FORMER England boss John Kear, the new head coach at Bradford Bulls, has tipped York City Knights to be among the teams to challenge his club for promotion this year.

Kear, who took over at Odsal this winter tasked with reviving the fallen giants following their relegation to the third tier, was a more-than-interested spectator at Bootham Crescent on Sunday when the Knights bagged three late tries to beat Hunslet 30-6 in their final run-out of pre-season.

The two-time Challenge Cup winner will soon be back in the Minster city, when he brings the Bulls for a blockbuster opening fixture of the 2018 Betfred League One season on Sunday, February 18. And, while he agreed his club will start as favourites for the title, he expected tough challenges and stressed they were “being respectful to the competition and the teams in there” – hence running the rule over the team they face first up.

He said: “There are good players in this competition and good teams and well-coached teams. That’s the reason I came to (Sunday’s) match.

“It’s not a matter of us rocking up saying, ‘We’re Bradford Bulls, we just need to turn up and win’.

“We’ve got to be respectful, work hard, prepare intensely and perform well. If we do that, we give ourselves a chance.”

Asked whom he reckoned would challenge the Bulls for promotion, he said: “York turned Toronto over (at Bootham Crescent last year) so they’re obviously one.

“Keighley, Doncaster, Whitehaven, Workington are all obviously difficult challenges. Hunslet as well.

“We know full well we’re going to be challenged. We’re also the boys everyone will want to beat. We have the bounty on our heads and everyone will want to turn Bradford over.”

The former World Club champions – who last week served further notice of their ambitions to climb back up the tiers when signing ex-Huddersfield full-back Gregg McNally from Leigh Centurions on a two-year deal - faced Toronto in a friendly last Friday, going down 34-0 to the Transatlantic side whose only defeat when storming to last year’s League One crown famously came at York.

The Bulls and Super League-seeking Wolfpack have also recently agreed a dual-registration partnership, meaning Kear could get use of the Canadian club’s British-based full-time players when not picked for Championship action. Former York loanee Nick Rawsthorne, who notched eight tries in five appearances at centre for the Knights last year, could be among them after he joined Toronto from Hull last week.

Kear said: “We played a really good team (last Friday) – a step up in class from the other teams we’ve played, and that’s no disrespect to Sheffield and Halifax.

“They were outstanding. I felt it was more beneficial for us playing that game than the previous two because it highlighted areas we need to look at.”

Kear's list of achievements include famously leading huge underdogs Sheffield to the 1998 Challenge Cup, coaching England in the 2000 World Cup when they reached the semi-finals, and later taking Wakefield to their highest-ever finish in Super League.

He has more recently been head coach at Batley in the Championship while also being in charge of Wales’ national side.

On his new role at Odsal, he said: ”I’ve coached in the Championship with part-time players at Batley but the majority of the time has been in Super League. Here we have a mixture of full-time and part-time. That was another of the things that appealed to me – resurrecting a great club and the challenge of amalgamating part-time and full-time players into a solid team.

“It’s been really good (so far). I’ve been there six or seven weeks now, feeling my way in more and more.

“The players have responded really well and I’ve been delighted with their attitude and application. It’s looking positive – but then pre-season always is because nobody has lost a game yet.”