Hull fear for injured Cooke

Hull playmaker Paul Cooke is set to miss the start of the engage Super League season after suffering suspected knee ligament damage in their friendly win over Castleford.

The 25-year-old stand-off was withdrawn after 70 minutes of the Black and Whites' 30-24 win, with coach Peter Sharp admitting Cooke is highly unlikely to figure in next Sunday's curtain-raiser against Catalans Dragons.

"We suspect medial ligament damage," he said. "How long he'll be we're not too sure so we'll have to get a scan and go from there.

"I'd say he's extremely doubtful for next week. It's not the sort of news you want but that's rugby league.

"Sometimes you get these things thrown at you and it's a big test for me and a big test for the club in the coming weeks, that's for sure."

Cooke's likely absence from the side that will open Hull's campaign next Sunday increases Sharp's need from scrum-half Richard Horne to be passed fit to play.

Horne (shoulder), was amongst seven first-team players to sit out the win at the Jungle.

Richard Swain, Graeme Horne and Motu Tony (flu), Gareth Raynor (thigh), Willie Manu (broken nose) and Paul King (ankle) were all absent - although Sharp only expects the latter to miss out next week.

Sharp was critical of the way his side performed against Terry Matterson's side in their final warm-up game, recovering from 12-0 down at the interval to lead 30-12, before two late tries brought the sides closer together.

"It was an ideal run out for us," said Sharp. "I thought we had been a little bit full of ourselves at training over the last couple of weeks, thinking we were doing well and we have but it's not the same as in a game and we tended to try and play too much football in the first half."