KARL Harrison has warned that life in the Championship will be “no cakewalk” as the Bulls seek an immediate return to Super League next year.

The assistant coach knows the second tier of English rugby league inside out having spent the past few seasons at Batley and Halifax respectively.

Harrison believes a full-time environment will massively bolster the chances of Bradford, London and Leigh in their quest to qualify for the Super Eight play-offs against top-flight opposition.

But he reckons teams such as Featherstone, Halifax, Sheffield, Doncaster and Dewsbury will also be tough nuts to crack.

The 50-year-old said: “Leigh are a very good team and they’re going full-time next season with the same sort of squad – very fast, very big and knowing the competition.

“London have kept a lot of the local lads but they have also been smart in signing a number of northern-based players, so they will also be strong in the full-time environment.

“Then you have the likes of Featherstone, Sheffield, Halifax, Batley and Dewsbury, where Glenn Morrison has done a fantastic job and recruited some really good players.

“These teams are going to be strong because they know the division and we cannot underestimate them.

“If anyone think it’s going to be easy they are wrong – it’s going to be far from easy.

“It’s all about hard work, dedication and achieving the ultimate goal of getting us back to where we need to be.

“It’s not going to be a cakewalk but we just need to work harder and be smarter than everyone else.”