THE Bulls intend to offer no sympathy to crisis-hit Swinton in tomorrow's battle of the bottom two at Odsal.

Fresh financial worries have left the Lions fearing for their future and the club admitted they only just met last month's wage bill.

Currently sitting ten points ahead of the Bulls, they will play under new coach Stuart Littler for the first time tomorrow after John Duffy left to join Featherstone.

Bulls supremo Geoff Toovey has warned his players to be on their guard after the change at the top – but given the ongoing problems at Odsal this year, there will be no empathy towards Swinton's off-field situation.

Toovey said: "Not really, because we've had the issues from the start. We've been behind the black ball since before the comp started, with players and with competition points.

"It comes back to the hope and aspirations of the team to get out of that relegation position.

"Unfortunately at the moment we're still stuck at the bottom. Part of that is because of the mental pressure and strain of being on minus 12 at the start."

The Bulls must win the final game of the Championship campaign against their closest rivals to have any hope going into the Bottom Eights.

Yet Toovey insisted his players will be wary of the effect that changing the coach may have on the visitors.

He said: "I can understand they may not be at their best. But teams under adversity also seem to come back and fire.

"If you look at coaches that have been sacked in the past, all of a sudden it's not that they're different players or a new man coming in is better, it's just the fact there's a change and they seem to get a lift from that.

"Possibly Swinton will be in a position where they will want to prove themselves and show everyone that they are a very worthy team and better than where they sit as well.

"I don't know the situation at Swinton but sometimes teams in that position really bounce back. We need to be very mindful of that – but all we can control is what's on our football field and that's what we'll do."

Forward Ross Peltier's return from an ankle injury way ahead of schedule is the major plus in the Bulls squad.

Winger Iliess Macani keeps his place after the former London Bronco scored on his return to action at Batley last week. Brandon Pickersgill is set to make his third appearance of the season at full back.

Toovey, who is still waiting for centre Willie Tonga to clear the administrative red tape, is adamant that the prospect of relegation has not crossed his mind.

He said: "I haven't thought about, I'm not contemplating it, I'm just trying to win each game as they go. It's a bit of a cliche but I'm concentrating on this year and winning as many games as we can.

"Touch wood, we'll avoid it, whether it be through restructuring of the competition or other clubs getting beaten by us and we somehow mathematically get there.

"It's been a tough run for the last couple of months when we've been swapping our loan players and others getting injured, both long term and short term.

"It's been a difficult period for the club but hopefully we've grown in character because of it and we can get a stable, steady squad for these remaining games."