ALEX Mellor is "100 per cent" confident the Bulls can win promotion as he warned the rest of the Championship: We are out to intimidate you.

Rohan Smith's new-look squad began pre-season training yesterday and Mellor is hugely encouraged by the prospect of what lies in store for the 2017 campaign.

Although over 20 members of last season's first-team squad have departed, six academy players have been promoted to become full-time seniors and a raft of new recruits have arrived.

Home-grown forward Mellor, who emerged as one of Bradford's better performers last season, is encouraged by the acquisition of Leon Pryce, Lachlan Burr, Phil Joseph, Ross Peltier, Jon Magrin, Iliess Macani, Alex Foster and Jason Walton.

Head coach Smith is also expected to announce another new recruit shortly and Mellor said: "Do I believe we can win promotion? Yes, 100 per cent.

"Rohan has put together a good squad – a tough squad – which is going to make it really hard for opposition teams to come here and win.

"It's going to be a difficult game for whoever comes here and they had better be ready because we are out to intimidate teams this year. All you've got to do is look at some of the players we've signed.

"We've got a lot of rough and ready guys to run the ball in strongly and be ready to hit you with everything they have got. I think that's the approach we will have this year and I like the look of it."

Although plenty of key men such as Danny Addy, Dale Ferguson, Jay Pitts, Kurt Haggerty and Adrian Purtell have moved on to pastures new, Mellor has been buoyed by the new arrivals.

He said: "People see that a lot of players have gone but we see it as a lot of friends have left the club. Plenty of lads we've grown close to over the last couple of years have all left and it's a sad time for me and the club.

"But it's also an exciting time because we've brought a lot of new lads in who are enthusiastic about the club and want to do well. I sense that already so I think it's about training as hard as we can, picking up where we left off last season and going on to bigger and better things.

"Everyone who plays the game wants to be plying their trade at the highest level – and I want to do that with this club. I want everything to go smoothly and I'm not saying I'm going to go to a Super League club or even have offers to go.

"I'm just concentrating on training hard for Bradford and doing well for Bradford, so hopefully that will entail getting back to Super League this year. I'm trying to do everything I can to improve in the short term to be as good as possible in the long term. I'm going to give it my all and see where I get."

The Bulls open their campaign with a testing trip to newly-relegated Hull KR, who are led by former Australia coach Tim Sheens.

Mellor, who scored his first senior try for Bradford at Dewsbury in April last season and ended the campaign with nine touchdowns, said: "The opener at Hull KR will be a great game to play in and a great game to watch.

"I think with Leigh going up, this gives us a new rivalry in Hull KR coming down because they're another full-time team with great players. It's another challenge for us but we want to take them on and beat them."