Injury Report: 3 Saints Star Are Not Going To Return This Seaon….
SAINTS head coach Paul Wellens has provided a full injury and recovery update ahead of this weekend’s clash with Salford Red Devils.
The players concerned are Konrad Hurrell, Curtis Sironen, Joe Batchelor, Mark Percival, Alex Walmsley, Agnatius Paasi, Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Morgan Knowles, Jake Wingfield and Jon Bennison.
Hurrell’s torn calf is the only fresh injury concern coming out of the win against Leeds Rhinos last Friday, but here’s everything Wellens said about each player in today’s press conference.
I’ve got to pay him a fair bit of respect to be honest because he did that very early on in the game and managed to stay out there on the field and get through the 80 minutes. So it’s testament to his toughness as a player but we’ll probably be missing him for four weeks.
We’re hopeful that Curtis may have a chance of playing this weekend. He’s trained with the team this afternoon and we’ll have to check his response but hopefully he’ll come back into the 21 definitely with a view to playing him on the weekend. But as I always say in situations like that we won’t take unnecessary risks.
Joe Batchelor:
This week is going to come too soon for him. We’re hopeful for Huddersfield (August 13) but similar to Curtis we just have to monitor him as the days and weeks pass.
Mark Percival:
Mark’s in line to play this week. It was important that we gave Mark the necessary time after the head knock he picked up in the game against Catalans Dragons. We gave him an extra week, we’ve had the clearance off the neuro surgeon during the course of the week.
Alex Walmsley:
Alex has had his operation and it’s just a waiting game for him at the moment. We’re a week post-surgery and he’s still getting over the affects of the operation and then he will start very quickly on his rehab to put him in contention to get back playing and to get back training for us in pre-season.
It’s been a difficult couple of weeks for Alex, handling the disappointment of not only losing the Challenge Cup semi-final but picking up the injury that he did as well. So we’re going to allow him a bit of time away and I think that’s important for him to clear his head but we’ll provide him with all the support that we can and then just let him get on with his recovery.
Agnatius Paasi:
Agnatius is waiting for the MCL to heal which is going to take around six weeks’ time. And only when that’s happened can he undergo surgery for the ACL. So, again, it’s a waiting game for Agnatius at the moment and, like I said with Alex, we’ll provide him with all the support necessary.
Agnatius is a very level-headed person and while he’s very disappointed he understands what lies ahead of him and he’s very quickly trying to get his head around that.
Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook:
There has been some improvement in his injury, but only a little. He’s still not got full range in his knee joint so there will definitely be no chance for next week and probably unlikely for the week after but hopefully the week after that.
It’s one of those situations where we really need to get the swelling to subside which will hopefully free up his knee joint. But at this moment in time he’s a fair bit away from playing.
Morgan Knowles:
He’s ok. One thing you can never do with Morgan, and I’ll put Matty Lees in the same bracket, is question their toughness or their willingness to do whatever it takes to help the team perform.
Morgan did that brilliantly at the weekend. I thought he was outstanding in terms of his leadership qualities and the way that he led the team from the front, particularly in the middle of the field where the game is at its most toughest at times. Hopefully Morgan’s recovering well from last week and hopefully he can give us something similar again this weekend.
Jake Wingfield:
Jack had a Latarjet shoulder a number of weeks ago. There’s an outside chance that Jake could make it back for the back end of the year but we’ll only be able to ascertain that nearer the time.
Jon Bennison:
He’s had some ankle ligament damage. There’s a chance he may be ok for Huddersfield next week. If not, then the week after.