Wembley Stadium nears for Bradford Bulls and Eamon O'Carroll

It’s the Bulls’ first year in the competition and they’ve made it to the quarter-finals where they will host Swinton Lions on Sunday afternoon (3pm).

O’Carroll’s men finished top of a group that included Keighley Cougars and Dewsbury Rams to get to this stage, and now they are here the Bulls boss is determined to grasp this opportunity with both hands.

Looking ahead to Sunday’s last-eight showdown “It’s huge for us,” said O’Carroll. “We’re massively excited about the opportunity and challenge ahead, but we know it’s going to be difficult. However, that’s what makes this game exciting.

“We’ve not spoken about the match too much this week because there were a few things that we needed to get off our chest after defeat against Widnes, but since turning our preparations towards this Sunday’s game the excitement has been building for what should be a great game.

“We’re two games away from being at Wembley and although we don’t want to look too far ahead, we’ve got the chance to nail our objectives this weekend. If we execute our plan, then we’re into a semi-final, so it doesn’t get much more exciting than that.”

Jorge Taufua touching down against Dewsbury Rams in the group stage (Image: Tom Pearson)

The winners of Sunday’s clash will go on to host the winners of the quarter-final played between Wakefield Trinity and Barrow Raiders, which represents a potentially challenging route to the final if the Bulls defeat Swinton.

That being said, O’Carroll has the urge to make it to Wembley.

He said: “The goal is to go and win the competition now, but the other teams that remain in it will all be wanting the same thing. So, it’s more about what we do in our preparation to make sure that we have the edge over the other teams, and of course, how we execute our plans on matchday.”

Discussing Swinton’s biggest threats, O’Carroll said: “Their spine has got some depth and I really like their backfield.

“Rhys Williams (Welsh winger) has got some great experience, and along with the centres including Jake Spedding, the wingers have got quite an aggressive edge, so they’ll challenge us for sure.

“Swinton just look like a really connected group and they turn up for each other with a lot of energy and enthusiasm. They’ll certainly feed of the scraps if you present them with any, so it’s important that we try and erase that side of our game ahead of this weekend.”

Former Bulls player Dec Patton will face his ex-teammates for the first time since his departure from Odsal at the end of last season, with the experienced scrum-half now donning Swinton colours.

Giving his thoughts on Patton’s highly-anticipated return to the Bulls, O’Carroll admitted: “I’d imagine that he’ll have an added fire and hunger in his belly on Sunday; that’s the nature of the beast isn’t it when you leave a club and comeback to play against them.

“Regardless of what terms you leave on, whether they were good or bad, you always want to play well against your old club but that’s just natural instinct, so I imagine that he’ll want to come here and put on a show.”

One player who Bradford will be able to call on this week is Lee Gaskell, who didn’t play against Widnes due to illness, but O’Carroll confirmed that he’s ready to return to the squad this time around.

He said: “Lee’s feeling good; we’ll see how he gets on at training (Thursday night just gone) and all being well, he’ll be in contention to make the squad and start.”

Gaskell has since made the squad.