Super League 2026 is now officially two thirds of the way through following the completion of round 18, a round in which yet more injury issues have cropped up.
It will best be remembered as the round where St Helens were beaten 46-0 at home to Toulouse, the first time they have been nilled at home since 1980, never mind in Super League, and unfortunately for them it also came at an injury cost.
Outside back Owen Dagnall went down holding in severe pain due a knee issue that led to him being helped from the field with head coach Paul Rowley admitting post-match: “It doesn’t look great.”
A long-term injury there could end Dagnall’s Super League season and it would simply add to St Helens’ woes with Rowley having suggested that the loss of Dagnall meant 16 first-team players were unavailable through injury.
Super League Round 18 injury wrap
Earlier in the round, Huddersfield Giants had been hit hard with the news that Oliver Russell had suffered either a torn or partially torn Achilles, something that will almost certainly end his season and could rule him out for up to a year if it’s fully torn.
That happened on Friday night as the Giants lost to Bradford with the other game between Wigan and Warrington being relatively injury free, despite the fact both sides were missing plenty of players.
One of those was Jai Field, who pulled out on the day due to a lower back injury that should be recovered from in time for him to feature next week.
Saturday saw similar pre-match injury issues for both Leigh and Castleford with the Tigers losing their star man, and arguably one of the top signings in Super League this year, Krystian Mapapalangi to a dead leg in the warm up.
As for Leigh, Frankie Halton pulled up with a tight hamstring on the day whilst Bailey Hodgson was ill though Adrian Lam expexts both men back for round 19.
The Tigers then lost Jordan Lane in the game to a torn hip flexor, adding more issues to their depleted pack.
Leeds Rhinos boss Brad Arthur also confirmed that Cooper Jenkins played just 15 minutes as he was suffering from blurred vision whilst Mikolaj Oledzki was pulled early due to a ‘stinger’, though no serious concern was expressed for either man.
