THERE cannot have been many Bradford Bulls players more gutted to miss out on the Boxing Day game against Halifax than Sam Arundel and Lewis Camden.

The academy graduates, who play at centre and half-back respectively, were in line for their first-team debuts, but may have to wait a while after the encounter was cancelled.

Bulls head coach John Kear said: “Sam and Lewis were ready to play.

“They’ve come through the academy and we were looking at it being a case of bringing people through into the team for these friendlies, that could have the opportunity to get first-team minutes.

“But now we’re a trial game down, exactly what game time the likes of Lewis and Sam get might need revisiting.

“The intention was to give a few youngsters a go in every game, but now we’ve lost one of the four, we might have to focus more on the seniors.

“That being said, all the young lads have done a great job in pre-season training, putting their hands up to be picked, and if they continue with that, they could still feature in one or two of the three trial games we’ve got left.”

Bulls’ desperate attempts to clear the overnight snow at Odsal on Boxing Day meant the Halifax game was called off less than an hour before kick-off.

Some fans were less than impressed with the short notice, but Kear said: “It would have been easy for us to wake up, see the snow outside, call the game off, then just roll back over in bed.

“Everybody tried to get the game on, but it’s a fact of life, as the Government and Bulls have found, that no matter what you do, someone criticises you.

“We had a commitment to everyone to get the game on on a Bank Holiday, but in the end the weather got the better of us.

“People are entitled to their opinion, but we know what happened and we did all we could to keep the game on.”