Bulls loose forward Lee Radford

was expected to be released from hospital yesterday following surgery on the gruesome finger injury he suffered in the first half against Wakefield Wildcats on Sunday.

Radford had been hospitalised for two nights since suffering the compound fracture to a finger on his left hand.

"We're looking at four to five weeks without him I think," said coach Brian Noble.

"The bone had come out of his hand and they couldn't get it back in on Sunday. I think they got it back in yesterday but he still needs to have the ligaments repaired."

The injury comes at a poor time for Radford, who is out of contract at the end of the season but had been in impressive form in recent months.

Meanwhile, Noble has admitted some of his players failed to return from a mid-season training break in the right frame of mind ahead of Sunday's 44-34 defeat by Wakefield.

"We'd come off the back of the emotional high of a derby and that's why you give them a few days off to reflect on it," he said.

"You hope they come back in the right mental shape but some of them certainly didn't. Some people were poor at the weekend and there were some standards that were unacceptable."

The club's next four games - home to Leigh and Widnes and home and away against Salford - will be crucial if the team is to halt a slide that has seen them win just one of their last five and emerge as genuine play-off contenders.

l Leeds Rhinos' legal action against Iestyn Harris and the Bulls has been deferred due to the terrorist bombings in London.

A preliminary hearing, due to take place in the High Court on Monday, has been rescheduled.

The Rhinos claim Harris breached a contractual agreement to rejoin them when he quit Cardiff rugby union club to join the Bulls last season.