Hull KR travel to Bradford Bulls in Super League Round 9.
Bradford Bulls outside-back Esan Marsters has been ruled out for the remainder of the 2026 Super League season.
Bradford Bulls have been limited to just 15 players in training ahead of the visit of reigning champions Hull KR, with a fresh season-ending blow confirmed.
Outside-back Esan Marsters is set to miss the rest of the 2026 season due to a snapped Achilles, while captain Joe Mellor is also set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines – expected to be six-to-eight weeks – due to a meniscus tear.
“Esan Marsters will be out for the season, he’s snapped his Achilles,” confirmed head coach Kurt Haggerty.
“Joe Mellor is seeing a specialist on Monday and will be out for a long period of time, it doesn’t look great, and Jack Ormondroyd is 50/50 at the moment for the game on the weekend.
“Esan is pretty down, but we’ve got a really good support system around him. He’s pretty disappointed. It hurts us as a playing group, but ultimately we’ll support Esan and his family more than anything.”
Haggerty admitted he has spoken to four or five different clubs for potential short-term loan deals to help cover the club’s current injury crisis.
They take on Hull KR on Saturday at Odsal, with the Robins winning their last four matches in all competitions. Bradford, meanwhile, were most recently thumped 52-12 by Wakefield Trinity in Super League Round 8.
“We’ve trained with 15 players, so right now I don’t know what Saturday looks like,” Haggerty said. “I don’t think we’ve got one outside-back spare. We’ve got our two starting centres out, we’ve got Luke Hooley out, Guy Armitage out – it’s an ever-growing list.
“It’s something [loans] we’ve discussed. We had the mentality of next man up – but there’s no men left. We’ll keep going, and whoever we’ve got, in whatever positions, I’m sure they’ll all step up and do a job for the club.
“This weekend is a free hit for us. We want to entertain our fans, put on a show against a very good team and hopefully go toe-to-toe with them.”