Dean Hadley to return home early from England Knights tour of Papua New Guinea

Dean Hadley will return to the UK early after suffering illness during England Knights’ tour of Papua New Guinea.

The Hull FC utility-forward was selected in Paul Anderson’s squad for the two-match Test series against the Kumuls and started in their 16-12 victory in Lae on Saturday.

But after suffering illness following the game, Hadley will return home sooner than expected.

Knights’ boss Paul Anderson commented: “We’re obviously disappointed because he’s a quality player and a quality person but we have to take medical advice.

“He spent the night in a Papua New Guinea hospital, the medical care was first class, not just our staff but the staff at the hospital have looked after him.

“I think it’s a credit to him that he doesn’t want to be a distraction to the boys, he wants to sort himself out medically.

“He’s been a consummate professional; he’s a credit to himself, his family, his club, and to our competition, we’re very quick to batter a lot of things of what we do, and we’ve got some very quality people in our sport and Dean is one of them.

“I was fortunate enough to spend the last two weeks with him in camp and I feel privileged to work with him.”

Hadley added: “Over the last couple of days I’ve been in hospital and had a bit of an illness, but I’m out of hospital now and I’m all good.

“I’ve been told I can’t play this weekend and I can’t train either. I just felt it was the best decision for me.

“The last couple of weeks has been great, the experience has been great, I just wish the boys the very best for Saturday – I’m sure they’ll get the job done.”

The Knights face the Kumuls in the final test on Saturday at the PNG Football Stadium in Port Moresby.