THE Bulls are “miles ahead” of where they were this time last year, according to John Kear.

Just over a fortnight after clinching promotion back to the Championship, the head coach is well on with his preparations for 2019.

Nearly all the recruitment pieces are in place with only spots at centre and second row to fill.

And Kear believes the advantage of having such a settled squad will be evident when they attack the second tier.

“We feel as if we’ve got the numbers and the quality to run a challenging Championship side,” he said.

“The club is miles ahead of where it was 12 months ago – and miles ahead on the performance side.

“We’ll obviously be fighting for that top five spot as well as running a competitive reserve side, and an under-18s that improves as well as the 16s and scholarship.

“That’s all in place. It’s involved a lot of hard work and obviously Andrew Chalmers has been instrumental by backing us with what we’ve done.

“All the performance staff need a pat on the back.”

Pre-season does not begin again for the Bulls’ full-time players until Monday, November 19. The part-time members of the squad return the following day.

The “hybrid” mix was successful in League One and will continue into the Championship, although it will lean more towards full-time players with the recent recruitment.

Kear added: “I would say it’s probably a 70-30 per cent mix now. But it worked very well last year.

“If we’d have just gone full-time, we wouldn’t have had Minchella, Keyes, Garside and Crossley.

“I would suggest they are very important players to us.

“People can get wrapped up in the argument, but they are players who we feel can help this club achieve what we want at this moment in time.

“We’re in a good place physically and mentally. The players feel confident for next year and I do as well.

“At the minute there’s that bit of recruitment to be completed and then we can all enjoy our little break.

“After that we’ll get our sleeves rolled up and start preparing for the Championship.”