BULLS centre Ross Oakes is relishing being part of the full-time environment at the Provident Stadium.

The 20-year-old from Birkenshaw was with the Odsal club's Academy last season but is enjoying being with the big boys now.

"There is a big step up in terms of physicality, but I am getting used to that and it has made more confident as a player, and the lads have helped me out as a team on things like defence."

The Drighlington product has certainly had opposition defences worried since making his Bulls debut last season, scoring four tries in six appearances in 2016 – including a hat-trick against Sheffield Eagles – and five in six so far this campaign.

Oakes is set to continue his ever-present tag in 2017 in tomorrow's Ladbrokes Challenge Cup fourth-round tie at home to Featherstone Rovers, and admitted: "Featherstone are a good side and are going quite well.

"They have a couple of good centres but our build up has been no different from a league game and we are good to go and it is a game that we really want to win."

Oakes' try-scoring statistics aren't bad but they cannot match those of winger Ethan Ryan, whose 20 appearances for the Bulls have brought him 22 tries.

Ryan scored an acrobatic effort last Sunday in the home victory over Batley Bulldogs, picking the ball up off his ankles before launching himself over Wayne Reittie to plant the ball down one-handed on the left alongside the corner flag.

Some are calling it the best try they have ever seen, and the 20-year-old admitted: "It is something that James Clare and I used to practice last season on the mats in training.

"I suppose it takes a certain amount of courage but it is not something that you think about beforehand.

"With a bit of pace that I have, I just went for it. It was one of my better finishes but I can't really remember doing it.

"If you get the ball in one hand (in this case his left hand) then you can jump quite high.

"I scored one like it last year and it is a matter if transferring what you do in training onto the field, but I would only do it if I thought that I had a chance to score off it.

"But I was speaking to my dad after the game and he said that under the old rules it would not have been allowed because of contact with the corner flag."

A similar effort tomorrow would not go amiss with Bulls fans, and when asked where he wanted to be in five years' time, Ryan said: "Playing for the Bulls in Super League hopefully because that is where I want to be."