ADRIAN Purtell says an end-of-season players' trip to Magaluf helped blow away the frustrations over the Bulls’ promotion near-miss.

The players headed off for Majorca straight after losing the Million Pound Game to Wakefield.

Purtell is now back in the thick of pre-season training as the Bulls begin their preparations to make amends for falling agonisingly short of a return to Super League.

And the Aussie centre believes that break abroad helped them deal with the immediate aftermath of getting so close.

Purtell said: “We had our trip planned to go over to Magaluf long before the Wakefield game. But it was a blessing.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’d prefer to have been over there celebrating. We would have been going there for a far better reason.

“But it was good to get away. I switched my phone off for four days and enjoyed a good time with the boys. They’d put in a great effort last season.

“It was a tough year and it was good to spend some time away from rugby.

“But it (losing to the Wildcats) hasn’t been forgotten. That could be a good motivation for us this year.”

Purtell admits painful memories of that 24-16 defeat will linger but hopes the Bulls can channel them as an inspiration to go one step further next season.

“You don’t want to feel the pain we suffered last year after the game,” he added. “Nobody would want to go through that again.

“The owners, the fans, everyone hurt after the game. It should give you that burning motivation to keep going and get through whenever times get tough or you think it’s going to be a long year.”