St Helens have had their fears realised with veteran playmaker Jonny Lomax set to be sidelined for a significant period of time after sustaining an injury against Leigh Leopards.
Lomax will miss a number of weeks meaning he becomes the third big-name player to suffer a long-term injury for St Helens this season, following Matty Lees (knee) and Jack Welsby (shoulder).
Thankfully for Saints, Lomax’s dislocated wrist will sideline him for shorter than the 12 and possibly 16-week lay-offs that Lees and Welsby will have, though Paul Rowley confirmed he’s still unsure exactly how many weeks they will be without Lomax.
Lomax played from the bench in round one, utilised as the hooker replacement but he was parachuted into the starting XIII for the game against Leigh with Tristan Sailor shuffling to full-back and Lomax partnering Jackson Hastings in the halves.
That plan was ripped up inside five minutes as Lomax suffered his injury, resulting in utility bench player Harry Robertson moving to full-back and Sailor reverting to the halves.
St Helens awaiting news on Macdonald as Lomax out for number of weeks
Speaking to the media ahead of Saturday’s game away to Catalans Dragons, head coach Paul Rowley provided an update on Lomax that confirmed the star’s lay-off.
“Jonny dislocated his wrist so it’ll be whatever that takes, it’ll be a few weeks,” Rowley revealed.
Pushed further on a definite timescale, he confirmed that the club were not sure whilst there is also a lack of clarity on the injury sustained by centre Nene Macdonald, who also left the field early against Leigh.
The centre suffered a quad injury but Rowley explained: “We’re still waiting on Nene’s injury to settle down slightly, so we can’t really give any clarity on that going forward just yet. Hopefully it’s okay and not too long.”
Despite that, he didn’t rule out the possibility that Macdonald could make the flight over to Perpignan to face Catalans, labeling it an ‘outside chance’ that he features on Saturday night.
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