Marc Herbert reckons the Bulls’ rock-solid rearguard will set the tone for a successful season.

Defence provided the cornerstone for victory in a rugged West Yorkshire derby against Castleford just a week after it had been ruthlessly exposed by Huddersfield.

Leaking 50 points against the Giants provided a dose of extreme shock therapy, which in turn gave the Bulls added impetus to put their campaign back on track.

“Our defence obviously wasn’t good enough against the Giants but now we’ve shown we can defend well and that sets the tone for the rest of the season,” said Herbert, after the 18-14 win against Castleford allowed Bradford to creep back into Super League’s top eight.

“We let ourselves down at Huddersfield. Cas have so far been one of the top sides in the competition and we showed we could match them.

“They got one easy try off a kick but, other than that, we held them out for 70 minutes.

“Even though they had a lot of ball in the last ten, the way our defence was going, I knew we were going to hold them out.

“If we had needed to defend for another ten minutes I think we could’ve held them out for that as well.”

With defence fixed up, Herbert is determined to get the other side of his game right.

Brought in from Canberra as a direct replacement for Matt Orford, the scrum half suffered a frustrating start to the year when a hamstring injury kept him out of the Bulls’ first three games.

Since returning to action in the 40-18 win against Wakefield, Herbert has eased himself into the role and admits the presence of an experienced play-making core has made the task less daunting.

Hookers Heath L’Estrange and Matt Diskin and stand-off Brett Kearney have all helped ease the burden on the 24-year-old.

“The combinations are starting to come together and we’re starting to know where we’re heading and what’s on,” said Herbert.

“It helps playing alongside BK and having Stranger back too helped. With Disko starting and Heath coming off the bench, it’s pretty formidable.

“Then you’ve got BK calling the shots out wide and he’s shown he can skip through the defence.

“My first game, and probably the second as well, it was just a case of getting used to it. You’re still a bit edgy and nervous but also excited to get out there.

“Once you get into the flow of the game, that’s key for me. It all comes from there.”