Newton could have played last Bulls game

James Gordon

Terry Newton could have played his last game for Bradford after damaging a cheekbone in last week’s win over Harlequins.

Newton, 33, is joining Wakefield at the end of the season but Steve McNamara hopes the former Wigan and Leeds hooker could return before the season’s end.

McNamara said: “We won’t know the extent of the injury to Terry until after the operation but it could be that he has played his last game of the season and it will be a tragedy for Terry if that turns out to be the case. I have no qualms though about Wayne Godwin going in there.  He played seventy minutes in London in extreme heat and he was superb for us and I can always make changes in that area to give him a rest if he needs one.”

Bradford travel to Challenge Cup finalists Huddersfield with a near full strength side on Sunday as they look to end the season on a high.

McNamara added: “We have obviously lost Terry Newton, who damaged his cheekbone in London and will have the operation today.  But apart from that we should be there or thereabouts.  We have the young boys, James Donaldson and Elliott Whitehead who didn’t play last week and Matt Cook is also available.  Ben Jeffries has started to run again, so we have some options but we are happy with what we’ve got and we are ready to go.”