Former rugby league star Graeme Hallas has returned to his Bradford Dudley Hill roots to begin what could be a long and successful coaching career.

Hallas, who began his playing days at Hill, went on to impress with Hull, Huddersfield and Halifax.

But now the 33-year-old former Great Britain under-21 international centre is determined to make an impact in LHF Healthplan summer National League Three with Hill.

Next month, Hallas and his charges begin a three-pronged attempt at bringing honours to Parry Lane.

First they travel to Hull Dockers (February 4-5) for the first round of the Powergen Challenge Cup. Last season they caused a shock by beating Keighley Cougars in the competition. Super League teams do not enter the competition until round four.

The excitement continues a week later when Hill compete in the Northern Rail Cup (previously the Arriva Trains Cup) for the first time. They start their Group Six programme with a match at Warrington Wizards on Saturday, February 12. And then there is the little matter of National League Three!

Hallas, who was interested in the York and Gateshead coaching jobs before taking over at Hill, said: "Professionalism is the way forward here and that is one of the ideas I am trying to sell to these lads.

"I was assistant coach at York for a year but this is my first head coaching job - and it does excite me.

"We are batting on three wickets at the moment and it would be nice to say at the end of the season that we have a trophy in the cabinet - but the big one is National League Three and this is what I am here to have a crack at."

Should Dudley Hill take all before them and become champions of National League Three, they will not be promoted because of the professional-amateur divide which exists between Three and Two. Keighley Cougars currently play in Two.

"There is a big gulf but a lot of prestige comes with winning Three and that is what we are after," said Hallas.

"Obviously the aim of the club is to move forward in a productive and commonsense way. I was here when Parry Lane first opened as a rugby league club and I have seen a rise and fall in some respects. I want to see it rise again.

"But National League Three is a very good standard. And don't forget, only last year these lads turned over

professional opposition in Keighley Cougars. So the lads are there or thereabouts. What I want to bring into this club is the professionalism that goes with it that will allow the lads to reproduce that form week in, week out."

Dudley Hill have brought in fresh faces for the summer league and are still recruiting - but Hallas believes the team needs to aim for better preparation for matches.

"The lads here are amateur and have to go to work. As a professional, your job is rugby - 24-7. But here it has been a bit of a culture shock for me.

"I have just spent 15 years when if you didn't go into training you got sacked. You have to bear in mind these lads work shifts and if I call them into training they hardly see their families. I have had to be very lenient in that respect."

Hallas, always ambitious as a player, is now ambitious as a coach. "I have big ambitions and whether I realise them here at Dudley Hill or if I have to move on - only time will tell.

"But it won't be through lack of effort on my part if things do not move on down here."

Hallas has fond memories of his days as a top-class rugby league player. In 1992 he went on the Great Britain Lions tour to Australia.

"I have had many highlights in my career," he said. "But the friends that I made in rugby league during those times are the real highlights. I can ring someone up and go out for a pint with them, even though I might not have seen them for three or four years. We reminisce and everything..."

On Saturday, Bradford Dudley Hill host former Super League side Castleford Tigers.

"It will be difficult," said Hallas. "But it will show us just where we are."

l Hallas made 56 Super League appearances, mainly for Hull, between 1988 and 2001. He scored 11 tries and kicked 39 goals and one field goal.

He won the NFP Grand Final with Huddersfield Giants in 2002, having played for them during the season.