BULLS' Championship rivals Toronto Wolfpack - who they face in their final pre-season match later this month - have announced a re-financing package they say will generate £5.87million in fresh investment in 2019.

Chairman David Argyle, who will remain as majority owner of the Canada-based club, has also revealed they failed to meet payments to its players in time for Christmas but insists they will be paid in full this week.

"A major new investment in the team has been our key priority through the last three months," Argyle said.

"In prioritising the long-term, we unfortunately caused some short-term pain as our December payroll for players was delayed.

"We are obviously not happy that we fell short of the values and standards we hold ourselves to as an organisation."

Argyle, an Australian mining tycoon who has bank-rolled Toronto in its first two seasons, says the cash injection, which will come from the launch of Wolfpack-branded isotonic and alcoholic drinks and a wellness product, will ensure the club's long-term sustainability.

Toronto, who gained promotion from League One in its first season, fell just short of reaching Super League in 2018, losing the Million Pound Game to London Broncos, but are favourites under new coach Brian McDermott to top the 2019 Betfred Championship which gets under way in a month's time.

"This injection of cash prepares us for the next phase of our journey," Argyle said.

"Having been financed exclusively by private investment to date, our refinancing now means we have a rigorous and sustainable business model to push into 2019 and beyond.

"We are very grateful to our new investment partners and look forward to working together to grow our respective organisations."

The new investment is from Canadian companies who will use the Wolfpack's growing platform to expand into the UK and the rest of the world.

Toronto drew an average crowd of 6,565 to the Lamport Stadium in 2018 and say their TV broadcast partnerships reached 150 million homes across 19 countries in their first two years.

The club also recently bought a minority stake in League One club London Skolars.

Bulls will play the Wolfpack in a pre-season friendly at Odsal on Friday, January 25 (7.30pm) before they start their league campaign at home to Featherstone the following week.

The clubs also played each other in a friendly last year, with Bulls chairman Andrew Chalmers an advocate of their impact on rugby league.

He said: “The enthusiasm that David Argyle has instilled into the club has given the sport a much-needed lift.

"His endeavours to grow rugby league in Canada has and will continue to benefit all of us. This season will see us play in the same division as the Toronto Wolfpack for the first time.

"We know they’ll be tough encounters, but with the squad John Kear has put together we’ll be challenging them for promotion at the end of the year.”

Bulls coach John Kear said: “I couldn’t think of a better game to test ourselves against as our pre-cursor to the season the following week.

"Toronto had an excellent year in 2018 and will feel hard done by that they didn’t go up after finishing top of the table. This season they’ll be favourites to get promoted and will be a really well coached side that have a good balance of talent and experience.

“Our team is a year on from last year’s game against them and we’ve added some extra players since then as well. It’ll be a hard-fought game that will test us and the players in the team will want to give a real good account of themselves.”