The appliance of science continues to be key as the Bulls prepare for their final pre-season trial.

Steve McNamara and his team have embraced cutting-edge technology, introducing a number of off-season innovations in a bid to gain a head start on their rivals.

Geoff Evans’ appointment as head of physical performance highlights a commitment to sports science, while the most heralded advance has been the use of satellite tracking.

Bradford became the first team to use a high-tech GPS monitoring system during a competitive match when it was trialled in their 12-10 friendly defeat at Leeds Rhinos earlier this month.

Used to monitor heart-rate and track players’ movement around the field, the device is placed in a harness and incorporated into a vest worn by the players under their shirt.

Impressed by the range of data provided by the system, Bulls boss Steve McNamara has continued to use the technology in the build-up to tonight’s friendly at Hull KR.

“It’s been very good and I’ve been impressed,” said McNamara.

“We are delighted with how it worked in the game against Leeds and we have been able to feed some important information back to the players.

“It’s still a work in progress but it has proved useful. We are able to know exactly how far everybody travels during a game and it’s very good in terms of judging rest for players.

“There still are other indicators you can use to monitor things like that and you do have to apply common sense but it’s a real insight into what the players did during the game.

“We are using it in the build-up to the Hull KR game and hopefully our first Super League game at Huddersfield.”

By monitoring workload and heart-rate, the system will help coaches make judgements on when a player needs to be substituted and whether their training load needs to be adjusted.

It can also help in the detection of injuries by stopping players from playing through potentially serious problems.