ROHAN Smith paid tribute to his players after the Bulls put a worrying time behind them to open their Championship Shield with a welcome win at Whitehaven.

Smith’s men went into the game having only been paid their monthly wages two days earlier – a week after they were due.

But they ultimately ran out comfortable 46-18 winners with homegrown star Alex Mellor grabbing a hat-trick and Danny Addy, Danny Williams, Matty Blythe, Kris Welham, Kieren Moss and Kurt Haggerty also touching down.

The Bulls scored four tries in the opening 15 minutes and head coach Smith said: “I thought we started really strongly, got on the front foot and put all that stuff from the past week behind us.

“It has been character-building for everyone and today was about coming here and getting the job done.

“It hasn’t been easy, but that's behind us now and we're looking forward to a big game against Halifax now.

“I've watched quite a bit of Halifax and revisited our last game against them.

“They're a good team and I have appreciated the way they go about their game, especially attacking-wise.

“I have got a lot of respect for the way they play the game and we're going to have to be good on Sunday.

“It's going to take time to get back into Super League and it's about taking lots of small steps.

“Eventually that turns into a big staircase and there is some good at the top of that.

“It's a long way for all clubs, even for Leigh and London.”

Smith reserved special praise for Mellor, who thrived after being deployed at right centre.

The Bulls boss added: “I've got a lot of respect for the way Alex goes about his work.

“I think he's made really good progress in the last couple of months and he had a good run at centre today.

“We want to win every game we play and we'll be doing our best to give the fans who travelled up here something to cheer about.

“Huge respect to those guys to make the journey up after what has gone on in the last few weeks.”