Bradford Bulls v York Knights: Jordan Lilley ready to guide fallen giants back to Super League

The Bulls have been outside the top flight since 2014 but are three games away from a return after ending the Championship regular season in third place, their highest finish in eight years.

Lilley, who has himself been out of Super League since leaving Leeds Rhinos in 2018, believes the whole game would benefit from Bradford's return to the big time.

"It's no secret that my ambition is to take Bradford back to Super League," said the half-back.

"It's not going to be easy. To get to where we want to be, we're going to have to beat the best teams but I genuinely do believe we can get to the final if we play how we know we can play.

"I'd love to have another crack at Super League because I didn't get the chance to fulfil it as best as I thought I could. It would be massive if I could get back up there.

"Bradford being back there would be mega for the game with the crowds we'd generate and the games we'd have back like the Leeds derbies. It would be absolutely massive for the game.

"To be remembered as part of the team that took Bradford up would be absolutely mega."

The four-time Super League champions will host York Knights in the eliminators after leapfrogging Sheffield Eagles in the final round thanks to Lilley's last-gasp drop goal.

Bradford were in danger of dropping out of the top six following back-to-back defeats but demonstrated the steel that will be required in the play-offs to win away at London Broncos and Sheffield.

"The goal was to be in the top four this year," said Lilley.

"We've had some ups and downs with performances and switching coaches midway through the year so we would definitely have taken third place. We're made up to have a home play-off tie.

"We had to go into play-off mentality two weeks early. We knew we needed to go down to London and get a result otherwise it might have been season over.

"It's been good for us. We've hit a play-off standard in the last two weeks so we're play-off ready."

Bradford finished three places and three points better off than York but lost both games to Andrew Henderson's side during the regular season.

"York are a good team," said Lilley. "They're very well coached and do the basic things very well.

"We're going to have to be really good because the last two times we've played them, we've fallen short and didn't do the basic things we're really good at. When we do them, we're a tough team to beat.

"People will say we're the favourites and we've got the home tie but at the end of the day, they've beaten us twice and we're going to have to be good to get through to the next round."

The Knights enjoyed a remarkable run to the play-offs after winning 10 of their final 11 games, including a 20-10 victory at Odsal on September 10.

Henderson is not reading too much into past history ahead of Sunday's do-or-die clash.

"The fact we managed to unlock them in both games certainly gives you a little bit more confidence,” he said. "But we understand that this is a different competition and we'll be facing a different animal. They're going to be well up for it.

"The team that manages the pressure better will get the result in the end."