Matt Orford insists the Bulls’ season is far from over, even if his own has met a premature end.

The 32-year-old scrum half heads to Australia next week for season-ending shoulder surgery, while his team-mates continue their battle to climb the Super League table.

Despite four consecutive defeats and a recent spate of injuries, Orford (pictured) is confident Bradford can put things right and has urged supporters to back the push for honours.

He said: “Knowing you’re helpless and have no control over what’s going on is really tough to take, especially when you’re in your first year at a new club.

“I feel like I’m letting my team-mates down but there’s nothing I can do about this injury, so I just have to try and get myself back to fitness for them.

“We always knew if we got a few injuries we might struggle but we’re still a good team.

“I just hope the fans stick behind them and give them plenty of support because they do need it. The fans have been fantastic this year in getting behind the team and it would be great if that continued.”

Orford’s own frustrations have been compounded by the timing of his injury.

Following Brett Kearney’s switch from stand-off to full back and Paul Sykes’ move to the halves, the former Manly star believes combinations were beginning to click when he dislocated his shoulder against Crusaders at May’s Magic Weekend.

He said: “We had just started to get a few combinations going.

“We had a great period when everyone was playing but then we started to pick up a few injuries in key positions.

“Brett was injured too and it’s really hard when you can’t train all week and gel as quickly as possible.”

Despite attempts to play on, the injury became too restrictive and a return to Australia emerged as the best option for a swift recovery.

“I’ve been down in the dumps facing up to this,” said Orford.

“Something like this is out of my control because you can’t just needle it up and try to keep on playing. I’ve got three different tears so it just needs to be repaired.

“It’s not something that can be rushed. I’ll have the surgery and then I’ll be relying on my parents to do simple stuff like drive me around while I recover. That’s a big reason why I’m going home.

“I just have to make sure it recovers fully as I still believe I’ve got a lot of footy left in me.”