BULLS coach Jimmy Lowes believes the level of the domestic game has dipped.

England still have an outside chance of reaching the Four Nations final despite their nail-biting loss to the Aussies in Melbourne last week.

They can go through by beating New Zealand in the final qualifier – by more than ten points.

But Lowes, preparing for his own side’s assault on the second tier next season, feels the sport over here is not what it was.

He said: “I think rugby league in this country generally has fallen off massively standard-wise. That’s irrelevant of the division, it’s just not as strong.

“Having said that, we know the Championship is a tough division. There are some hard places to go and they’ll be getting stuck into our boys wherever we go.

“We’ve got to be ready for that, both mentally and physically, and I intend to prepare them for that.”

The Bulls resume pre-season training this weekend after a fortnight’s break. They initially returned to Odsal to start work before the Grand Final had even taken place.

The players are geared for the gruelling build-up to their first season outside the top flight for 41 years. Lowes insists there will be no short cuts.

He added: “To get anything in life, and sport in particular, you’ve got to work really hard.

“That’s my philosophy. Put the work in and we’ll get the rewards.

“It’s irrelevant what division we are in. I would be saying exactly the same if we were still in the Super League.

“For us to get back there, we’ve got to work harder than anybody else and play well on the back of that.

“The reward is there to be in the Super League again in a year’s time.”