GAIL JOHNSON-STRAFFORD PREVIEWS ROVERS CLASH

As a derby day looms on the horizon, Bradford Bulls Women find themselves facing more than just a fierce local rival as they’re determined to break free from a challenging start to the season.

For Bradford, it is about pride, belief, and proving that the table doesn’t tell the whole story. Ahead of this Sunday's clash, we caught up with head coach Gail Johnson-Strafford, who remains defiant in the face of adversity and determined to turn the tide.

Bradford Bulls will look to build on their promising performance against Sheffield Eagles on Sunday when they take on local rivals Featherstone Rovers at the Bartercard Odsal Stadium who have only lost one game this season.

“It’s a long-term goal for us, not a short-term goal of just beating the side. We need to look at the future as well and keep building,” said Johnson-Strafford, who is sponsored by John Hazell.

“We’re building really well and in training, they’re applying everything we’re putting into them. Hopefully on Sunday whatever we set their goals to be, hopefully we’ll see that on the pitch.

“We’ve been focusing on the attack a little bit more. We always split training into two sessions, defence and attack. This week we focused a little bit more on getting over that line and working on when we’ve got the ball in their twenty and thirty.”

“We know they have a really strong forward pack, so we’ve muscled up a little bit there and hopefully it’ll show on Sunday.”

“This is probably one of them games where we circle on the calendar. I’ve put no pressure on the lasses. We know that we need to start winning games, but honestly I don’t want them to be under pressure.”

“We have a new signing who we are excited about, hopefully she’ll come through and make her debut this weekend as well.”