AFTER a year spent on the playing fields of Workington, Whitehaven, Hunslet and Batley, the Bulls can add Oldham and Swinton to their list of destinations for 2016.

Sounds great doesn’t it?

Victory at Wakefield last weekend would have seen Bradford renew rivalries with the likes of Leeds, Wigan, St Helens and Huddersfield.

Instead, the dismal prospect of a second season in the Championship beckons, and with it the drudgery of another 23 weekly rounds against largely part-time opposition before the lottery of the Qualifiers.

If promotion this year ultimately proved too mountainous a climb, then next year’s ascent will be even steeper.

Leigh are surging ahead with recruitment and will be stronger, Sheffield are going full-time and Halifax should continue to prosper.

But why did the Bulls fall short in their quest to make an immediate return to Super League?

Head coach Jimmy Lowes made his feelings clear about the new structure after Saturday’s defeat.

Competing against Super League sides armed with far greater spending power and salary cap was always going to be a huge ask.

Sadly, it is hard not to feel that Bradford would have swapped places with the Wildcats had their close-season recruitment been more focused.

The disastrous 2014 campaign which saw the Bulls relegated was characterised by a chronic shortage of players.

Thus emphasis was placed on quantity as managing director Steve Ferres set about assembling a 30-strong squad last winter.

Proven Super League performers such as Lee Gaskell, Adam O’Brien, Jay Pitts, Danny Addy, Tom Olbison and Dale Ferguson were retained.

Unknowns Chris Ulugia, Dave Petersen and Karl Davies were signed from the Mackay Cutters and in came the likes of Ryan Shaw, Etu Uaisele, Samir Tahraoui, Dan Fleming and Lucas Walshaw – men who had been plying their trade largely in the Championship.

To make matters worse, Gareth O’Brien’s decision to perform a U-turn over his move from Warrington saw the Bulls scrambling around for a scrum half, so Harry Siejka arrived from Wakefield.

Bradford suffered an opening-day defeat at Leigh when they really needed to lay down a marker.

Leigh did not look back thereafter as they breezed through the regular season to finish six points clear of the Bulls after 23 rounds.

Lowes lost faith in certain players as the season unfolded.

Tahraoui was dropped in April and later sent to Keighley for the rest of the year, while Ulugia and Uaisele were packed off to Batley and Dewsbury respectively.

James Mendeika and Steve Crossley were added midway through the campaign and James Clare, Omari Caro, Matt Ryan and Dane Nielsen were brought in as the Qualifiers approached.

Yet it was the front row that proved the Bulls’ Achilles heel all year.

Fleming struggled with his fitness and Epalahame Lauaki arrived in England out of shape and overweight.

He played an average of barely 20 minutes per game during the season, which put added pressure on Paul Clough and Adam Sidlow.

Adam O’Brien was overplayed at hooker and became a target for the opposition.

He was the victim of countless late hits and if anyone deserves their end-of-season break, it is O’Brien.

Lowes could have rotated more and made greater use of what at times looked a fat, bloated squad.

Adam Brook, a promising young scrum half nurtured for several years in Bradford’s academy, surely deserved a run-out against one of the lesser Championship sides.

But he has now followed fellow academy graduates Nathan Conroy and Sam Bates out of Odsal without making a single first-team appearance.

Shaw, who is joining Hull KR, looked a real prospect in the early weeks of the season before he too fell out of favour.

Jake Mullaney was almost unplayable in patches but injuries hampered his progress, and lengthy spells on the sidelines for Siejka and Lee Gaskell meant the Bulls struggled for continuity at half-back.

Danny Addy deserves much credit for stepping into the breach and performing superbly there for large chunks of the season.

Lowes, a fierce competitor as a player, has proved similarly uncompromising in his coaching style.

His belligerence became a feature of post-match press conferences as the Bulls, although regular winners, often struggled to put together an 80-minute performance.

Victories were sometimes scraped and the Bulls went into the Qualifiers with one win in five games and no momentum whatsoever.

The question of who was actually in charge of recruitment is another key issue here.

Was Ferres, as stated by Marc Green in pre-season, signing these players and handing them to Lowes, or were they signed in agreement?

How will things work for the next raft of new recruits?

As is the case every year, agents chase contracts for their players and the Bulls will have had no shortage of names on Lowes’ desk.

Sources in Australia suggest that the Bulls were keen on Melbourne prop Dayne Weston for next year but lost out to Leigh.

Tyrone Roberts was another player linked to a move to the Bulls, but that deal did not materialise either.

Perhaps the biggest blow to Bradford promotion plans was the failure to sign a big, aggressive and mobile prop for the Qualifiers.

Of the available options open to the Bulls, former loan signing Antonio Kaufusi could have filled this role, as could Hull FC player Iafeta Paleaaesina.

It is also understood that enquiries were made for Huddersfield’s Leeds-bound prop Anthony Mullally, who went on join Wakefield on loan for the rest of the season.

How different things might have been had Mullally been playing for the Bulls instead of against them last Saturday.

Centre Kris Welham is another player who continues to be linked to the Bulls following his release from Hull KR and could yet end up at Odsal.

The current Bulls squad has lacked leadership in certain games this season and, by Lowes’ own admission, self-belief.

The core of the group appear certain to stay and areas for strengthening are clearly half-back and front row.

Another conundrum is that the majority of the players signed last winter remain under contract for next year.

Players will have to go but paying them off will not be easy, and could prove costly.

Next year the Bulls need a leaner squad with a move towards greater quality not quantity.

They would also be well advised to follow Wakefield’s lead and keep a certain percentage of their salary cap free for signings before the Qualifiers.

As for Lowes himself, he was clearly devastated by Saturday’s result and the past few days will have no doubt afforded him time for introspection.

Assistant Karl Harrison has left the club and Chev Walker or Matt Diskin could step up as Lowes’ right-hand man.

Tightening the defence is another priority as the Bulls seek to win promotion and avoid the unthinkable – a third season in the Championship.

Overall, the 2015 campaign has to be seen as a missed opportunity, especially when the Bulls lost to a Wakefield side who had spent much of the season on their knees.