Greetings from Canada as the Bulls and our fan army descend on Toronto, Ontario.

The Bradford Bulls are embarking on a new experience this weekend when we take on Championship leaders Toronto Wolfpack at Lamport Stadium located on the banks of Lake Ontario.

To the best of my knowledge this is the first time the Bulls have played in North America and I am sure it will be a wonderful experience for the official party and the supporters who have made the trip.

The television pictures of Toronto’s home games certainly create the impression that the matches are well attended in front of a lively and enthusiastic audience who appear to have picked up the finer subtleties of our sport fairly quickly.

I am looking forward to experiencing this personally and to understand much more about the appetite for rugby league in Canada.

There certainly appears to be a youthful exuberance in and amongst the crowd and with attendances reported at over 7,000, the whole Toronto expansion is a credit to owner David Argyle, but especially rugby league visionary Eric Perez.

Of course, the success of Toronto has, at least in part, stimulated further interest from other North American cities to play rugby league with a particularly strong application from Ottawa.

To complement my trip here, I took up the invitation to travel to Ottawa to meet up with Eric Perez and also the senior vice-president of the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG), Adrian Sciarra, who gave me a first-hand overview of their fantastic facilities TD Place at Lansdowne Park.

The OSEG, in partnership with the City of Ottawa, has transformed Lansdowne Park into Ottawa’s 'Jewel by the Rideau Canal.'

The new Lansdowne is presented as a 'go-to' destination for all residents and visitors to the city, offering live sports and entertainment, a shopping and entertainment district, condominium living and a major new urban park. All privately owned but done in collaboration with the City of Ottawa.

The new Lansdowne features a modern 24,000 seat stadium for football, soccer, concerts and other major events; a refurbished 9,862 seat arena for the Ottawa 67s (OHL) and community hockey, other arena sports, mid-size concerts and other events; two condominium towers and town homes with a combined 280 units, a 360,000 square foot shopping/entertainment district, an office tower, 1,300 underground parking spaces and an 18-acre urban park.

The commercial model is structured such that OSEG owns and manages the Ottawa Redblacks, Ottawa Fury FC, and the Ottawa 67s. OSEG also operates and manages the stadium and arena complex and the mixed-use areas and facilities on the site.

I have long held the view that our sport has to grow or it will simply decline as other sports continue to make progress and, accordingly, the Bulls are fully supportive of the Hemel Stags relocation to Ottawa.

The world is changing at a rapid pace with sports available all over the globe 24 hours a day and rugby league has to make progress in this entertainment-filled market place or it will inevitably face the prospect of being marginalised.

Not everything the sport tries will come off, I understand that, but Toronto have already created history by being the only transatlantic club to take part in a European club competition. Soon to be followed by the Ottawa Stags.

The RFL’s preparedness to explore these options does them credit, although I would repeat my often-made point that their overseas strategy needs the application of some consistency. Toronto’s terms of participation are different from Toulouse’s which in turn are different from Calatans Dragons.

This is unsustainable and will undoubtably need attention. I read recently that both Robert Elstone and Eamonn McManus were promoting the case for Toulouse playing in the Super League ahead of further North American expansion but that is a position I simply don’t understand.

It seems to me that after a decade or so, French rugby league are contributing nothing for the privileges of playing in the British competitions and why they should continue to enjoy that favourable position, at the expense of British clubs who after all comprise the RFL membership, is a complete mystery to me.

It wouldn’t happen in Australia where the New Zealand Warriors more than pay their own way to play in the NRL.

The inevitability of a second New Zealand side playing from Wellington is an absolute certainty, as the NRL look to expand the commercial pie for the benefit of the existing clubs. If you can’t bring more to the table than you take out, then how can you expect to stay in the game.

The frank reality will be this. If faced with losing their privileged position in the Super League, I’m sure our French friends over the ditch will suddenly start finding 'extra' money from their stable of stakeholders, including their media partners.

I can understand why they haven’t put anything in the central bucket to date. Maybe it’s time to stop the French love affair and apply the squeeze. Could you imagine the French Rugby Union funding a British team to compete in a French competition, without a clear commercial gain? Go figure.

The introduction of teams from North America will clearly grow the market appeal and eyeballs for rugby league stakeholders. This means the overall value of the game grows for media and broadcast partners along with sponsors.

It’s not difficult to understand, but from Robert Elstone’s recent comments, clearly the stakeholders he represents see it as affecting their club positions and status in the game.

The inherent problem with 12 clubs with vested interests trying to decide what the future should look like. The Super League self-governance and self-determination approach is intrinsically flawed.

After the match tomorrow the Bulls fly straight back to the UK to prepare for the massive Challenge Cup tie against Leeds Rhinos on Saturday, May 11, at Odsal Stadium.

I can’t think of anything more exciting than beating the Leeds Rhinos. This is the clash that everybody is talking about and I know both clubs are looking forward immensely to renewing old rivalries.

We are planning many activities on game day and in particular celebrating some of the big clashes that the two clubs have contested in the past.

What’s absolutely clear is that John Kear will keep the Bulls focused in Toronto on completing that mission.

But I’m sure once they board the flight back to Manchester that JK’s attention will be completely on what is the biggest clash in the rugby league universe. Bradford Bulls v Leeds Rhinos – it doesn’t get any bigger.

Listening to Bulls legends Robbie Hunter-Paul and Leon Pryce, if feels like this game will be more like a brutal state of origin style conflict. I understand that. Players are trying to write themselves into history. John Kear knows what to expect. We expect it to be more Game of Thrones than anything else.

Straight after that, we bounce into the Summer Bash at Blackpool with top of the card billing when we play Halifax.

The seven-game Championship extravaganza will undoubtedly be the best to date and I feel sure that our closing spot on Saturday night will be the highlight of a great first day and will also make for terrific television.

I know the army of Bulls supporters really enjoy the Blackpool bash event and I feel sure we will have a massive following.

The match itself will be another significant test for us on the back of Toronto and Leeds and I hope that we can stay injury free with Featherstone away to follow the week after that.

It just goes to show what a very competitive league the Championship is. It makes for a vibrant and entertaining second half of the season, as no fewer than eight clubs genuinely all vie for play-off spots.

Hopefully our BullsNation of fans can help lift the boys to another level.

Be part of history next weekend and get along to support and cheer your Bulls team at Odsal. Kick-off is Saturday, May 11 (2.30pm). Help your team #BeatLeeds.

Tickets are available in the club shop or online at www.bradfordbulls.co.uk/tickets.

In the meantime enjoy Wolfpack v Bulls tomorrow. Kick off is 6pm British time.