JOHN Kear reckons the Bulls can use the element of surprise to upset the odds in a tough opening month in the Championship.

Relegated London head for temporary home Dewsbury to kick off a testing start to the 2020 campaign which also sees the Bulls facing York and Featherstone, both play-off teams from last season.

Kear is in the middle of a rebuilding programme with his squad after the club’s financial upheaval.

But rather than shirk away from such a demanding opening for next year, he insists the revamped team could be hitting some of the big boys at the best time.

Kear said: “It is a tough start but I think that’s good. You can really see where you are at and what you need to improve.

“You could argue that London at home is the second hardest fixture we’re going to play all season. The only tougher one is London away.

“But they won’t know too much about what to expect from us and we might be able to bushwhack one or two.”

Kear also hopes his side will have bedded into their new base at the Tetley’s Stadium by the time of the curtain-raiser against the Broncos on February 2.

The pre-season schedule has been designed to get the players accustomed to performing on the more compact measurements of Dewsbury compared with Odsal.

He added: “I’m hoping we will have an advantage.

“We’ve got two friendlies at Dewsbury first and Castleford is also a tight, small pitch as well.

“So hopefully we’ve mastered what’s required for such a playing area.

“Obviously London will be training on their pitch, which is a nice, all-weather large one. So I’m hoping it will benefit us.

“If I was a Bradford fan, I would be really excited about that first game. They can see how good we’re going to be, what the new surroundings are like and whether we can look forward with optimism to the rest of the season.

“I’m pretty certain we can and it will be nice for the fans to come along and have it confirmed.”

The training programme has once again been divided into blocks and Kear confirmed the players are being pushed hard.

“The first week was a medium introductory one but these last two have been absolute floggings.

“We’ll drop off a bit next week and that’s how we’ll do it until just before Boxing Day. That will be a light week so hopefully they can play well.

“I’m still expecting them to be a bit heavy legged then because of the volume of work they will be doing.

“It’s early February that matters not Boxing Day, even though we want to play well at a ground and club that I love, Castleford.”