Bradford Bulls will rally round Milnes after broken leg

The teenage half-back faces anything from six weeks to three months out of action after breaking his leg during the Challenge Cup exit to Halifax.

It is a major blow to John Kear’s plans – and for Milnes, who has been an instrumental figure in the club’s first season back in the Championship.

But Hallas insists Milnes will bounce back and says he will have the backing of everyone around him.

The Bulls hooker said: “We’re gutted for the poor lad to see he’s broken his leg. It’s really hard for him, especially at such a young age.

“But knowing the type of player he is, it won’t hold him back.

“He’ll do his rehab work and come back strong and we’ll be around him as well.

“We’re a really tight-knit bunch and that won’t change because we’ve lost the cup game.

“We’ll support him all the way and fingers crossed for a speedy recovery.”

Milnes is the latest casualty in an on-going list that sees the Bulls currently missing Jy Hitchcox, Rhys Evans and Joe Keyes – although the Irish international was able to join in his first training session on Thursday.

“We’ve had a few people out quite long term and obviously Joe Keyes still isn’t back from his back injury,” added Hallas.

“But it’s one of them. You’re going to pick up injuries when you play a sport like this and John’s done well getting a talented and experienced squad together.

“Now it’s his job to use it to its full potential.”

Kear’s first task this week has been to lift the spirits among the coaching staff after the deflation of Sunday’s Odsal defeat which ended their Challenge Cup run.

Kear has to get a side ready for tomorrow’s trip to Barrow in the 1895 Cup and admitted: “We had a staff meeting before the players came in because we had to pick ourselves up first.

“We invested a lot of time, energy and emotion in attempting to get to the semi-final and we’ve come up short. We need to get over that disappointment.”

Hallas conceded the loss to Fax was tough to take – but stressed they cannot allow the season to drift with a play-off finish still the target.

He said: “We don’t want it to fall into a run of losing games.

“We want to bounce back after a couple of losses in the league. We’ve got to do that with a win now against Batley next week.

“I would never say it’s a good thing to be out the cup but we need to put this little fairy-tale to bed now.

“We can enjoy the day we had against Leeds and obviously we’ve played in the Challenge Cup quarter-finals.

“That’s a great achievement for a Championship side and we should be proud of that.

“But now we can focus on the league and try to push for promotion best we can.”