WINGER James Clare is eyeing a regular spot at full back following his outstanding display there in Sunday’s demolition of Salford.

The 24-year-old produced a faultless display as the Bulls’ last line of defence, providing a stunning assist for Danny Williams’ first-half try as well as getting on the scoresheet himself and then denying Niall Evalds with a brilliant saving tackle late on.

It amounted to a thoroughly good afternoon’s work for the recent signing from Castleford.

With Ryan Shaw and James Mendeika currently out of Jimmy Lowes’ top 17 and Jake Mullaney performing to such good effect in the halves against Salford, the stage could be set for Clare to stay at full back for next Sunday’s visit of Widnes.

“There is a lot of responsibility but I really enjoy playing there,” said Clare.

“Jimmy demands a lot but I enjoy taking that on board and I’m trying to do my best in that position.

“There are a lot of great full backs at the club, so they are pushing me to do better and you have to perform if you want to stay in the team.

“Could I look to stay there? Possibly, because I’m really happy to play there and I enjoy it just as much as I enjoy playing on the wing.

“The expansive way that Bradford like to play means that you’re going to get plenty of the ball anyway and try-scoring opportunities. We’ll see what happens.”

With no game this weekend due to the Challenge Cup final, Lowes will give his players some time off to recharge their batteries ahead of the visit of Widnes on September 6.

Victory there would take the Bulls to within touching distance of a return to Super League.

Reflecting on the Salford display, Clare said: “We played well but we were still scratchy in parts.

“If we had not been scratchy, we could have potentially put a bigger number of points on them.

“We will be in training during the week and have then got the weekend off.

“It’s a chance to relax mentally, maybe get away from the game a little bit, and even go and watch the Challenge Cup final at Wembley.

“I’ve not made any plans but we will still be keeping one eye on the Widnes game anyway.

“That’s a real chance to put down a marker to say ‘we are here to stay and we want to get promoted’.”

Encouragingly for Lowes, Lee Gaskell and Harry Siejka should be available to face Widnes and the tight calf that forced Mullaney off against Salford is not expected to keep him out of the Vikings’ visit.

Clare said: “Harry was a really late call to drop out against Salford. He was supposed to be playing but pulled out in the team run on Saturday.

“We’ll see what Jimmy does now in terms of team selection for Widnes.”