STEVE Crossley spoke of his pride at skippering his home-town club after delivering a passionate pre-match speech before their play-off semi-final win over Oldham.

His words had the desired effect as Bulls produced their best display of the season in a 47-0 landslide.

The on-field captain wants to see his club restored to their former glory and said: "The speech came from the heart. I'm a Bradford lad and I'm passionate about this club. I told them we're at our lowest ebb right now but we can rewrite history. The whole thing just rolled off the tongue.

"I've done a lot in my career. I came through the youth system here and played for Bulls and Castleford in Super League. I've also been out and played in Toronto.

"But nothing has made me prouder than being Bulls captain and I continue to be proud to lead this side on to the pitch." Crossley claimed that the players were so fired up ahead of Sunday's game that Oldham did not really stand a chance.

He said: "We know from when we beat Oldham (24-16) two weeks ago just how strong they can be but just glimpsing at everyone in the dressing room, you could see they were ready for Sunday.

"We knew it would be our day because we've spent the last 11 months preparing for this, right back to the cold nights last November at Tong." Breaking down a near-perfect performance, Crossley enthused: "We've always been capable of scoring tries and we know we're good at it.

"We've been spot on recently in defence too and those back to back defensive sets at the end to keep Oldham out showed that. We weren't getting broken."

Bulls host Workington Town in the final this Sunday. John Kear's men lost twice to the Cumbrians during the regular season but Crossley insists the team can make it third time lucky.

He said: "It's all about us. You could say we owe them one but we have to just concentrate on ourselves. We showed desperation in defence and options in attack this week and we'll have a lot more of that against Workington.

"The home crowd will be a huge advantage too. Bradford is a massive rugby league town and that has never left us."

Meanwhile, a report has claimed Super League club Huddersfield are interested in a move for Bulls youngster Reiss Butterworth and are set to pay a transfer fee to snap him up for next season.

The 19-year-old hooker had been on loan at Castleford but has returned to Bradford and was part of a recent reserves squad.