Potter expecting testing time from Saints

Potter’s former club Saints have six players involved in tonight’s England match against the Exiles, while his current side Bulls have no representatives at Headingley Carnegie.

It’s a scenario which may lead some to head for the bookmakers to lay money on a Bradford win, but Potter has been in the game too long to read too much into players turning out twice in 48 hours.

“The Test Match could mean they have some players either fatigued or missing but I want them to have their best team out on the field,” said Odsal coach Potter.

“The situation is some may have to back up and a few of them will be okay but a few will be a little tired.

“The players are very resilient, having known them for a couple of years and I don’t think they will be any easier to beat because of Friday’s game.”

Steve McNamara has chosen Michael Shenton, James Graham and Jon Wilkin in his England team, while Francis Meli, Tony Puletua and Iosia Soliola start for the Exiles.

“The last time we played them – at Widnes – seems a long time ago and we did some good things in that game but we made some poor decisions and that led to us conceding points and that is a big area we have improved on.

“They have a great batch of youngsters playing for them and they will continue that because they have a very good system in place for recruitment and bringing players through. They have all became confident Super League Players, worth their places in the team.”

The Bulls are on the periphery of the play-offs after last week’s 30-16 win at Harlequins and a 28-14 home win over Salford.

“There are areas we can improve on but overall I am happy with the group and happy to have two wins on the bounce,” said Potter.

“We’d obviously like to not concede any points any week but that’s not realistic really but to keep sides to low scores enables us to accumulate points ourselves. I think we are doing a lot of good things defensively but there are still some things we need to fix up.

“We are moving in the right direction. “We played well in the Wigan game and then we have come away from the last two games playing solid and the players feel a lot more confident.”

Bradford – who will name their matchday squad today – welcome back playmaker Brett Kearney.

He has not featured since he suffered a broken hand in the game against Leeds on April 21.

“Brett gives us an extra turn of speed and an extra experienced pair of eyes that can possibly capitalise on any defensive lapses that might occur,” said Potter.

Bulls star Gareth Raynor needs 12 more points for a career total of 500.