JORDAN Lilley has refuted any suggestions that Bulls threw in the towel at the end of the Championship season.

They lost four games in a row, culminating in a play-off quarter-final defeat to Batley, with some fans turning on players like Joe Brown, who already knew he was leaving to join York.

But Lilley insisted: “It’s tough to hear and read about, but no player ever goes out to try and lose.

“All rugby league players are competitive, and we go out on the field to give it our all and try and win the game.

“It’s disappointing those comments were made, but unfortunately it’s the world we live in, where people like to sit behind their keyboards and say things.

“It was a long campaign, and it was nearly 12 months ago that we started pre-season, so there were plenty of players battered and bruised going into those last few games, but we still gave it everything.

“We weren’t good enough to go beyond the quarter-final in the end, but reflecting on it, I think we had a decent year.

“We achieved what we wanted by making the play-offs and competing with some of the other top sides in the division.”

There are lots of talented young coaches in Super League, the Championship and League 1, whereas John Kear turns 67 next month.

He came in for stick from some Bradford fans too after their poor finish, with several saying he was ‘past it’, but Lilley said: “John’s been around the game for a long time and he’s a rugby league geek.

“He loves the sport, you can see that when he’s on the BBC, and he’s always watching games.

“It’s good to have someone with that much knowledge coaching us. John is good to learn from and he can help us going forward.”

Giving his take on tomorrow’s Million Pound Game between Toulouse and Featherstone, Lilley said: “I’m struggling to call it.

“Those two are more than justified being in the final, their records in the league speak for that.

“If anything Toulouse might just edge it, but it’s play-off rugby and anything can happen, even if they did win 14 out of 14 in the league.

“We know how good Featherstone are too, so it’ll be about whoever shows up on the day.

“It’ll be a really good game and one worth tuning in for. I wish them both all the best.”