RUGBY league players are notoriously tough physical specimens and young Bulls hooker Joe Lumb is certainly no shrinking violet.

Before he made the grade at the club he grew up supporting, Lumb was a promising boxer and enjoyed no little success in the ring.

The 19-year-old fought out of the gym at Sedbergh Amateur Boxing Club and had 13 bouts, winning nine of them.

That underlined his fighting spirit but the dream he wanted to realise involved playing rugby league, not knocking opponents to the canvas.

"It didn't get that far, no further than several amateur bouts," said Lumb, who fought between the ages of 14 and 17.

"My record was nine wins from 13 fights and I think the furthest I got was reaching the semi-final of a Yorkshire competition.

"I would have been a welterweight, I was about 69kg, and it was good because a lot of the boxing training was fitness-based.

"There aren't many better sports than boxing when it comes to fitness and you can't beat it really.

"It coincided well with my rugby commitments and I've always been one of the fittest players in the team.

"That was down to the boxing, so it definitely helped my rugby."

Lumb's father Doug coaches at Sedbergh ABC and introduced his son to boxing.

While the teenager punched his weight in the ring, it was rugby league that really stirred Lumb's blood.

Both he and his dad played for local amateur sides Odsal Sedbergh and West Bowling.

"My main sporting interests are boxing and rugby and growing up my idols were Muhammad Ali and the Burgess brothers," explained Lumb.

"I've got some good mates who still box and I go down to the gym every now and then to see them, plus my dad still coaches there."

Lumb quit boxing after he sustained a badly broken finger while playing in the youth ranks at the Bulls.

He was released by Bradford and began working for an air conditioning distribution company in Leeds while playing for West Bowling.

Then the Bulls brought him back to Odsal and handed him a professional full-time contract for the 2016 season.

Lumb has showed touches of his rich promise this term and scored his first senior try off the bench in the recent Challenge Cup defeat at Dewsbury.

He has been left out of the past two games, though, and is eager to be involved tomorrow.

"I'm like any player in that I just want to be playing rather than sat there watching, especially when we're losing," said Lumb.

"It's not nice – but I'm the youngest in the team and it's good to be in the mix.

"I'm hoping to get a run-out this weekend because I enjoyed myself last time against Dewsbury.

"I got a good run-out that night and it was nice to get over the line as I hadn't done that for a while at amateur or academy level.

"Hopefully if I play this week then I can make the same impact as I did last time off the bench."

Head coach Jimmy Lowes informed Lumb of his reasons for not using him at Halifax or in last week's home loss to Sheffield.

"He let me know," said Lumb.

"With Johnny Campbell coming back against Halifax, Jimmy needed some versatility on the bench, so he went with Jean-Phillipe Baile because he can cover different positions.

"He's not left me in the dark about anything and he obviously had his reasons for the team selection against Sheffield, based on the previous game. But hopefully I'm back involved this week."