Bradley believes Luton are well equipped to push for the Championship

The centre back turned down a new deal with Plymouth Argyle to sign for the Hatters in the summer, with manager Nathan Jones a long-term admirer of the 26-year-old.

Newly-promoted Town beat former League Two foes Notts County in their penultimate pre-season friendly last Saturday ahead of the third-tier opener at Portsmouth this weekend.

Hopes are high for another assault on promotion as Bradley said: “I think the quality is here to be in the top six this season.

“(We’re) ready to go. I was a little bit unsure when I came in because I hadn’t trained or played with the boys, but from what I can see already, this club’s only moving in one direction and that’s up.

“It’s easily said now, before we’ve even kicked a ball (competitively) but I’m just going on past experience, past squads that I’ve been in.

“I think this squad’s brilliant. If we stay together, keep moving in the right direction, keep working hard then we could progress and have a good season.”

But Bradley is not underestimating League One as, although former club Argyle almost squeezed into the play-offs last term, they began life in the division with a run of just one win in their first 15 games.

The defender said: “There are players now that can’t get in Championship squads, that are filtering down to League One squads, so every year I think the divisions are getting tougher.

“You get punished more on mistakes in this division.

“There are a few sharper teams a few sharper players but I think every game is a tough one.

“I think, for Luton last year in League Two, there were certain fixtures, especially at home, where you look at it on a Friday afternoon and think this should be three points.

“Whereas in League One I noticed that every fixture was tough.”

Yet Bradley is undaunted by Town’s league start of Pompey away, newly relegated Sunderland at home and then Peterborough away.

“It’s a perfect three games to really put our marker down and show what we’re about,” he said.

“This club, all they’re about at the minute, is winning football matches, especially off the back of last season.

“They won so many games and they’ve got the momentum to take that into this season and be even stronger and pick up the results.”

Bradley had his first taste of Kenilworth Road as a home player in Wednesday night’s 3-1 pre-season reverse against Championship Norwich.

While there was a decent crowd of 2,957, the old ground will be packed to the rafters for the visit of Sunderland on August 11.

“I can’t wait,” added Bradley. “It was nice to get out there and get a feel for it, but it’s going to be completely different on the first home game of the season.

“I’ve played here before. I’ve played here when it’s full.

“I know what it’s like and it’s not nice to be on the opposing team.

“So when Sunderland do turn up here, we need to make them feel uncomfortable, work that in our favour and hopefully get a good result.”