JOHN Kear has likened the Bulls’ pre-season regime to TV’s Bushtucker trials.

And he is delighted to say that nobody is shouting: “Get me out of here!”

Tong may hardly resemble the Australian jungle where the 'I’m a Celebrity' cast are putting their survival skills to the test.

But for Kear, seeing his squad pushing themselves to the limit mentally and physically is equally essential viewing.

He said: “It’s a bit masochistic because all you are doing is being flogged and being pushed to your absolute limit.

“But you’ve got to enjoy that because that’s what happens on game day. This is part of the preparation for that.

“You’ve to be pushed to the absolute breaking point – and you haven’t to break.

“It’s a bit like the Bushtucker trials with the celebrities, except it’s in a physical manner.”

The first phase of pre-season has been focused on strength work and basic skills, breaking down the core parts of the game for each player.

Kear added: “It’s really important not just on the physical conditioning side but also to develop them further.

“Whether it’s Jake Webster at his stage of his career or Rowan Milnes who is just starting his, we can always get better no matter how old we are.”

The Bulls play their first friendly on Boxing Day when York return to Odsal for a showdown between the two promoted sides.

Christened “the Grand Final that never was”, the 1.30pm Christmas cracker offers the chance of pre-season bragging rights between the stand-out clubs from League One.

Kear said recently: “They’ve beaten us one, we’ve beaten them once and both by two points. It would be a fitting way to decide it.”