Wakefield Trinity look set to be without fullback Josh Rourke for the remainder of the Super League regular season – but there is better news on the likes of Tom Johnstone and Isaiah Vagana.
Rourke was one of three Wakefield players to leave the field during last weekend’s damaging defeat to St Helens, after he picked up a knee problem.
The fullback will now have to see a specialist to determine exactly how long he will be sidelined for, but head coach Daryl Powell has confirmed it will be ‘at least’ four weeks in the treatment room.
That would rule him out of Wakefield’s remaining four regular season matches, and also put him in doubt for the opening round of the play-offs should he return.
Wakefield Trinity injury update
Powell said: “Josh Rourke is at least four weeks out, so he’s in a brace at the moment. The timescale needs to be assessed when he sees a specialist, which he’ll do pretty soon.”
However, there is better news when it comes to England international Johnstone. He also had a knee issue last week which required scans – but Powell hinted that he should be right to return next weekend against York Knights.
Wakefield are still waiting on a definitive verdict on Isaiah Vagana though, after he seemingly picked up a shoulder injury last week. Powell said: “Isaiah, we’re unsure on but the scan is not as bad as we thought it might have been.”
There is also better news with Mason Lino, who is closing in on a return after several months out.
Powell added: “Mason is pretty close, he just needs to get fit. He’s been out for ten weeks which is a long time but he’s back training with the boys. I think he’ll be a couple of weeks before he can get his fitness up to a level where you can put him out there but I’ll be guessing at that.”
Zac Lipowicz and Emre Guler latest
Powell confirmed Wakefield will wait until Friday morning before deciding whether or not new signing Emre Guler will go straight into the team that will face Wigan tomorrow. He only arrived in England on Wednesday and met his new team-mates for the first time on Thursday morning.
But with an arduous journey from Australia, they will give him as long as possible to decide whether he can be fit.
Fellow new signing Zac Lipowicz is much more likely to play at the Brick Community Stadium though, with Powell admitting he was thrilled to get the Catalans Dragons forward in for the rest of this season.
He said: “His name just came up, I don’t know whether it was through his agent or not but with Seth (Nikotemo) going home it left us a little bit light.
“We’ve moved Mike (McMeeken) there, which has had an impact, and we wanted to get a back rower into the club. Zac seemed to be available for whatever reason and we’ve had a good look at him. We thought he was a decent back rower and it all happened very quickly.”
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