Bradford, who has been at the heart of the Blacks vastly improved scrum, has signed to play rugby in Spain and flies out early next week.

"Phil has been terrific for us, he is the best hooker in the competition," Blacks coach Matt Thomas said.

"He is an incredibly difficult player to replace, but we all wish him the very best in Spain where he will be playing professionally."

The Blacks playing stocks will be further hit for Saturday's must-win game at home against Southern Beaches with scrumhalf Max Stafford out with a shoulder injury and centre Chris Logan sidelined with flu.

The Maitland Blacks need bonus-point wins in their final two games of the season to ensure a top-three finish and the double chance.

The Blacks had a bye before the finals start on August 31.

"We really need to push as hard as we can to ensure we get bonus point wins over the next two weeks," Thomas said.

"This week's our last home game and we travel down to take on Lake Macquarie in our final game.

"Lakes at their ground is always one of the toughest games of the season. They are incredibly hard to beat down there so we will want to have all our troops back and playing our best."

The Blacks will be buoyed by star forward Travis Brooke's return from injury in last week's loss to Hamilton.

"Trav's return was everything we could have hope for. He is back and firing at the right time of the year for us," Thomas said.