quite young and I have been through three with Bradford.

"It is not good to see any club in that sort of crisis.

"You don't want to see that and hopefully they (Whitehaven) will raise the money that they need."

Ryan, who has scored 15 tries in as many matches for the Betfred League One leaders this season, including an impressive 12 in his last six, does feel that adversity can make hosts Whitehaven stronger.

He said: "We know from past experiences what that sort of financial crisis can do to the players and the fans.

"It really brings them together, and it will be a very tough game.

"They have lowered the ticket prices and hopefully there is a big crowd for them because it will be nice to see them raise the money that they need to survive."

As for his current rich try-scoring vein, Ryan admitted: "I didn't realise that I had scored in the last six games and got 12 tries in them."

He then praised his team-mates by saying: "All I can do is try and score tries with the opportunities that are given to me and, thankfully through the good teamwork, we are creating a lot of opportunities to score and it is just good that I get to finish off their hard work.

"Last year we saw James (Bentley) and Ross (Oakes) have good seasons and we were quite good down that left edge, racking up the points, and this year we are getting to that stage again.

"Chis (Dane Chisholm), Matty (Garside) and Smithy (Lee Smith) bring a lot of experience down that left edge and it is starting to show at this point of the season."

But it isn't just the attack down the left or elsewhere that has been impressive as the Bulls have scored a league-high 560 points in 12 matches.

They have only conceded 123 in that time, again the best in the division, and Ryan said: "John (Kear) is massive on defence.

"He prides us on that, and that is why we have conceded no more than three tries a game.

"We are getting to the halfway point of the season and doing well, and if we keep that up for the rest of the season it is going to be hard for teams to beat us."

The Bulls, who will have completed half of their fixtures after tomorrow, are two points clear of second-placed York City Knights.

Ryan admitted: "We know what teams are bringing against us now that we have played them.

"We would definitely take being two points clear at this stage of the season.

"It is definitely where we want to be and it is just about keeping things going now."