Bradford Bulls star embroiled in head knock drama as new season-ending injury confirmed

Bradford Bulls prop Eribe Doro is clear to feature for the club in their clash against Catalans Dragons this weekend – after Kurt Haggerty admitted to ‘crossed wires’ over the HIA rules last week.

Doro did not wear an instrumented mouthguard for their defeat to Leigh Leopards last Sunday. By the rules of Super League introduced with the guards, that means that if he were to come off the field for a Head Injury Assessment, he would automatically be classed as a fail and ruled out of the rest of the game.

However, that does not necessarily mean he is ruled out for the following week, it seems – with Haggerty clarifying the situation on Wednesday in his pre-match press conference.

“There’s a few crossed wires”

Doro still underwent a HIA to determine whether he would have to enter the mandatory stand-down protocol – but he passed, meaning he is available for the trip to Perpignan.

The decision not to wear an instrumented mouthguard only rules a player out of the game they come off the field in, not the following week.

“Eribe will play,” Haggerty confirmed.

“There’s a few crossed wires with myself and our staff concerning Eribe with his gum shield. But Eribe passed his HIA which means he can play this week.

“It’s of no detriment to him passing the head test. If he doesn’t have a mouthguard and he goes off, he can’t come back on on in that game. But he passed his head test. If he got a head knock at the weekend and he passed or he failed, he couldn’t come back on.”

Bulls star out for season

Elsewhere, the Bulls have had disappointing news on the injury front again – with a new outside back set to miss the rest of the season.

That man is Hull FC loanee Ed Chamberlain, who has picked up a serious foot injury that will sideline him for several months, Haggerty has confirmed.

He said: “Ed will be out for the year. He’s got a Lisfranc injury so his season is done. It’s a big blow and it’s difficult, we’ve lost three outside backs potentially for the season in Ed, Esan Marsters and Jayden Okunbor.

“It’s frustrating but it’s a next man up mentality, we’ve got outside backs fit so whoever plays there will be ripping in for the team. Ed has been around Super League for a long time but his body has gone through some injuries. He’s extremely positive, more positive than I am. I know he’s not officially our player but it feels like he’s one of ours but Ed is okay.”

With Marsters and Okunbor also long-term absentees it leaves Bradford light in the outside backs. However, they do have options from the fringes to come in and play there this weekend.

The likes of Luke Hooley, Guy Armitage and Connor Wynne would be contenders to step into the breach to replace Chamberlain, who will return to Hull at the end of this season.

However, his future there is far from certain.

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