A HEART-to-heart talk has helped Bradford Bulls get back on track.

There were some issues to resolve after the 52-20 defeat at Leigh Centurions two weekends ago but Bulls skipper Steve Crossley says that they were sorted at a players’ meeting last week.

And the end result was the 24-20 win over Halifax on Sunday that put the Bulls right back in the Betfred Championship play-off picture.

Crossley said: “The Leigh performance just wasn’t good enough and we spoke at the meeting – me and a few others in the senior group – about where our standards should be, and it seems that that had the desired effect.

“We really drilled it home to the rest of the team that our standards needed to be upped massively.

“There were a few home truths, and some of the lads weren’t happy with that, but they knew that it was coming.

“What was said between those four walls was very honest, but in training on Tuesday night after the meeting, on Thursday night and Saturday and the match itself you could see that the intensity was up, and it has been a great week.”

John Kear’s side led Halifax 20-8 at one stage and it was only the sin-binning of George Flanagan for a trip that let the visitors back into the contest as they scored two tries in three minutes.

Crossley said: “We dominated possession until we went down to 12 men and they clawed their way back, but we were really happy with it other than that.

“It was a fair sin-binning – you cannot trip – and we tried to buy some time until George got back but the result was what matters in the end.”

Another key factor was the return of long-term absentees Joe Keyes and Jy Hitchcox after back and shoulder injuries respectively.

Crossley admitted: “Having Keyesey and Jy back was massive for us.

“Keysesy dicated the game as he usually does and Jy had a couple of great finishes and brought the ball back well to give us forwards a rest.

“One thing that we spoke about at the meeting was doing your own job and doing it well and allowing Joe and (Jordan) Lilley to run off the edges.

“We just did simple stuff for 55 minutes, and John relayed to us at half-time that we were at 89 per cent completion, and you have a great chance of dominating the game with statistics like that.”

As for the play-off bid with nine matches left – the Bulls are only two points behind fifth-placed Featherstone - Crossley said: “The Championship is a big open league.

“It is a real challenge and there are a lot more teams competing now than six or seven years ago when there were only three.

“Anyone can beat anyone in this league and anyone who makes the top five will have deserved it. We are confident that we can make the top five.

“There have been some close games that we have lost but we now have to play these teams again and are looking forward to these nine games and really pushing on.

“John wanted the leadership group to lead and for the youngsters to follow. People forget that we are a young side, but they have a lot of experience and things are looking good.”

The Bulls have won their last seven league matches at Odsal, and Crossley said: “We don’t want any team coming here and doing us so let’s keep Odsal as a fortress.”

Meanwhile, youngster Evan Hodgson has joined League One Doncaster on a month's loan.