Chev Walker heads for Bradford after returning to fitness at Hull KR

Hull KR have confirmed that the former England centre Chev Walker is to leave the club only days after making his comeback from a badly broken leg. Walker will become Bradford's first confirmed signing for next season, but Rovers are increasingly confident that Frankie Mariano, a young forward who appeared to suffer an even more sickening injury in last Saturday's reserve grade game against Wigan, will play for the club again. The game was abandoned after 76 minutes when Mariano, a 23-year-old who has made several first team appearances this season, was taken to hospital with a suspected broken neck. But he was released on Monday after being diagnosed with a bruised spinal column, and the Hull KR coach, Justin Morgan, expects him to be fit for the start of next season. "He's a very lucky boy," said Morgan. "It was a horrible incident for everyone, but now we're pretty confident that he will play again. He's still got to rest for a week or so and then see the physios, because there has been some ligament damage as well. But it could have been a hell of a lot worse." Morgan was also pleased to see Walker back in action in that same reserve game, 11 months after he was carried off during Hull KR's defeat at his old club Leeds in the first round of the Super League play-offs with a compound fracture. But Rovers are happy to allow the 27-year-old, who they brought back to rugby league ahead of the 2009 season after an unsuccessful stint in rugby union with Bath, to move on. Bradford are expected to confirm later this week that their new coach Mick Potter believes Walker retains the potential to play Super League rugby as he aims to shake up a squad that has failed to qualify for the play-offs in the past two seasons. The Bulls are also reported to have agreed deals with two experienced forwards – the Hull prop Ewan Dowes, and the Catalans Dragons and France captain Olivier Elima. But Potter is thought to have failed in his bid to bring Francis Meli with him from St Helens to Odsal, with the powerful wing now expected to sign a new one-year contract with Saints. Wigan sealed their second trophy in four days by winning the Carnegie Headingley Nines with a team drawn entirely from their Under-20s squad, beating a much more experienced Bradford side in the final. The club secured the League Leaders' Shield awarded to the team finishing top of the Super League table last Sunday, but their hopes of going on to be crowned champions by winning the Grand Final at Old Trafford in October have suffered a blow with the Salford-born Samoa forward Harrison Hansen ruled out for the rest of the season by a shoulder injury.