JOHN Kear is drawing up a Plan B to deal with the body blow of losing Danny Brough.

The influential halfback is facing a possible lengthy absence as his bicep injury is assessed.

The Bulls fear Brough could need surgery – which would keep him out until September.

But Kear believes his side have shown enough to cope with losing a player who makes them tick.

He said: “Danny’s made the team play better. The more he has played with those around him, the better he’s got and the better the team have got.

“It’s taken a bit of wind out of our sails. But these things happen – that’s rugby league.

“If you didn’t think anyone was going to get injured, you’d only sign 17 players.

“But we’re confident. We were confident after Sheffield – we identified what was wrong after the Featherstone and Sheffield games and we’ve rectified it.

“If we’ve to change slightly what we have to do because of the personnel, we’ll do that and we’ll do it well.

“You’ve got to have a squad and that’s what we’ve got and we’ll obviously make contingency plans when we know exactly when he’s had the injury properly assessed.”

Kear, meanwhile, has welcomed the RFL’s academy rethink which has given the Bulls a two-year leeway to meet the expected criteria.

He added: “I think it’s absolutely first class.

“We want to be a Super League club and that’s one way of making sure you can be a sustainable one by producing your own players.

“I just think every Super League club should have an academy and everyone that wants to be in Super League should develop one as well.

“The participation is obviously the club’s responsibility but that’s also down to the governing body as well.”