Whisper it quietly but a win tonight would put the Bulls right back in contention to finish in the play-offs for the first time since 2008.

Certainly Francis Cummins’ players still believe they can engineer a positive sequence of results which could lift them back into the top eight in the coming weeks.

Tonight’s visit of Hull FC is one of four home games in the Bulls’ remaining six matches and victory would close the gap on the eighth-placed Black and Whites to just two points.

The recent performance against Wigan, where the Bulls had victory cruelly snatched away from them late on, has encouraged hopes they can put a run of wins together.

Cummins also had players coming back to full fitness, with Tom Olbison, Jarrod Sammut, Brett Kearney, Jamie Langley and Chev Walker all named in the 19-man squad.

Olbison has missed the last two matches with a knee injury but he looks certain to return in this evening’s televised clash.

“Are the play-offs still a possibility? Yes, without a doubt,” said the homegrown back-rower.

“We’re four points off but we’ve got six games left, so we’re not a million miles off at all.

“We need to take the good things we did in the Wigan game into tonight’s match and hopefully we can get that win.”

Olbison says the Bulls respect a Hull side who beat them at the KC Stadium earlier in the season and dumped Catalan Dragons out of the Tetley’s Challenge Cup last weekend.

The Black and Whites have lost their last four Super League outings but Olbison said: “We are looking to get back on the horse, but we can’t under-estimate Hull.

“We played them away and they threw a lot at us, so it will be a tough one.

“They’re a good, strong outfit with plenty of skill and they will be as keen as we are to get back to winning ways in Super League.

“It’s a big game for us at home on a Friday night and we definitely need to try and knock this one off. We have to come out all guns blazing.”

Having last weekend off due to the Challenge Cup quarter-finals taking place has allowed players carrying knocks to return to full health.

Olbison is raring to go again after a stint on the sidelines.

He said: “It was a ligament in my knee that took a knock and I had it in my brace for a couple of weeks but I’m fit now.”

He also welcomes the increased competition for places that Dale Ferguson’s arrival from Huddersfield will bring next year.

The acquisition of Ferguson, who impressed for the Giants during their Cup defeat to Warrington last weekend, will go some way towards filling the void left by the departure of Elliott Whitehead last month.

“Dale Ferguson coming here keeps it fresh and it was the same when Elliott was here – there was good competition for places.

“With Dale coming in, that group of back-rowers we’ve got will be strong again.

“It means we have to fight for our place and that can only be a good thing.”

*The RFL are to examine evidence given at Leeds Crown Court during Keith Mason’s successful legal fight with Huddersfield this week.

It was revealed that Craig Kopczak verbally agreed to join the Giants on August 8 – a  month before controversially walking out on Bulls.