EAMON O’Carroll says the Bulls should be excited to have Wembley in their sights.

An Odsal semi-final against Wakefield in the 1895 Cup awaits after yesterday’s 21-12 victory over Swinton.

O’Carroll admits there is more work to be done ahead of their visit to Trinity in the Championship opener a week on Friday.

But he wants everyone to be buzzing about getting within touching distance of a cup final trip to London.

“Be excited,” he said. “I think that’s really important.

“You’ve got to enjoy these moments because they don’t come around often.

“This is something the group spoke about wanting to do and they’ve got pretty close now.

“What we have to do is keep our feet firmly on the ground and learn some lessons. We know we’re not where we want to be.

“If we play that semi-final next week and do something of the things we did against Swinton, then we’re out and we don’t get to Wembley.

“We can get some good continuity with the league competition. We’ve got a week off in between that and then focus on the semi-final.

“But the big one for me is to get excited. I’m really excited for the group that they get to play in a semi-final now.

“They are 80 minutes away from Wembley now and walking out in front of their friends and family. It’s fantastic.

“I hope the club and the people around us are getting excited as well because they should be. But we know we’ve got a long way to go.”

The Bulls inflicted Swinton’s first loss of 2024 to spoil Dec Patton’s return to Odsal – where he was booed throughout by the home crowd.

The recent heavy rain made for tough conditions but O’Carroll had prepared his players for a slog.

“Regardless if it were 30 degrees, it would have been a tight game,” added the head coach. “That’s the type of team Swinton are.

“They challenge you and will go really well this year. They’ve got some quality throughout the team and compete really hard.

“We knew it was going to be that way and it turned out to be the case.”

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Jordan Lilley breaks the Swinton line to score the Bulls' second tryJordan Lilley breaks the Swinton line to score the Bulls' second try (Image: Tom Pearson.)

Full back Aidan McGowan will go through concussion protocol for the next 11 days after twice going off with an HIA. Leigh loanee Keanan Brand deputised on his debut.

O’Carroll said: “Aidan’s a bit groggy. We’ve got a couple of weeks off now so we’ll communicate with Huddersfield.

“He was really disappointed to come off but it was clearly the right thing to do.

“We’ll make sure he’s okay, I’m sure he will be. I’m glad there’s no game (next Sunday) because he’s been fantastic for us over the last couple of weeks.

“He’s a big reason why we’re defending the way we are at the minute and he will continue to help us get better.

“We’re not perfect by any stretch of the imagination but he’s a big part of what we’re doing.”