Bradford Bulls have suffered two more injury blows this afternoon, with a pair of starting players going down through injury.
The Bulls lost 52-12 to Wakefield Trinity, who now sit joint-top of Super League, in what was an afternoon to forget for Kurt Haggerty’s men.
However, a defeat of 40 points isn’t the most damaging thing to come from today’s game, with the club’s captain and Super League’s top tackler, Joe Mellor, going off injured.
Mellor featured in the halves this afternoon in place of the injured Rowan Milnes, but the former Salford man had to leave the field in the second half due to a meniscus injury.
Another man to suffer injury was Esan Marsters, who left the field in the first half. Marsters has been ever-present for Bradford so far this season, but he is also now set for a spell on the sidelines after the ex-Salford man “popped his calf”.
Bradford Bulls boss reveals major Ryan Sutton blow
One man who didn’t feature today was Ryan Sutton, the former Wigan Warriors man who has been so influential for Bradford since arriving from the NRL.
Leading up to the game, Haggerty said that Sutton was “50-50”, but was not named in the 21-man squad.
The Bulls boss believes that the prop could be facing a major lay-off, saying the prop could be out for up to two months.
The two new blows add to Bradford’s mounting injury list, with the likes of Ryan Sutton, Jayden Nikorima and Waqa Blake all currently in the treatment room.
The aforementioned Milnes is another who of course missed out this week, with Haggerty revealing that the half-back hasn’t been in training much as of late, and in the perfect world needs around “three months off to heal.”
“We’re not in a position [to give Milnes time off], and Rowan understands this,” the boss said.
“We can’t give him the time off because of the position we’re in. He barely trains in the week, and then I ask him on the weekend will he play.
“He’s going to have a jab on Monday. Apparently, there’s a jab that he can have, which is every three months and we’ve brought it forward a little bit… to give him a possibility to play at Hull KR.”
