Chev Walker had two reasons to celebrate after the Bulls finished their home Super League programme with a 48-24 victory against Crusaders yesterday.

The former Great Britain prop made a successful comeback after nearly four months on the sidelines with a broken foot and will today sign a new 12-month deal to keep him at Odsal until the end of next season.

Walker came off the bench and played around 50 minutes either side of half-time, then emerged from the changing rooms to say: “I got a good stint in and enjoyed being out there, although obviously I was just a little bit off the mark.

“I’ve counted every day that I’ve been out and am absolutely delighted to have signed again.

“I’ve loved the place since I arrived and felt welcome from day one, so I’m thrilled to be here again next season and to be part of the club’s future.

“Missing so much of my first year at Odsal has been really frustrating but the fans and the club have eased the pain of not being able to play.”

Bulls coach Mick Potter, buoyed by his side’s first win in four games, added: “Chev brings so much professionalism to the club.

“He has a fantastic work ethic and is very versatile. He can play back row, centre – I could even throw him on the wing if we were really struggling with injuries.

“He’s got the ability to put big hits in and to break the line, he’s solid in defence, and that’s what you want from your edge players.”

Potter was also able to reflect on fine returns from other long-term absentees Kyle Briggs and Shaun Ainscough as his side scored eight tries against the second-bottom Welsh side.

Only a last-minute try from Tony Martin of Crusaders prevented the Bulls from moving above Salford to tenth place in the table on points difference, although that is largely academic in terms of where the Odsal outfit are heading.

Widnes-bound winger Patrick Ah Van signed off after a year as a Bull with a personal haul of 20 points – but there were also encouraging displays from many of the players staying with Bradford.

Potter said: “The result is a positive for us – the team and the fans – although it wasn’t pretty at times and we would have liked to have conceded less points.

“We conceded five tries, which isn’t good, and that’s something we have to work on but to actually score some points and score some tries was good for the fans.

“All the players coming back from injury are fine. Chev’s a bit sore but that’s understandable and it was never our intention to play him for a long period of time.

“Shaun Ainscough did really well and Kyle Briggs, with the help of Ben Jeffries, played a major role in some of the points that we scored.”

Potter also complimented young hookers Danny Addy and Adam O’Brien for their continued improvement in the absence of injured first-choice rakes Heath L’Estrange and Matt Diskin.

But 18-year-old O’Brien must be a doubt for Friday’s season finale at Wakefield, despite courageously playing much of the game with a broken nose.

Potter said: “I took him off in the second half but he was determined to get back on. At that stage we didn’t need him to go back but he was so determined to continue.”