JOHN Kear says he is 'pretty certain' of his starting line-up for this weekend’s Championship opener against Featherstone Rovers after Bulls completed their friendly fixtures with defeat to Toronto.

In the wake of Saturday’s 48-12 loss to a strong Wolfpack side at Odsal, he said: “I am just pleased the pre-season is over and secondly I’m glad that we haven’t picked up any injuries.

“Over the last six games we have got some good game time and minutes into the players that we wanted and we’re now ready for the start of the season next week.”

He added of the home clash against Rovers on Sunday at 3pm: “I am pretty certain of my starting 13 but there are tweaks and debating points about the rest of the squad.

“All four of us coaches will look at the video of this match early in the week, we will watch Featherstone’s match from the weekend and we will make our input and take things from there, but we will just have to wait and see."

Championship favourites Toronto were too strong for Bulls in the Transatlantic Challenge contest, though Kear opted to blood plenty of youngsters in the match with one eye on this weekend.

One boost was more minutes for captain Steve Crossley as he continued working his way back to full fitness following shoulder surgery.

Kear said: “Alix Stephenson did really well at full back and I can confirm that Steve Crossley will be in the squad for next weekend.

“His shoulder was tested and stood up to it and he dented Toronto Wolfpack.”

Bulls coach Kear said of Toronto: “They completed 11 sets out of 11 at one stage and I was really impressed with Andrew Ackers. He is a really good player.”