JOHN Kear reckons the Bulls have needed the extra week to get their Sheffield shocker out the system.

They host Halifax at Dewsbury on Sunday desperate to bounce back from the 50-12 pounding against the Eagles in the Championship opener.

Kear was grateful for the blank weekend in between after a lengthy inquest into what went wrong.

He said: “There’s been a lot of soul-searching. We’ve stressed at looking at the man in the mirror – and being honest with the man in the mirror.

“There have obviously been some difficult meetings as a group but I feel it was necessary as part of the process to recover.

“If it was just a below-par performance, you want to get back on the horse immediately.

“But I felt that performance warranted a bit more of an in-depth review and that extra week has allowed us to do that.

“Every team will have to make allowances for people being ring-rusty, making poor decisions and some skill that breaks down.

“But the effort and work rate just wasn’t there in the amount that’s required in a club like ours. We feel as if we’ve nailed it but only time will tell.”

Jordan Lilley’s return from suspension will be a major boost after his ban for dangerous contact in the warm-up game with Swinton.

Kear added: “People have asked me what things I’ve been looking forward to this season and one of them was the Jordan Lilley/Danny Brough partnership.

"We’ve seen it sporadically in trial games but not competitively. They certainly look good on the training field – but we all looked good on the training field before Sheffield.”