JOHN Kear is happy for Bulls skipper Steve Crossley to keep telling his staff where to go this season.

Crossley led by example with a marathon playing stint in the win over Halifax as the forwards won the physical battle.

He refused a request about coming off for a breather – and that’s music to his coach’s ears as they get into the weekly routine of the Championship.

Kear said: “Steve did 63 minutes without a break and that is immense for a man who’s over 110 kg.

“We do what we call a forwards check and the physio will run on and find out how they are travelling, if they’re fatigued and how much time they’ve got left.

“Steve’s forward check was, to put it politely, ‘go away, I’m not coming off!'

“That’s bloody-minded determination and it’s a great response. I’m more than happy for players to be saying that to the physio if they are still producing the quality on the field and he was.”

Kear is hoping for the same level of fight in Sunday’s clash with landlords Dewsbury, who have won both their games.

He added: “There are still massive improvements to be made but that’s quite heartening.

“I feel we secured the points last weekend on spirit, determination and togetherness. Now we can start looking at refining the tactical and technical aspects of the game.

“The challenge is to do it consistently. It’s no good just doing it as a reaction – we’ve got to do it as a pro-action as well.

“It was a really good performance and the only regret for me was that there were no fans. It would have been virtually packed and to witness a derby like that would have been fantastic.”