Bradford Bulls head coach Kurt Haggerty has confirmed that the club are scouring the loan market after suffering another injury in their pack.
Second-rower Dan Russell went down in round one with he and Jayden Okunbor not expected to return for another ten weeks, however, the Bulls have now seen prop forward Ebon Scurr added to their injury list.
Scurr was a surprise omission from the team that beat Toulouse Olympique on Sunday, with Brandon Douglas replacing him in a straight swap.
Speaking post-match on BullsTV, Haggerty said: “Ebon (Scurr) will be out for six weeks. He’s got a hamstring tear so we’ll lose Ebon for six weeks.”
It’s a major blow with Scurr’s impact from the bench having proved useful in the first two rounds of Super League, however, his absence allowed for Brandon Douglas to make a return to the competition after almost 10 years with his only previous appearance being on debut in September 2016.
On that, Haggerty said: “We really celebrated it in the week because Dougie (Brandon Douglas) hasn’t played Super League for ten years so we really made a big deal around it.”
Bradford Bulls boss reveals long-standing concern for injury replacement
Whilst Douglas is set to benefit from Scurr’s absence for now, Haggerty confirmed that Bradford will be looking to the loan market though he confirmed that no deal will be done before Saturday’s game against Helens.
The Bradford boss said: “I’ve been looking but I was looking even when we were healthy because we’ve still got a relatively small squad.
“I’m always looking, I’ve always been looking even if we’re winning or losing so that will be ongoing.”
That means more game time for Douglas, with Haggerty noting: “There’s an opportunity for him now whilst Ebon is injured so I was really happy with what he did in a short space of time.”
Douglas had an injury to start the season and Haggerty confirmed that it was actually a long-standing issue that had ruled him out the majority of the 2024 season at Halifax.
He explained: “It’s been an ongoing issue for Dougie for two or three years apparently. He missed a full year of rugby for Halifax over this thumb so we had it fixed, we had it injected, I gave him a run in the reserves where he hurt it but not to the severity that it’s been, so we’ve re-jabbed it and he’s been like a different bloke.
“He only did the back end of the week after the jab so I was really happy that he was pretty much pain-free when we were playing but it has been an ongoing issue for Dougie for some time.”
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