Will Gardiner update after sickening clash mars end of game

Bradford Bulls coach Kurt Haggerty has provided an early update on the health of Will Gardiner after a distressing injury on Saturday.

Gardiner was knocked out after a heavy collision in the final moments of the Bulls’ 40-10 loss to St Helens, with the forward requiring lengthy medical attention.

Players from both sets of teams appeared to be visibly upset by the nature of the collision. Gardiner was eventually stretchered from the field and the game brought to an end afterwards with both sets of players simply going through the motions.

And Haggerty spoke after the match and confirmed: He’s just in the medical room. Will’s just come around a little bit, and tried to crack a smile the best he can. But it looks pretty severe at the moment, we’ll all be there for Will and hoping he’s okay.”

As mentioned, players from both teams attempted to tend to Gardiner – with St Helens half-back Jackson Hastings admitting it was one of the worst head knocks he had seen.

Hastings said: “I want to give a shout-out to the young fella that got a head knock. For his family’s sake, I hope he’s okay. It’s one of the worst ones I’ve seen, and I’m praying for him.”

Speaking about the final moments, Haggerty added: “What a fantastic sport we are with great people,” he said. “That shows the respect – you can go and beat each other up for 79 minutes, and then a show of respect for that last minute, minute and a half, is first-class – we’ve got a fantastic sport.”