WHEN Adam O’Brien was axed for the Bulls’ biggest game of the season at Featherstone, he openly admitted he was heartbroken.

Head coach Rohan Smith opted to start Danny Addy at hooker and Wakefield loanee Stuart Howarth on the bench.

O’Brien could easily have sulked after missing out on selection for a game which decided the Bulls’ fate.

Instead, he vowed to bounce back.

Since the Featherstone defeat, O’Brien has started all five rounds of the Championship Shield, helping the Bulls to victory in every one of them.

The homegrown 23-year-old said: “I’ve been playing a bit more and we’ve started winning, which might be a coincidence and it might not be.

“Not playing at Fev was a bit of a cut to the throat but you’ve got to bounce back, you can’t sulk about it.

“You won’t get anywhere with a sulking mentality and I’ve pushed on from that point.

“Every time Rohan puts me on the field I need to perform and do my job for the team.

“I know we’re playing in the Championship Shield but we have performed every week in this competition.

“I’ve done my best and now we’re into the semi and hopefully the final too.

“Overall, we’ve had a poor season and would rather be playing the Super League teams in the middle eights and pushing for promotion.

“But it’s ourselves who have got us where we are – there is no-one else to blame.

“Hopefully we can finish on a positive by winning the Shield and then push forward to next year.”

O’Brien was handed his senior debut against Huddersfield in March 2011 by Mick Potter.

He then played under Francis Cummins before legendary former Bradford number nine Jimmy Lowes took the reins.

Towards the end of the 2014 campaign, Lowes made it clear that he rated O’Brien highly and saw him as an eighty-minute hooker.

O’Brien was barely given a breather in 2015 as he swept the board in Bradford’s player of the season awards.

But the departure of Lowes has meant O’Brien has had to prove himself all over again.

He said: “You’ve always got to perform when a new manager comes in.

“Certainly you cannot take anything for granted and it was a change for me when Rohan came in.

“I’ve had a quite few different coaches since I made my debut so you need to prove to that when they pick the team, they can count on you.

“I’ve had Mick Potter, Francis Cummins, Jimmy Lowes and now Rohan.

“At the end of the day, rugby is a business and if you don’t perform as a team then the directors make decisions and the coach goes.

“You might say Jimmy was a fan of mine, playing me eighty minutes every week, but a new coach has different ideas and different tactics.

“Rohan has played me in shorter minutes but I’m happy with that, as long as I get a good bit of game-time to show what I can do.

“Whatever Rohan’s decides to do, whether he be starting me or bringing me off the bench, I’ll perform and do my best for the team.

“We seem to have found some form so hopefully we can push on for the rest of the year, win some silverware, and get ready for next season.”

Head coach Smith recently admitted that, as things stand, there is no space in his squad to keep Howarth, a player he clearly rates, beyond this season.

The contracted hookers for the 2017 campaign are O’Brien, Joe Lumb and Vila Halafihi.

Earlier this year, O’Brien was handed a new deal which keeps him at Odsal until the end of 2019.

“I’ve got that security of a long-term deal but it doesn’t mean I can rest and put my feet up,” he said.

“I’ve still got to perform because we have Stu Howarth, Joe Lumb and Vila here.

“With myself, that’s four good hookers there so I’ve got to perform week in and week out.”

O’Brien capped his recent renaissance with a first-half brace of tries in last week’s home win over Swinton.

He is now looking forward to next season and playing alongside returning Odsal legend Leon Pryce.

O’Brien said: “You don’t score many tries at nine, you might get a couple of dive-overs from two metres out, so it was nice to get a couple last week and a good confidence boost for me.

“There are going to be a lot of players who will be missed next year and with, the amount of lads going, it’s going to be a big cut to the squad.

“But those decisions have been made and with the players coming in we have to regroup as a team.

“It’s a long pre-season where we will get to know each other and push forward for next season.

“Leon Pryce has had so much success in his career and that experience will be massive for me in games and in training. It’s going to be massive for me and the team.”