Bradford Bulls boss Kurt Haggerty has admitted the club has that many injuries he cannot recall them all, though he’s named several players who could return next time out.
The Bulls slipped to another defeat on Saturday as Wigan Warriors beat them 38-14 but Bradford now get a welcome week off to rehabilitate and that could see more bodies return to the playing squad.
It’s much needed though with Haggerty recently revealing that the club had trained with just 15 fit players and he even admitted in his post-match presser that some of those who are playing are still carrying knocks.
Haggerty said: “We’ve got that many knocks at the moment that I probably wouldn’t be able to get a team on the field. I’m asking that many to play injured, it’s pretty scary really. The lads are great, they’re tough, they’re physical and they’re doing it for the team.”
That hopefully won’t be the case for much longer as he teased the return of a few bodies and when asked to name them, he confirmed that Jayden Nikorima, Luke Hooley and Eribe Doro were all possible returns, as well as a ‘couple more’ potentially.
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Bradford Bulls down to just one ever-present amid injury crisis
One of the players that Haggerty confirmed to be playing through a knock is full-back Caleb Aekins who is already the Bulls’ only ever-present, showcasing just how many injuries Bradford have had in their first ten rounds of Super League.
On the ex-Featherstone man, Haggerty revealed: “He is struggling and probably in an ideal world shouldn’t be playing. He’s shown his character and we’ve found another gem from the lower leagues who has shown what he can do in Super League.”
Even with a depleted squad, Haggerty showed that he was not afraid to make changes with ex-Hull KR man Leon Ruan dropped to 18th man with the Bulls head coach stating simply: “His performance wasn’t good enough last week.
“I think I said it from the first day I came to the club, that I will not accept mediocrity no matter what team we put out there.”
A player who impressed against Wigan was Leigh Leopards loanee Ben McNamara with Haggerty admitting that both player and club would be keen for an extended deal.
“I thought he was very good, Haggerty said of the playmaker, adding: “I just tasked him with some really simple things in regards his game, just taking the line on and running, and defending well. I thought he did them things really well.
“He’s an extremely polite and intelligent young man. I’ve quite enjoyed his company in a short space of time. I think he’d like to play a few more games for us just from speaking to him but we’ll progress that moving forward, if we can. He’s come in and done a good job for us today.”
