I bet Steve McNamara feared getting out of bed this morning.
He’d have been tip-toeing around desperately hoping not to step on one of his kids’ rogue toys, worrying about taking an unfortunate slip down the stairs or maybe choking on his breakfast.
Rightly so. His luck’s just not in. After seeing Chris Feather break his ankle on Sunday, he jokingly referred to “running over a black cat”.
On hearing the update from his medical team yesterday, he must have thought he’d mown down an entire cattery and driven off under a few ladders on his getaway.
Fev? 12 to 14 weeks, boss. Jamie Langley? Three to six. How’s Platty? We’ll have to see. Oh, and by the way, Matt Cook is having an op tonight and he’ll be out for three months.
Throw in your star centre already out for the season, your international hooker banned and the impending news tomorrow that a club legend is imminently on his way and you get the picture.
McNamara had just been saying how pleased he was to have almost a flush hand at his disposal again but he spoke too soon.
The dreaded injury crisis rears its ugly head and his best-laid plans are in tatters once more.
It’s all part and parcel of life as a Super League coach though; the challenge of adapting and surviving. At least it’s taken his mind of that thing that happened in Cardiff.
Some would say such rotten luck on the back of that Leeds debacle is like kicking a man while he’s down.
But that’s one good aspect of Macca’s job – there’s no time to dwell. Get up, dust yourselves down and move on.
For all Bradford would love to claim the two points back off Leeds that are rightly theirs, there is no time to waste pondering.
Two more points are up for grabs on Friday night and McNamara, when he scrapes together 17 patched-up players, will have his team prepared fully to face a super-confident Huddersfield Giants. He has to do.
It’s high pressure and the sort that proved too much for Paul Jewell yesterday.
While everyone else rants and raves about ‘Gansongate’, McNamara is left to focus on the here and now and it’s another test of his credentials.
But he can be safe in the knowledge that all his Super League rivals will have their fair share of setbacks too. They may not be as dramatic or damaging but there will be plenty of levellers and manoeuvrings before the end-game in October.
Anyway, back to now. What about this evening’s Challenge Cup draw? “St Helens, that’s St Helens, are at home to …”
Black cats? Here comes the Beast of Bodmin Moor. They’ve all got to be beaten some time though.