Joe Westerman was hailed as tougher than Mike Tyson after the Hull FC star dislocated a kneecap before slapping the bone back into place and playing on.

The 29-year-old lined up at lock in the Hull derby on Thursday evening and suffered the blow to his knee in a tackle in the closing stages.

But rather than call for medical attention, Westerman took the matter into his own hands and remarkably managed to stay on the pitch.

Hull KR player Thomas Minns likened him favourably to one of boxing's greats, writing on Twitter: "Listen you might be Mike Tyson hard but you will never be Joe Westerman hard oh my God."

Westerman suffered his dislocation with less than four minutes remaining of a match Rovers went on to win 18-10.

Hull boss Lee Radford said afterwards, according to the Hull Daily Mail: "He does that every fortnight. It has genuinely come out before and he has knocked it back in. It's a gladiator sport and we had no interchanges left so he stayed out there."

Wigan winger Joe Burgess was stunned by what he witnessed, writing: "The hardest thing I've ever seen."

Former Hull FC man Richard Whiting said he had known of Westerman previously claiming his kneecap would often pop out.

Whiting added that "after seeing him slap it back in to place and carry on playing I'll hold my hands up and apologise for not believing him."