There is something wonderfully uplifting when the fixture list for the forthcoming season is published for the first time.

Like the first green shoots of spring or lambs frolicking in the fields, there is a sense of renewal, a reminder that nothing lasts forever and the circles and cycles invariably keep coming round.

They say hope springs eternal and certainly it is that time of the year when optimism and hope are unsullied by adversity, disappointment or defeats.

We will all pour over the fixture list, plan our away games and ponder if the fixture gods have been kind to us. Feels like an early Christmas present.

These are my thoughts. Firstly the Championship looks like a strong competition this year. A very strong one.

The previous - and I have to say superior - league resulted in unprecedented levels of investment in the championship and teams and clubs strengthened accordingly.

From the Bulls' perspective, and with all due respect to League One colleagues, the 2019 calendar has got a strong feel to it.

Featherstone Rovers are as solid a Championship team as anyone could ask for - regular contenders, battle hardened and thoroughly authentic.

The same can be said for Halifax. I have been told by many that until recent years Fax were the tradition rivals to the Bulls with a mutual antipathy. Apparently at some stage there was a merger on the cards at the beginning of Super League that divided opinions either side of the border.

We will certainly get to know them pretty well this term, playing in the Yorkshire Cup and Summer Bash, as well as home and away.

A word here on the Summer Bash. I’d like to congratulate the executive officers at the RFL for the fixture match-ups.

If this event and, for that matter, Magic have any real purpose it has to be about elevating a round of fixtures into something extraordinary; something that stands out, the big clashes and the derbies. Otherwise what is the point?

The RFL have stayed faithful to that concept and have delivered, in my view, the best match-ups the 14 clubs can possibly produce.

Bash may not get the crowds that Magic does but that is simply a factor of the size of clubs but it will still produce great entertainment.

I can’t help but compare this to the misguided decision by the Super League clubs to change their formula to deliver some very ordinary games, while the blockbuster get relocated to the home grounds of the clubs.

I’m sorry to predict that Magic will wither under this retrograde step and be replaced by a 9s plan by 2022. Anyway that’s Super League’s business. Thumbs up to the RFL on this one.

Back to our fixture list, we’ve got the two overseas trips to test us this time, Toulouse and Toronto. Be under no illusions these are massive challenges.

They would be if they were simply on the M62 let alone with the added complications of foreign travel.

One thing patently unfair is Toronto playing some home games in this country given their climatic challenges. The essence of fair competition is that all runners and riders should, as far as possible, have the same course to navigate.

Clubs sidestepping the trip to Canada by mere accident of the fixture list just doesn’t feel right.

We have been and are strong supporters of strategic expansion and of the massive efforts of general manager Martin Vickers and their charismatic owner David Argyle, and I guess these challenges are just part of the complexities that come with growing our game. Play on!

Over the Pennines we have the freshly-relegated Widnes and a Leigh side back from the brink of destruction. Whatever turmoil has happened, rest assured that Widnes will be a genuine contender, no question about that.

Decent retention of a good crop of youngsters and they will be there of thereabouts.

Leigh, who knows? Going bust one week and ante post favourites the next. The truth is, however, that rugby league generally and the Championship in particular will be better for a strong Leigh, playing in a smart modern facility at the Leigh Sports Village.

Closer to home we have our old friends at Batley and Dewsbury. In my two years in this country I have grown to know both clubs very well and the people who run them.

Batley and Dewsbury to me epitomise much that is good about the sport - well run, own their own grounds, bump along but never get themselves into financial difficulty. It is triumph and a testimony to the two owners Kevin Nicholas and Mark Sawyer.

The enigma is that by rights neither should be operating at this level, but they do and they flourish. It is down to one thing and one thing alone, quality leadership. I hope they both do well, just behind the Bulls this season!

The same can be said of our old friends at York. They have plenty to look forward to - a new ground and great city economy to exploit, and their chairman Jon Flatman will ensure they do both.

I’d like to think the Bulls and York will both strengthen the Championship in 2019. We have developed this year a healthy rivalry, which you’ll see on display on Boxing Day, when we take them on in our “Grand Final that never happened”. Time to settle this arm wrestle - for this year at least.

The remaining four clubs, Rochdale, Swinton, Barrow and Sheffield will always provide solid opposition. Of the four, Barrow are making progress with improving crowds and a strong playing base.

I’m told the away trip to Cumbria is one of the best and I look forward immensely to it. Swinton too have recruited strongly under Andrew Mazey’s leadership and did so while Leigh were not in the market for talent.

Everywhere you look there is a challenge to test us and that is how it should be. The Bulls are back in full training and I know the squad we have put together under the astute eye of John Kear will provide both entertainment and pride for us all.

Put Saturday, December 15 in your diary for season ticket collection day and to meet our full squad from 11am at SouthBank, Odsal Stadium, along with some other special announcements.