KIERAN Gill has expressed his delight in returning to the Bulls squad after a period out through injury.
The try-scoring sensation made his comeback as Bradford fell to a 14-10 defeat at The Shay on Sunday afternoon, with head coach Eamon O’Carroll throwing him in from the start.
Gill’s return comes at the perfect time for the side from Odsal as they gear up for another crack at the play-offs, and they know just how important he is to this squad.
Speaking after the defeat at Halifax, Gill admitted that he’s now ready to kick on with the final stages of the 2024 season.
He said: “I’m feeling good (following the injury).
“I was so excited to get back out on the pitch ahead of the Halifax game because it’s not like me to miss games and I hate being sat in the stands.
“I’ve appreciated all the work that has gone into getting me fit and back on the field, particularly the work from the physios.
“It’s been a tough period for me, but I’m back now and I’m ready to kick on for the rest of the season.”
Reflecting on Sunday’s defeat, Gill said: “We were dominant in factors of the game, particularly in the first 60 minutes when we worked well for each other.
“Then errors crept into our game, and we started doing some uncharacteristic things.”
Gill thought he’d extended Bradford’s lead in the first half of the contest after he’d seemingly touched down a Lee Gaskell grubber kick.
However, the referee and touch judge adjudged Bulls’ top marksman to have not grounded the ball properly.
Reflecting on the incident, Gill said: “I was quite confident that I’d scored that to be honest.
“I put my hand up to celebrate straight away because I thought there was downward pressure on the ball.
“It’s Championship rugby so we can’t afford screens and other technology, so you just have to accept what the referee says and just crack on with it.”
Reflecting on his own return at Halifax, Gill said: “These are the types of games you want to be playing in because the intensity is there through that rivalry. It’s something I love.
“This is my third year at Bradford now and I’ve settled in so well. Let’s hope we can finish the season strongly and push on to the play-offs after the final home game against Swinton.”
Asked how important a bounce back performance and victory will be for the Bulls at Odsal this weekend, Gill responded: “As players, we don’t really look at the table, but instead we just want to play week in, week out and win all of our games.
“To the fans it’s important and to everyone else it’s important, but we just want to turn up and deliver strong performances and then the results take care of themselves.
“We’ll get back to the drawing board at training this week and then look to kick on for Swinton, and then after that we’ll do the same.”
Sunday’s home fixture against the Swinton Lions gets underway at 3:00 pm.
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