HAVING shaken off the Easter delights on and off the field and played and won three games in close succession, we welcome Rochdale Hornets to Odsal for our round 12 challenge, representing the fourth game in an incredible 14 days, and what will be a terrific period of tough and challenging fixtures extending into the month of May.

Rochdale, of course, finished second-from-bottom last year and, by the rules of the competition, should have been relegated.

The end of season jiggery pokery saved both Rochdale and Swinton from the drop to League One, but that didn’t stop the officiados at Red Hall deciding that Rochdale should be ranked 12th in this season’s financial distribution table; a place above the Bulls who actually won promotion fair and square. Anyway that is gone and in the past. What matters is the competition for two points which everyone will be scrapping for tomorrow.

After Rochdale we have the away trip to Toronto to look forward to which will be a trip into the unknown playing in Canada for the first time for the Bulls, or at least many of us.

However, captain Steve Crossley will be no stranger having played for Toronto in their debut season in 2017.

As regular readers will know, I am a firm internationalist and believe that rugby league needs to broaden its footprint if it is ever to breakout into mainstream sport.

In fact, many years ago I was in discussions with the RFL to put a Wellington, NZ-based franchise into the Super League. But while being firmly committed to international expansion, I do think the RFL hasn’t got it quite right yet.

The club and our fans are travelling intercontinental to play an away fixture with all the challenges that presents, where as some of our rivals will not be similarly tested, with Toronto choosing to play some of their home fixtures in the UK. This can’t be right from a competition integrity perspective?

More importantly for the sport, it has to make sense of the terms under which overseas teams are allowed to participate and how their rights and privileges are measured against those of the RFL’s existing membership.

I won’t repeat my arguments of the past, but Catalans Dragons' privileged position sucks millions of pounds out of the British game – for what? A sunshine weekend away for supporters to fill the coffers of the Perpignan’s hoteliers and restaurateurs? Hardly looks like smart business from a British rugby league perspective. Hoping the problem goes away isn’t a resolution.

After Toronto we have our colossal home Challenge Cup tie with our old adversaries Leeds Rhinos on Saturday, May 11. The match-up hardly needs any hyping and it will be wonderful to see the red, amber and black take on the blue and amber once again.

We are planning a huge special day, with both clubs vowing to reignite the passion for what’s being billed as the “Biggest rugby league derby – On the planet.”

The last time we played Leeds Rhinos in a Challenge Cup game was in 2003. Wow, we’ve waited 16 years for this game. This will be no ordinary clash. Let the countdown begin. T-minus 14 sleeps and counting.

This is then followed by our journey to Summer Bash where we meet our old rivals from Halifax, with Blackpool again being chosen as the winning venue this year.

I feel sure that the Bash fixture with Fax will be a highlight, in fact as I’ve said before I think Bash will be a great advert for the Championship.

One of my first experiences was our Bash fixture against Hull KR two years ago and the place was rocking. Rugby League needs these kinds of events and Championship definitely does.

Each of these contests, together with the Leeds Challenge Cup fixture, will see the Bulls on television three times in the next few weeks. This is invaluable exposure for our club, a timely reminder to the world of rugby league that the Bulls are alive and kicking after a few years out of the limelight.

It is also, therefore, imperative that we perform and look our best both on the field and off it.

In the meantime it was good to see the RFL positively stepping in to try stem the blight of cheating creeping into the sport at the play-the-ball.

The players, spotting that some match officials haven’t got the confidence or latitude to referee what they actually see, started deliberating seeking opportunist penalties by heeling the ball into a trapped defender or throwing a pass into a retreating defender.

It was an ugly scar on the sport, and in my view an unnecessary one if the match officials simply applied what was in the rulebook.

The RFL have belatedly acted and the solution, while undoubtedly an improvement, is still not perfect.

The problem with current rugby league is that every rule has apparently to be black or white when in fact many parts of the sport are grey.

Obstruction, offside, shepparding, contesting the high ball, tackle in the air, I could go on.

Literally we can spend hours debating whether the full back had actually landed back on the ground before the chaser made contact. An inch too soon and penalty. Bang. Same with the dummy runner. Did he or she run through the line? Did they make contact with the inside shoulder? I don’t believe this is what all fans want to see or what they want to buy.

For goodness sake let the referee, referee what he or she sees. Surely they know whether the dummy runner caused the defending side to concede unfairly, or whether the play-the-ball mess has been deliberately caused by the ball carrier. We are truly regulating the sport to its death.

I hope the RFL has the wit to reverse out of this rush to over regulate the contest for absolute precision and absolute certainty, but let’s see.

Unbelievably it is now almost a year since the infamous Super League breakaway when three north-west Chairmen sat uncomfortably on a top table unveiling to a fanfare their chosen man, CEO Robert Elstone.

This will change the sport, for the better, they spouted. Watch as the revenues will flow in and this new wealth will trickle down to the lower leagues and England, as Wigan chairman, Lenagan, famously pontificated. Well one year on, let us scrutinise the impact of this extremely divisive action.

On the positive side, there is, well, actually nothing I could point to. Sorry I cannot think of a single positive benefit that has accrued from this power grab. We do now have golden point, which in my view is an unfair settlement of an honourable draw that is

Finally, I want to record a note of thanks and farewell to Eddie Hemmings and Neville Smith from the Sky broadcasting team. Sky certainly made sure they left the sport to the acclaim they deserved and I wish them well in their retirement.

Charge in to support your Bulls team as we take on Rochdale at Odsal tomorrow. Two vital points we need to help propel us towards what I can only describe as May madness.

Tickets available for this clash, Summer Bash and also our Challenge Cup Leeds fixture in the Club shop or online at bradfordbulls.co.uk/tickets #COYB #BullsNation