Brett Kearney is ready to take the Bulls by the horns in the absence of the Ox.

The season-ending shoulder injury suffered by Matt Orford means the pressure is on Kearney to step up as Bradford’s key playmaker.

Having started the season at stand-off before a switch to full back, the Aussie star has spent limited time at No 7 and struggled somewhat on his return from injury at Crusaders last week.

But he is quickly coming to terms with his role as dominant half-back and is confident the Bulls can cope without Orford.

Kearney said: “Sykesy (Paul Sykes) and me spent a lot of the off-season working together in the halves before Ox came over but then we went back into our more natural positions with Ox in the team.

“Half-back is probably my least natural of all three positions but when you get the team firing, it’s a position that you’ve got to take by the horns and get the team running round the field well.

“It’s something I have to improve. I wasn’t happy with a lot of aspects of my game last week so I’ve spoken to Macca about it during the week and I need to make sure there’s some improvement this weekend.”

A naturally shy character off the field, Kearney is learning to become a lot more talkative on it.

Whereas at full back, the former Cronulla man could come into the line as a third pivot and concentrate more heavily on his running game and support play, now he is the primary option.

He said: “It’s a different involvement at half-back – even talking to the players and all that sort of stuff.

“At full back, I would be talking to Ox a lot in attack and Strangey (Heath L’Estrange) but the rest of the time I’m just looking at the ball and the other players.

“It makes you broaden what you’ve got to do at half-back. You’ve got to be talking to your front-rowers, talking to your six, as well as your one and nine, then you’ve also got to be watching the other team.

"Still you want your hands on the ball and if someone makes a half-break you want to be the first one there.”

The radical change in role has come at a difficult time for Kearney, who returned last week following a three-game injury lay-off.

Having missed all but 27 minutes of last season with a foot injury, the 26-year-old had more than a few jitters after hurting the same foot during last month’s 29-10 win at Wakefield.

Luckily the problem was unrelated and confidence has come flooding back since his return to action.

“It was in the same sort of area but a different injury so when I went to see the specialist there were a few nervous moments,” said Kearney.

“It’s been frustrating more than anything. I was hoping to be close for the Warrington game but I was nowhere even close so I had to wait until last week.

“The Crusaders game did me the world of. Through the game it was quite sore but now I’m feeling strong through there and more confident.

“Three weeks is nothing in the greater scheme of things so I’ve got to be grateful, but it felt like I was out for a couple of months.”

But while last week’s outing against Crusaders did wonders for Kearney’s recovery, it did little for his team’s progress.

The Bulls face Warrington today looking to end a four-game losing run, and Kearney has promised a response.

He said: “Individually and as a team, we’ve been disappointed with our efforts over the last two weeks.

“It’s certainly not what we prided ourselves on at the start of the season when we were getting the results. We’ve got to set a mark this week.”