JOHN Kear is demanding a top-level response from the bruised Bulls tomorrow after their heaviest opening loss for 26 years.

His side have had to wait a fortnight for the chance to put things right following the 50-12 embarrassment against Sheffield.

Tomorrow's West Yorkshire derby showdown with Halifax will present a tough challenge at the Tetley’s Stadium.

Simon Grix’s team crushed London 47-14 in their first Championship outing on Good Friday.

And a powerful middle unit has been further strengthened by the return of Cook Islands international Adam Tangata for his third spell with Fax.

But after a lengthy inquest into what went wrong at the Keepmoat, Kear is expecting a strong reaction – regardless of the opposition.

The experienced Bulls coach said : “We know full well it’s a difficult game this weekend.

“They are a good team and their performance against London was probably up there with Sheffield’s as one of the top ones.

“Halifax really do generate that competitive edge to these derby fixtures and we’ve got to expect that.

“But it wouldn’t have mattered who we were playing. We’ve got certain standards that we slipped below.

“Whether we’d have been playing Dewsbury Celtic or North Queensland Cowboys, we’ve got certain things to rectify in ourselves no matter the opposition. That’s the biggest lesson from this week.”

The Bulls will be playing the first home game behind closed doors at their temporary base and Kear feels the absence of a crowd is a factor.

“We’re probably at a disadvantage because we’re the best supported team in the Championship,” he said. “Obviously, you do feed off that energy.

“We’ve also had two crucial suspensions, had Anthony England retire and we’ve had a couple of top-quality players in Matty Dawson-Jones and Sam Hallas out with long-term injuries.

“You have to put things in perspective. But even taking all those things into consideration, I still don’t think that performance against Sheffield was acceptable.”

The derby with the newly-renamed Panthers kicks off a regular run of games. Kear admits he has missed the routine of the season after such a long time out of action.

“I always work back from game day. That’s the most important day of the cycle then I work back to the previous game.

“It will be lovely doing an orthodox week again. We’ve had the stop-start stuff for the past 14 months and now it’s going to be week in, week out.

“We know full well what to expect with seven-day turnarounds and we’re looking forward to it.

“I had a really good chat with James Ford from York and he was also bemoaning the fact that he just doesn’t feel there is any consistency in their performance as well.

“I found that quite reassuring. We may well find this in the early part of the season but you’ve got to overcome it as best you can.”