THE Bulls are treating pre-season with care after learning the lessons of last year.

John Kear will make wholesale changes to his line-up when he takes a side to Hunslet tomorrow.

None of the senior players who started at Castleford on Boxing Day will feature at the South Leeds Stadium.

Kear was critical of the hectic warm-up schedule a year ago and felt it affected the way the Bulls began their Championship campaign.

With numbers streamlined for 2020, he is taking no chances for the upcoming friendlies.

He said: “We’re going to give everybody an opportunity but I’m also very conscious about playing too many pre-season games.

“We’re still fulfilling our obligations to other clubs. But we’re going to make sure that come round one (against London Broncos) they’ve not played too many games because we’ve got such a small squad.

“We picked up injuries last year having played so many pre-season games and I’m very aware of that. I want to ensure that doesn’t happen again.”

Kear believes the bar has already been set high by the performance at the Jungle as the Bulls shocked their Super League hosts 20-14.

“They were very good indeed,” he added. “I was delighted how they committed to each other defensively and the work ethic.

“Although we weren’t fluent in attack, there were signs that we could be come a very good attacking team as well.

“That’s a Castleford team who are very good defensively and a threat attacking-wise so we could take a lot of positives from it.

“They can take great confidence from that but it’s only what I expected.

“I know other people have been saying it’s a thin squad, and it is, but it’s a high quality one.

“All we need is a bit of luck from the rugby gods to keep us reasonably injury free and I’m certain we’ll have a very good season.”

Part-owner Mark Sawyer is hoping for a good crowd to swell the League One side's coffers.

Sawyer said: “It’s something where we had an agreement with Hunslet and we were keen to keep that.

“They keep the gate receipts so good luck to them. I hope there is a nice number of our supporters turning up.

“It's important for the club’s reputation. We’ve got to meet our obligations in many ways and that’s one of them.”