BULLS head coach Jimmy Lowes admits he needs "to be smarter" in how he uses hooker Adam O'Brien next season.

The homegrown star was a virtual ever-present for Bradford in 2015 and played 80 minutes in the majority of games.

But he also became a target for the opposition and showed signs of fatigue at times in the second half of the campaign.

Lowes used Jean-Philippe Baile off the bench at hooker in the final two games to give O'Brien a breather and said: "That's exactly why I did it.

"I want my hookers to play 80 minutes and it's important that they do that. But I probably need to be smarter in how I use Adam throughout the year so that he peaks at the right time for the right games.

"It's something I will look at, along with game rotation as well as interchange rotation. That's the idea and we'll see if that pans out."

Lowes let Nathan Conroy join Dewsbury on loan during the season before the homegrown hooker made a permanent move to the Tetley's Stadium.

Vila Halafihi made a handful of appearances during the past season and the 21-year-old will now look to push for more regular game-time in 2016.

"Vila is at an age now where he should be playing – and he needs to force the issue," said Lowes.

The Bulls have promoted winger Ethan Ryan and hooker Joe Lumb to the senior squad on one-year full-time deals for next season.

Lowes said: "We're working extremely hard with John Bastian and his staff to really push the Academy on and get it back to where it was not so long ago.

"We don't want these kids coming through to be a one-off occasion – we want them coming through on a regular basis because that's only going to benefit the club in the long-term.

"We've got a really good core of young players who we are very happy with, which is very encouraging."