JOHN Kear expects to see a truer indication of the Bulls’ Championship credentials after the next two games.

His side currently sit third as they return to action in front of fans at London tomorrow.

The Bulls had won four on the bounce before their free weekend but Kear knows that strong run will be put to the test over the rest of this month.

The long haul to Ealing to face the in-form Broncos, where they will be backed by up to 300 away supporters, is followed by a home clash with rivals York at Dewsbury – and the experienced coach is braced for a daunting double header.

Kear said: “These two games are great benchmarks for us.

“London Broncos and York City Knights are rivals, no doubt about it. We’ll see how we are after that and then see what we’ll need to address and how we can progress.

“I normally say you get a good idea when you’ve played everybody once. But it’s obviously not the same this time.

“I’ve spoken to the players about this and said that after the next two games, when we’re roughly a third of the way into the season, then you can really have a look.

“Are we in the play-off positions? Yes, we are. Then the aim for the second third of the season is to remain and possibly improve on that.

“But I think you can really take stock after these next two against London and York.”

Kear has been delighted with the response to a sticky start to the season which saw the Bulls ship 91 points in their opening two outings at Featherstone in the Challenge Cup and the league curtain-raiser against Sheffield.

“It did knock confidence and that’s why I’m so pleased they have dug in so well and recovered,” he added.

“They’ve overcome a fair bit of adversity when you see the people we’ve been missing.

“We’ve had George Flanagan with the long suspension, Sam Hallas and his broken jaw, Matty Dawson-Jones who hasn’t appeared yet with his long injury and we’ve obviously lost Levy Nzoungou.

“All credit to the players for coming through that but now it’s a matter of kicking on.”