Flanagan hopeful Bulls can turn tables on Featherstone

Mark Dunning’s side face their biggest test yet tonight with a televised trip to unbeaten leaders Featherstone.

But wily campaigner Flanagan believes the Bulls can flourish in their “free hit” as confidence builds after back-to-back wins.

They have hit the halfway point of the Championship campaign a point outside the play-offs in seventh spot following Thursday’s emphatic 31-6 victory at Widnes.

And Flanagan is not fazed by the prospect of tackling top dogs Fev at Post Office Road.

He said: “They are a quality team, there’s no doubt about it.

“Hopefully they’ve got a bit of a hangover from (losing the 1895 Cup final) last week and we can go there and do a job on them.

“We have to go into the game full of confidence on the back of the Widnes win. It’s a bit of a free hit for us.

“They are spending a lot of money and have got some quality players. But we’ll go there, give it 110 per cent and if we come out with the right attitude, we can give it a really good go.

“Looking back on the stats, our away performances have been a lot better than our home ones.

George Flanagan congratulates Kieran Gill for his try in the 31-6 win at Widnes

“As a player you want to test yourself against the best and hopefully, we can come out the right side of it.”

The Bulls have won three out of four since John Kear left Odsal in the aftermath of their 32-18 home loss to Featherstone at the end of April.

“Losing John was a massive shock for everyone,” admitted Flanagan. “People might have seen it coming but I had a personal relationship with him and was absolutely gutted when he left.

“Mark Dunning and (Leigh) Beattie have come in and done an outstanding job with us. We’re very pleased with where we are.

“We’ll go under the radar a little bit and people are writing us off. But do that at your own peril.

“We’ll give it a good dig right to the end of the season.

“Looking at the league table, we should be higher up.

“But we’ll keep going along as we are, gaining in confidence and building as a team.

“We’ve got a young team with some experience in there. Nine times out of 10 we’ll stick by each other and keep growing.”

Dunning rated the Widnes game as an “80-minute performance” from his players – and believes the bar has been set heading into the second half of the season.

He said: “The fans want to see it and the players and coaching staff want to be a part of it as well as all the backroom staff and the owners. That’s what Bradford Bulls demands.

“Yes, we’ve fallen short in previous weeks but I keep saying we can’t look in the rear-view mirror. It’s gone.

“The windscreen of the car’s 15 times bigger than the rear-view mirror for a reason.

“We’ll look ahead and it’s another opportunity to impress tonight. It’s a massive challenge but we’re all looking forward to it.”

Flanagan will be hoping for more minutes after coming through his first game since April 10 following a fractured thumb.

He said: "The lungs were a bit sore but other than that I was just pleased to be back on the field for this great club. It’s a tough period for us with two games in four days but we’ll be ready to go again.”