Mick Potter has urged his players to keep taking risks.

Although performances so far have not been up to scratch, the Bulls boss would hate to see his side retreat into their shell.

A more conservative approach could have been excused, considering a six-game winless run in the league and a shockingly high error count.

Bradford have made more mistakes than any other Super League team, bar leaders Warrington, but Potter refuses to put the reins on his troops.

He said: “There’s a balance to be found there between executing your plays and not playing. You want your players to make some plays and what comes with that is risk.

“You have to execute your plays very well and when there’s heavy contact in making them, it’s difficult. We just have to come up with the right plays under pressure and not make too many errors.”

Potter hopes an encouraging performance in defeat to Wigan will give Bradford the confidence to play.

Ben Jeffries has had an instant impact since arriving from Wakefield three weeks ago and his half-back partnership with Kyle Briggs has shown promise in just two games together.

“I thought Kyle did okay against Wigan and I thought our pass plays, for the most part, were good,” said Potter.

“You need to play against teams like Wigan. If you just want to do dummy-half running against Wigan, they’ll just lap that up. They’ll lock you up in the ruck and you won’t be able to move down the field.

“Passing the ball worked for us and we worked our way down the field. Kyle kicked the ball well, as did Ben Jeffries, and we didn’t do badly in terms of field position.”

The fledgling partnership can ill afford teething problems, with the pressure to get results more intense than ever.

Expectation is high ahead of games against Salford tomorrow and then Harlequins, the two teams currently sitting directly above Bradford in the Super League table. Lose both and their season is effectively over.

“Regardless of who they are, we just need to scrape a couple of points together and do it week in, week out and hopefully do it enough to get into the eight,” said Potter.

“I think the players are starting to believe in themselves a little bit more and that confidence comes with the way they’re playing.

“We just need to take another step forward this weekend and concentrate on trying to get a result against Salford.”

If the chance to climb the league ladder isn’t motivation enough, the Bulls are still smarting from a 56-16 defeat at Salford last month.

Potter said: “It’s not completely out of the memory. When a team puts 50 points against you, you don’t forget it.

“I’m hoping the players are burning from that because we need to do better than we did there. I’m sure the players will and I’m sure everyone will do their best to get the two points.”

Gareth Raynor will miss tomorrow’s Odsal clash with the City Reds after picking up a two-game suspension earlier this week.

But Paul Sykes and Marc Herbert both stand a chance of returning from injury, while young duo Jason Crookes and Vinny Finigan – who have benefited from dual-registration deals with Sheffield – could come into contention.

Potter said: “Paul Sykes might have a chance and Marc Herbert’s not too far away. It’s still a few weeks for Brett Kearney and Nick Scruton a couple more after that. Danny Addy made a return for the under-20s and played really well.

“Shaun Ainscough’s a fair way off because he’s just started to jog. Chev (Walker) is off his leg for another four-and-a-half weeks and probably another six weeks of rebuilding.

“We have to make a change this week because of Gareth Raynor’s suspension. Young Crookes and Sykes have a chance to play, as well as Vinny Finigan, so we have some options there.”