GEORGE Flanagan insists there is still plenty left in the tank as he contemplates another year with the Bulls.

The evergreen hooker turns 36 next month but has no plans to be hanging up his boots for a while yet.

Flanagan played 23 games in an otherwise wretched season for the Bulls, who fell well short of reaching the Championship play-offs.

But the veteran’s input on the pitch was one of the few plus points in a difficult start for coach Mark Dunning.

Now armed with a new one-year deal, Flanagan will once more throw himself into the task of trying to revive his hometown club’s dipping fortunes.

Flanagan said: “I’ll play as long as my body can take it. I still feel fresh and fit enough to carry on.

“I’ve not really had any big injuries. You get a lot of lads who retire through knee or shoulder injuries and stuff but I’ve been fortunate that I’ve not had any of them in my career.

“I’ve been quite lucky in that respect playing a high-contact sport like rugby.

“As long as I can keep the body right, there’s no reason why I should be stopping.

“A lot of people might look at my age and wonder how long I’m going to go on for.

“But I still feel young enough in the head to keep going so I will do.”

Flanagan, who scored six tries in the Bulls’ campaign, missed six matches with a dislocated joint in his thumb. He is booked to see a specialist in Leeds next month once he is back from holiday.

He added: “It was quite a successful season on a personal note with the amount I played, apart from a niggly injury with my thumb in the middle of the season.

“I broke it a few seasons ago and it got dislocated out of the joint so I had a pot on for a few weeks.

“I suffered a recurrence of that injury in the Batley game which meant I missed the last one against Widnes, which I was gutted about.

“The thumb is strong enough and movement-wise is okay, but it’s just sore if I get a knock on it. I’ve had an MRI scan and will see the specialist and then go from there.

“I should be all right for the start of next season definitely.”

The Bulls lost nine of their last 11 games, including the last four, to finish a lowly ninth - 14 points behind the Championship top six.

Flanagan is desperate to draw a line under it and start again in a new-look changing room.

“Enough has been said about this year and the negativity surrounding us," he added.

“Performances have not been up to scratch but I still feel that if we’d fielded a full strength 17 on a regular basis, we’d have been in and around the play-offs.

“But that’s sport with injuries and suspensions and it got taken out of our hands.

“There were positives with some of the young kids coming through like Myles Lawford and George Flanagan junior getting an opportunity. It will benefit the club in the long run giving these lads a shot.

“It has been a disappointing season but I don’t want to dwell too much. It’s about refreshing and coming back all guns blazing with what inevitably is going to be a fairly new squad.

Flanagan knows the expectation level around Odsal will always be high despite coming off such a tough year.

“Experienced players like myself have got to try and feed that back to the ones who are coming through the door.

“The expectation of the club is massive but we’ve got to earn the right to achieve anything.

“Look at Bradford City who have struggled over the last couple of years. But they seem to be getting it right and playing pretty well this season.

“They are getting a decent crowd behind them and we want that back at Odsal and want to bring back the glory days. But that won’t happen without us performing on the pitch and we have to stick at it.”