Bradford Bulls boss outlines Leeds Rhinos challenge as key injury update made ahead of season

Bradford Bulls head coach Kurt Hagerty insists he is viewing his side’s pre-season friendly as a trial game, with spots still up for grabs in his initial 13-man starting squad come the start of the season.

The newly-appointed head coach has named his wider 20-man squad for the Headingley clash, including 12 new recruits, but it appears there are still shirts on the line heading into their Challenge Cup clash against either Wests Warriors or London Broncos and further ahead into their Super League opener against Hull FC.

‘It’s the start of the journey for us’

The Bulls come into this weekend’s clash at Headingley looking to continue their unbeaten start to pre-season, following on from their 30-12 win over Doncaster last time out, but this will be a different challenge all-together given Leeds have named their strongest side possible.

However, that does then present Haggerty with a great opportunity to see how his squad, especially those with limited to no Super League experience, fare in games like this, ahead of their first season back in the top flight since 2014.

“It’s the start of the journey for us,” he told Love Rugby League. “It’s still a trial game, and there are certain players I need to see play at this level, so we’ll learn a lot from it.

“We’re very much focusing on ourselves first and what we want to get out of it, but ultimately it’s still a pre-season week. We’ve still put a lot of work in leading up to the game as we’re in the back-end of the pre-season, so we’ve been in game/pre-season week.

“We’re treating it as a trial game,” he continued. “There are a lot of things we need to see, but it’s also a great test to see how far we’ve come in the space of 10 weeks.”

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Haggerty, too, has named a fairly strong side to head to their bitter West Yorkshire rivals, with headline recruits Jayden Nikorima, Esan Marsters, Loghan Lewis and Dan Russell among the group, but the head coach insists this will only help him learn about the whole of his squad’s ability to step up to this level.

“I’m not sure (if it will settle the starting 13),” he said. “What it will do is give me a chance to look at some players who haven’t played at this level before, a chance to see some players who performed well against Doncaster (again), and then there are players in there who I know can play at this level. I’ll learn quite a bit about the squad from this game.”

The Bulls are currently nursing a few injury knocks, with Zac Fulton omitted from the squad this time out after picking up a knock against Doncaster, but the head coach detailed it’s not a long-term issue.

“He got a dead calf against Doncaster, and he’s really struggled since the game. He’ll miss this game, but he’ll be available for the Challenge Cup game.

Elsewhere, Joe Mellor, Guy Armatige and Eben Scurr are also on the sidelines, but Haggerty remains hopeful the trio will be back sooner rather than later.

“I’m hoping the Challenge Cup game, but if not, then round one (of Super League).”

Bradford Bulls squad v Leeds Rhinos in full

Squad from: Caleb Aekins, Waqa Blake, Eribe Doro, Brandon Douglas, Jamie Gill, Sam Hallas, Luke Hooley, Joe Keyes, Loghan Lewis, Esan Marsters, Ronan Michael, Jayden Nikorima, Jayden Okunbor, Eliot Peposhi, Leon Ruan, Dan Russell, Ethan Ryan, Mitch Souter, Ryan Sutton, Connor Wynne

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