Bradford coach slams Ligi Sao incident as star Bulls duo set for lengthy absence

Bradford Bulls coach Kurt Haggerty admits he is braced to lose Jayden Okunbor and Dan Russell for lengthy periods – before revealing his amazement that Hull’s Ligi Sao wasn’t penalised on-field for the tackle which left Russell facing a long spell on the sidelines.

The Bulls lost Okunbor within seconds of their Super League return on Saturday evening, before Russell went off in the second half after a challenge involving Sao. Both have scans on Monday night but Haggerty conceded their situations ‘don’t look great’.

“They’ve both got scans this evening,” he said. “I’ll know more tomorrow but they don’t look great to be honest with you. It’s so difficult right now, I wouldn’t like to say, but as I say, they don’t look great.”

However, Haggerty admitted he was more frustrated given that the decision to not penalise Sao by the on-field match officials was passed up.

The Hull forward was given the harshest sanction by the Match Review Panel on Monday, a Grade D Dangerous Contact charge which resulted in Sao landing a two-match suspension.

But Haggerty insisted he is still at a loss as to why the moment wasn’t treated with more severity on the field at the time – and again reiterated his belief that Hull captain Aidan Sezer should have been sin-binned for his tackle on Joe Mellor.

Sezer, incidentally, was not given a charge by the Match Review Panel.

He said: “It does add to the frustration. Put in the Sezer incident too and there’s a couple of moments that could have gone more noticed.

“It wasn’t a good watch back when I saw how Dan got his injury, let’s just say that. Some incidents are not grey areas, they’re black and white. In my opinion, I thought the incident with Sezer should have been a sin-binning. It’s not a surprise [he wasn’t charged], that’s just where the game is at right now at the moment. That’s their interpretation of it, so I’ll leave it at that.”