Steve McNamara today paid tribute to departing Glenn Morrison, admitting: Letting him go is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.

The vice-captain played his final Bulls game in Friday’s 21-18 success over Hull FC.

Morrison now heads to Wakefield Trinity Wildcats after McNamara decided against giving the popular second-rower a new deal at Odsal.

The 33-year-old, who sat out the final ten minutes of his Bulls career on the sidelines after a harsh yellow card, has had some rotten luck with injuries in the last two years but always proved a hugely influential figure at the club.

“It was disappointing for him to finish on the bench being sin-binned,” said McNamara.

“Glenn has been absolutely outstanding for us, there’s no two ways about that.

“He’s been very unfortunate with injuries over the last couple of seasons and it was probably the toughest decision of my life I’ve had to make.

“Sometimes you have to make some business decisions though. Glenn understands that and I’m sure he’ll be very good for Wakefield next season.

“Hopefully he’ll get an injury-free run which will enable him to do that.

“And I don’t know what he got sin-binned for – avoiding a punch?”

However, McNamara pointed at the emergence of talented back-row youngsters James Donaldson – the 17-year-old who scored his second Super League try on Friday night – Elliott Whitehead and Tom Olbison as the future for the Bulls.

England Academy centre Jason Crookes also made his bow this year and McNamara said: “We’ve got some good young kids coming through for us and that is probably the highlight of the season for me.

“We’ve had four of our juniors make their debut this season all under the age of 19 and it’s been a long time since our club has been able to do that.”