Luckless Jason Crookes is facing a spell on the sidelines – just as the young Bull anticipated making a spot all his own.

The England Academy centre earned only his second Super League start at Wakefield on Easter Monday.

He had impressed off the bench versus Leeds Rhinos, causing the champions plenty of problems, and with Chris Nero dislocating his shoulder during that win, Crookes was all set for an extended run.

But the 18-year-old, having been promoted to the starting line-up, suffered his own injury woe in the first half against Wildcats.

Crookes strained some lateral ligaments and revealed: “I’m looking at being out for at least a couple of weeks. I just tweaked the knee as I tried to step and it was pretty sore.

“I saw the physio yesterday and it had really tightened up by then but hopefully there’s not too much damage. I am gutted though as it couldn’t have come at a worse time.”

Crookes has been patiently waiting for his chance and with Nero out and Paul Sykes switching to stand-off for the depleted Bulls, he got it at Wakefield.

With injuries mounting, he was paired with two-try second-row Steve Menzies in the centre but could not prevent another disappointing defeat as Bradford dropped to 12th in the table.

“We hardly completed any of our sets,” said the teenager, whose only previous appearance before the Easter programme was his debut against Hull FC last month.

“It was just stupid mistake after mistake and it really cost us.

“It had been great against Leeds and personally I really enjoyed that night. It was the biggest game of my life and I never expected to play as well as I did.

“We were all looking forward to building on that against Wakefield but we couldn’t. Now we have to pick up again when Warrington come here Friday.”

At least one of Crookes’ England Academy team-mates is set to benefit from his bad fortune, with Tom Olbison, Elliot Whitehead and Kieran Hyde all in the frame for a Super League debut against the Wolves.