JOSH Rickett, Ross Oakes, Liam Kirk, Vila Halafihi and Jordan Andrade have helped to cause Bulls coach John Kear some broken sleep.

The quintet, who played for their reserves in a memorable 18-14 victory over Wigan Warriors at Bradford Dudley Hill two weeks ago, were all promoted to the first team in Easter Monday's 34-10 victory at Hunslet in the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup.

After mixing and matching his first-team squad over their last three matches, Bulls coach John Kear is happy that they have given him plenty of food for thought ahead of Sunday's long trip to Cumbria.

"I want to be having sleepless nights as I formulate the team for Workington," said Kear.

"I was really confident about the lads who came in against Hunslet, because when I watched the reserve game against Wigan, and they were a good team, I was happy with the way that our lads fronted up.

"We wanted to go big in the middle channel and rest the 'Big Bear' Callum Bustin, Sam Hallas and George Milton because they put immense efforts in (on Friday against Oldham), and Steve Crossley only did half a shift at Hunslet compared to what he normally does, so we have managed the game-time well and we can hopefully finish the job at Workington on Sunday."

But with full back Gregg McNally, left winger Ethan Ryan, scrum half Dane Chisholm and second row Matty Garside being the only players to start in both the victories over Oldham and Hunslet, Kear is readying himself for possibly being without McNally and, for the second game in in a row, Joe Keyes.

Stand-off Keyes suffered a head injury against Oldham, and Kear said: "Joe has to go through a return-to-play concussion protocol and he is fed back into training. He will only do contact after seven days – it is as late as that."

As for McNally, Kear said: "We have to let it settle down before we can assess it, but he is basically a doubt for Workington and Coventry, and then we have Warrington in the Challenge Cup, so I am sure that he will be highlighting it on his calendar as the date to return."

Also missing at South Leeds Stadium was winger Dalton Grant, with Kear explaining: "The reason Dalton didn't play was because he could have torn his hamstring, so we took medical advice and sat him down and he should be ready for this weekend."

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