Bradford to lose banned Jorge Taufua yet again after Batley

But he will then have to sit out the last two games of the regular season, having picked up his fourth suspension of the year.

He has received a two-game ban for a late hit on Sheffield’s Kris Welham last Sunday, which the RFL have ruled as Grade C Dangerous Contact.

Most of those watching felt it was a hard, but fair, challenge, and no punishment was handed out on the field by referee Cameron Worsley.

Jayden Myers (right) was the only Bulls player to be carded by the referee last Sunday, but his fellow back Jorge Taufua has now been punished. (Image: Tom Pearson.)

But the decision has now been made and Taufua will be back on the sidelines yet again for the upcoming games with Halifax and Swinton.

Bulls head coach Eamon O’Carroll was asked by the T&A if Taufua’s reputation unfairly precedes him, or if the Australian-born flyer simply needs to be more careful when it comes to tackling.

He said: “I think the three bans he had before were probably warranted, but this one’s disappointing.

“I feel like Jorge has been working extremely hard on his defending, and he’s actually doing what we’re asking of him.

“Despite that, he’s still copped a ban, and this one, as I said, is disappointing.

“But we have to accept it and move on because the decision has been made.”

Taufua will still have a role to play tomorrow at Odsal, where a win will guarantee Bulls a place in the play-offs.

Discussing that prospect, O’Carroll said: “We’ve not really spoken about it, we’re just trying to take it one game at a time.

“We’re focusing on ourselves, and we feel like we’re making slight improvements and heading in the right direction in the areas we wanted to.

“It’s important we continue to do so, because if we keep that up, we’ll be where we deserve to be come the end of the season.”

If Bulls do wrap up a top-six place tomorrow, their next target will be ending up in the top four, for a guaranteed play-off eliminator at Odsal, with the ultimate aim to finish as runners-up, giving them a bye straight into a home semi-final.

O’Carroll said: “Everyone wants to get that top-two spot behind Wakefield, and hopefully we’re putting ourselves in a decent position to do so.

Bradford and Toulouse look to be the two sides in realistic contention to finish as runners up behind Wakefield in this season's Betfred Championship. (Image: Tom Pearson.)

“But we don’t want to be looking at other results and depending on them to go our way, we have to solely focus on ourselves.”

Batley beat Bulls by a point at Mount Pleasant earlier in the season, a rare highlight for the Bulldogs in a season where they have missed out on the play-offs by a distance.

And O’Carroll will not be taking them lightly this weekend, warning: “They’ll probably feel confident coming here, knowing they schooled us when we last faced each other.

“It’s been a while since then, and we certainly got things wrong in that game, but to be fair to Batley, they put us under pressure and deserved the win on the day.

“We learned some lessons from that game and I think we’re in a better spot now, but it’ll be difficult for us this weekend.

“Batley are a team that just will not go away, regardless of the scoreline.”

Clubs were reportedly told their provisional IMG scores this week, with Bulls still possibly having an outside chance of being in Super League in 2025.

It will be after the end of the season before anything is finalised on that front through, and O’Carroll said: “It’s out of my hands and I don’t think anyone truly knows anything at this stage.

“I think when one person finds out our final score at the club, everyone else will quickly know too.”