AFTER putting up with an uncertain few months at Bradford, strong-running packman Tom Olbison is just glad to be out on the field again.

The off-field worries at Odsal, culminating in the club’s liquidation and redundancies, were worrying times for the players.

And the way 25-year-old has energetically attacked the two pre-season games since signing a one-year deal with the Vikings has shown that every cloud has a silver lining.

Olbison said: “After the recent few months it is good to the shirt on my back and get out there and start enjoying it again.

“For the last few months there has been a bit of turmoil regarding my future, but it has put that bit of spring back in my step.

“The realisation that all this could have gone has made me that bit hungrier.

“It sounds cheesy but I got through it by telling myself that there is always someone else worse off.

“I believed in my ability – but there were times where I’d think ‘Am I going to have to retire at 25?’ That’s the bit that has given me the spark, it was almost gone but now its all on my toes again to make something of it.”

And more than anything, after a spell in the Championship, he is relishing the chance playing Super League again, but he will have to force his way into the reckoning first.

“All my career there’s always been lots of lads in my position so I have always been fighting for a spot,” he said.

“There is never a case where you think I can rest on my laurels a bit here because if you do it bites you on the backside.

“No matter who you are and how well you do, you are only as good as your last game.”

Vikings will be without Joe Mellor for a month with a knee ligament injury, while Chris Dean (torn biceps) and Eamon O’Carroll (shoulder)are both facing 12 weeks on the sidelines.