BRADFORD Bulls’ rising star Matty Storton is backing plans for a joint Super League and Rugby Football League restructure of the sport below first-team level.

It is understood discussions have taken place regarding switching the under-19s to under-18s and making it compulsory for clubs with central funding for an Academy to have a reserve team.

Storton, who has only just turned 20 but has played in nine of Bulls' 11 Championship matches this season, said: “It will be a massive positive if it goes through.

“Only a few clubs have reserve teams, and young players of my age are not getting game-time, but if every club has a reserve team then they will get lots of game-time and they will progress better.”

Second-row forward Storton, who made his Bulls debut in 2017 but only played five matches last season, scoring four tries, also knows that he must not let his standards drop for the Betfred Championship club.

He said: “I didn’t play for the last three games of last season but I played well in a reserve game and John (Kear) gave me a shot.

“I was playing prop at one point but I have moved into the back row and feel that I have done really well to keep my spot for the last six matches.

“With having a big squad, you have to play well otherwise you will get dropped.

“There is good competition for places, and that is how it should because it raises everyone’s game.”

The Bulls, who host Rochdale Hornets on Sunday, are three-quarters of the way towards the club’s aim of winning all four matches over Easter and the weekends either side of it.

They have notched victories over Featherstone Rovers in the Challenge Cup and Halifax and Barrow in the league in that time, and Storton said of the Easter Monday win over the Raiders: “It was a very tough game.

“Barrow came to do a job on us. Their game plan was to disrupt and slow the game down and it worked for them, but we dug really deep and came away with a victory.

“They put 26 points on Toronto last Friday and they came to beat us but we stuck to our game plan, as we have for the last three games, and it was good to get the win.

“The goal is to win all four games over Easter, and we did really well on our line in the last five minutes with a lot of scramble defence, and we take the positives from that.

“We thought that we would blow them away in the last 20 minutes because they are a big set of lads but they did really well, so credit to them for that.

“They never gave up and just had that mentality and stayed with it right to the end, where they scored a try.

“The games keep coming, we will have a light session today after a couple of days off and we will have a team run on Saturday.”