Bradford quartet set for long-term absences as Bulls plunged into fresh crisis

Bradford Bulls will be without four more key players for prolonged periods, as coach Kurt Haggerty was left counting the cost of Friday night’s defeat to Leeds Rhinos.

The Bulls were beaten 24-12 by the Rhinos at Odsal Stadium on Good Friday, but it came at a huge cost for the Super League newcomers.

During the game, Waqa Blake and new signing Phoenix Steinwede left the field with knee and ankle problems respectively, and Haggerty admitted the early prognosis for both does not look good – with the duo set for several weeks at least on the sidelines.

In describing the injuries as ‘pretty serious’, Haggerty added: “Waqa looks like MCL and I think Phoenix is a syndesmosis.”

In addition to that, forward Leon Ruan failed a HIA – though with Bradford not playing next week, he will not miss any action.

However, the same cannot be said for key half-back Jayden Nikorima and utility Luke Hooley, who both missed the Leeds game with injuries picked up in the week.

And Haggerty conceded they will both be out for prolonged periods too, leaving the Bulls incredibly light on troops following the Easter weekend.

“Luke Hooley is out for a few weeks and so is Jayden Nikorima,” Haggerty said. “Jayden’s a hamstring. I think it’s an old injury and he’s probably looking at six-eight weeks. He did it in the Castleford game.

“He trained the majority of the week, but dropped out of the second to last session and went for a scan. Luke has got a shoulder injury and will go to see a specialist on Tuesday. It could either be a week or three to six months.”

Despite that, Haggerty admitted he was proud of how his side applied themselves against one of Super League’s strongest sides on Friday evening.

He said: “Our attitude and application was first class. I thought we worked tirelessly for 80 minutes. We finished the game with one sub on the bench, so we are walking a bit wounded, but we speak about the next man up mentality and we kept working hard.

“I thought we lost a couple of big moments in the game, there were a couple of switch offs, but overall I am proud of the effort.”