ROHAN Smith believes he is assembling a squad for next season with players who have a burning desire to make the Bulls great again.

Smith is presiding over a major overhaul of his squad, with over 20 members of the 2016 group set to depart and at least a dozen new faces coming in.

London trio Jon Magrin, Iliess Macani and Alex Foster will be joined by Jason Walton of Wakefield and Bradfordians Leon Pryce and Ross Peltier.

Under-19s prospects James Bentley, Liam Kirk, Ross Oakes, Brandon Pickersgill, Josh Rickett and Brandan Wilkinson have all penned professional contracts for next season and a number of them will feature in tomorrow's trip to Workington.

Asked about the importance of signing players who are highly motivated to help Bradford back into the big time, head coach Smith insisted: "It's vital.

"There is obviously a profession to be had in rugby league because you can make a living out of it.

"But to get the best out of yourself and achieve what these guys want to achieve, it goes much deeper.

"I think this club had a great tradition long before it became the Bradford Bulls.

"It has got such a great brand in sport generally and in Australia, Bradford are definitely widely recognised.

"In this country it is one of the big clubs in people's minds, even though it's not where it wants to be at the minute.

"It's about getting people to really want to drive it forward to get the club back to that standing.

"The guys I've recruited and the people I'm speaking to – some things are still in the pipeline – have a passion for the club.

"When I started speaking to Ross Peltier, for example, the fact he genuinely loves the club was the thing that stood out for me.

"He began his career here and has been looking for an opportunity to come back for a while. He's earned that through his performances for Keighley.

"There are people out there who want to play for this club, so it's about choosing the right ones who want to play for Bradford for the right reasons – and that's wanting to make the club big again.

"That's my passion and perhaps that honour in representing the Bulls has been lost because there has been a lot of turbulence in recent years and maybe this year to some extent.

"But in the main the players here are passionate about playing and you can see that in recent performances.

"You could see that last week against Swinton when we were down to 11 men and you don't perform like that if you're not passionate.

"There are going to be some tears shed for players who are leaving because they will still have Bradford in their heart.

"It's a period of transition but we are also trying to create a culture about performing well and what it means to represent the Bulls."

The Bulls head to Cumbria tomorrow for their final away game of the season on the back of five successive wins in the Championship Shield.

Smith said: "I spoke to the players directly after the Featherstone game and said 'this is a test of character. We are going to find out who's who and what kind of men we are in a time of turbulence and disappointment'.

"We have moved on from that and the players are enjoying playing.

"Adam O'Brien, for example, had some tough news when he was left out against Featherstone – but he's got on with it and is really buying into what we are working on with him.

"He's been one of our better performers in recent weeks."

Smith, meanwhile, has over 20 players under contract for next season but is continuing to scour the market for forwards and Halifax star Adam Tangata is believed to be on his radar.

The Bulls head coach said: "There's a lot of players getting tossed up to me at the moment and the roster is never finished – it's constantly evolving.

"There will always be people coming and going, that's just the nature of rugby league now."