St Helens are hopeful that Nene Macdonald’s injury is not as bad as first feared – with coach Paul Rowley revealing he even has an ‘outside chance’ of being fit for Saturday’s game with Catalans Dragons.
Macdonald left the field with a leg injury during the Saints’ victory over Leigh Leopards on Friday night, with Rowley initially admitting he was fearful of a longer term absence given how Macdonald rarely leaves the field with injuries.
But it looks as though there will be a rare injury boost for the Saints, with Macdonald’s problem settling down quickly and leaving the club optimistic of only a short-term absence.
Speaking on his pre-match press conference on Tuesday, Rowley refused to rule out the prospect of him even making the trip to Catalans on Saturday but said if he falls short of that deadline, it will not be too long before he is back in action.
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He said: “We’re still waiting on Nene’s injury to settle down slightly. We couldn’t really give you any clarity on that just yet. Hopefully it’s okay and not too long. He’s got an outside chance I’d say, for Saturday.”
As revealed by Love Rugby League on Tuesday, veteran Jonny Lomax has gone in for surgery on a dislocated wrist and is expected to be missing for the next two months.
But there is better news elsewhere. Centre Mark Percival is back running and close to returning to full training, while young forwards Jake Wingfield and Noah Stephens are also closing in on a return – with next week earmarked as a possible date.
“He’s running today,” Rowley said of Percival. “He’s started dipping his toe in with the team and integrating with us. Not so much in terms of getting involved in the chaos, but he can’t be far off. He’ll be in a position to be in full training in the next week or two and it’ll all move pretty quickly from there.”
On Stephens and Wingfield, Rowley said: “They’re both injured. They’d have been useful over the last two weeks. I’d hope another one to two weeks. We were pushing for this week and they’ve trained but I’m not sure yet. They might just run out of time.”
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