{"id":530648,"date":"2026-04-14T17:23:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T17:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/530648\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T17:23:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T17:23:10","slug":"bradford-bulls-confirm-major-injury-blow-with-club-facing-struggle-to-name-21-man-squad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/530648\/","title":{"rendered":"Bradford Bulls confirm major injury blow with club facing \u2018struggle\u2019 to name 21-man squad"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Bradford Bulls head coach Kurt Haggerty has admitted that he will struggle to name a 21-man squad on Thursday after confirming several injuries, including one major blow.<\/p>\n

Star centre Waqa Blake picked up a nasty knee injury in the Rivals Round defeat to Leeds Rhinos<\/a> and Haggerty has now confirmed that it is an MCL injury, which is set to rule the Fijian out for around three months.<\/p>\n

\u201cWaqa is a knee so he\u2019s probably going to be another 12 weeks,\u201d Haggerty told BBC Radio West Yorkshire<\/a> at his presser on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

On how devastating that loss is, Haggerty added: \u201cIt\u2019s pretty big. He was probably one of the form centres before his injury. He started the season really really well so yeah we\u2019re disappointed that we lost Waqa.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unfortunately fro Bradford, Blake is not the only man set to be sidelined for three months with recent signing Phoenix Steinwede having already undergone surgery for the ankle injury that he picked up in that same game.<\/p>\n

Haggerty revealed: \u201cPhoenix (Steinwede) is syndesmosis so he\u2019s another one that you\u2019re probably talking 12 weeks, so he\u2019s another one.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s just had surgery so it\u2019s pretty serious.\u201d<\/p>\n

Should Tevaga have seen red, Hull KR\u2019s unsung hero and Super League Man of Steel contenders \u2013\u00a0Click here to watch the latest episode of the Serious About Rugby League Show<\/a><\/p>\n

Bradford Bulls\u2019 injury woes explained<\/p>\n

There was a boost in that a long-term injured player could be set to return with Dan Russell, who went down in round one against Hull FC, has trained.<\/p>\n

Haggerty revealed: \u201cDan has trained today and done the full session today so it\u2019s a decision for me to make. There\u2019s a possibility that Dan will be back this week.\u201d<\/p>\n

He and Ebon Scurr could return but prop talisman Ryan Sutton is another on the doubtful list.<\/p>\n

The Bulls boss said: \u201cHe\u2019s still in a bit of pain is Ryan so we\u2019ll manage him through the week and take him right up to game day to see where he\u2019s at, but he\u2019s struggling with his quad.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re a little bit shot to pieces but ultimately we\u2019ve got fit bodies still and we\u2019re going to have a couple of bodies back in potentially Ebon (Scurr) and Dan Russell, so we\u2019ll potentially get a few back even though we\u2019ve lost a couple.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for his chances of naming a 21-man squad, which will come on Thursday, for this Saturday\u2019s game against Wakefield, Haggerty admitted it was \u2018highly unlikely\u2019, adding: \u201cI\u2019d struggle to name 21 right now.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d say this has been my most difficult week in trying to pick a team. I\u2019ve got about three of four different permutations on my desk on what it could or couldn\u2019t look like. Ultimately, we\u2019ve got bodies there, whether it be 21 or 17, we\u2019ll be good to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Haggerty also confirmed that Brandon Douglas could be recalled from his loan at Halifax Panthers<\/a> dependent on how his side come through training: \u201cWe\u2019ve had a good day today and still need to assess so I\u2019m going to sit down with the staff and go through all them possibilities but we may need to recall Duggy (Brandon Douglas) from Halifax, but I\u2019ll know more by the end of today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Should Tevaga have seen red, Hull KR\u2019s unsung hero and Super League Man of Steel contenders \u2013\u00a0Click here to watch the latest episode of the Serious About Rugby League Show<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bradford Bulls head coach Kurt Haggerty has admitted that he will struggle to name a 21-man squad on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":530649,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-530648","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=530648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/530649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=530648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=530648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=530648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}