BRADFORD Bulls hooker Tyran Ott insists his side “need to come in hot” to the play-offs, and that there will be no relaxing even if they seal their spot with time to spare.
Results went the way of Eamon O’Carroll’s side on Sunday, and they will qualify for the end of season shootout with victory against Batley at Odsal this weekend.
Discussing a near-perfect weekend for Bulls after their 30-12 win at Sheffield, Ott told the T&A: “We’ve just got to look at ourselves.
“We have to win our games, because at this time of year, you want to be coming in hot to the finals.
“You want to see improvements on your performances each week and get a similar team on the park as often as you can, as there’s been a lot of changes for us this year.
“That can allow us to go from strength to strength, and really be firing for those finals games.”
Bulls will want to see improvements from Sunday’s performance, where they looked shaky at times in a scrappy and bruising affair.
Discussing the game, Ott said: “It was good fun, I really enjoyed it.
“It was a fair battle, and they had some good-sized middles and some good carries.
“They really hurt us with their offloads but once we nullified that a bit, the game became easier for us.”
That dousing of Sheffield’s flames came early in the second half, after the rampant Eagles had been on fire before the hooter.
Ott said: “I thought we went after that collision area really well again and reset.
“We lost it late in that first half with their offloads and the game getting too quick, especially on this synthetic pitch, where it can be hard to keep up.
“We held up the offload in the second half and went after that physical collision early.
“The game slowed down and we got a bit more push and support on the football.
“Us holding our shape just lets our runners carry stronger, which makes it easier when we have the ball.
“You turn the ball around in a better spot and it puts the opposition in a corner doing that.”
Bulls were happy to play expansive rugby too, after spotting a weakness in the Eagles’ defensive line.
Ott exploited that to perfection on one occasion in the first half, only to produce a terrible pass to Tom Holmes when he should have put the full back in for a try.
The Australian ruefully reflected: “Sheffield kept coming up high on the edges, so the plan was to go through them, and I was lucky to catch them out on that occasion.
“I was just trying to hit the afterburners, pick up as much pace as I could to get through, but I needed to calm down and slow down to execute that pass better.
“It’s something for me to work on, as I haven’t been in full flight too often this season.
“But it was good to have that experience now, before it really hurts us in key games later on this season.
“I’d definitely like to be back in that same position later this season and get it right on that occasion.”
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