JORDAN Lilley may have been one of Bulls’ better players in 2021, but he says there are “three, four or five gears” to come from him.

The scrum-half was named the Coaches’ Player of the Year for his efforts last term, but he wants to lead Bradford to greater things in 2022.

The new joint vice-captain told the T&A: “I massively think there’s more to come from me, and I want to take it to another level for 2022.

“I want an even better year and I want us to go a level up, and I think we’re capable of playing well enough to help Bradford go up to Super League.

“I also think there are another three, four or five gears of Jordan Lilley to come, and alongside Dec (Patton) in the halves, I can show what I can do.

“We’re working great together as a pair in training and I’m feeling good about things.

“As a team, we need to build on the stepping stone of 2021, and now it’s time to push for the Championship play-off final.

“That’s the expectation for 2022, and we’ll have underachieved if we don’t get there.

“We want to go up, but we certainly wouldn’t be happier with finishing any lower than the play-off final.”

And Bulls have three real tests in pre-season before the league campaign gets underway at Dewsbury, with Batley first up at Odsal tomorrow.

Lilley laughed: “We’re looking forward to playing this weekend, mainly so we can stop getting flogged in pre-season training.

“It’s a shorter pre-season than usual but it’s been one of the toughest so far.

“We worked on our fitness for four or five weeks alongside some great people in our conditioners, and we’ve been practising shapes and plays mainly for the last two weeks, which we’ll get to see a bit of this weekend.

“But we know that pre-season will be a test for us, as Batley will be on its own, as they’ll have confidence from doing so well last year.

“We have tough pre-season games, with us playing Batley and then two Super League teams, but that’s what you want, and all three matches will help us build nicely towards the opening league game against Dewsbury.”