{"id":450659,"date":"2026-02-28T17:50:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T17:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/450659\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T17:50:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T17:50:11","slug":"st-helens-send-pair-on-short-term-loan-deals-to-familiar-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/450659\/","title":{"rendered":"St Helens send pair on short-term loan deals to familiar club"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/PC1_8441.jpg\" class=\"attachment- size- wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"  \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>St Helens have sent two of their first-team squad out on loan to the Championship on short-term loan deals.<\/p>\n<p>Despite suffering some torrid injury luck of their own at the very top end of their squad with both of Jack Welsby and Matty Lees set to be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.seriousaboutrl.com\/rugby-league-news-st-helens-dealt-major-blow-as-jack-welsby-injury-timeline-confirmed-112763\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">sidelined for at least 10 weeks<\/a>, Saints have taken the option to send two of their depth options out on loan.<\/p>\n<p>Leon Cowen and Alfie Sinclair, two young talents within the first-team set-up at St Helens, have been sent on loan to Championship outfit Swinton Lions to earn \u2018valuable match minutes\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>The 21-year-old forwards have had limited opportunities for game time at their parent club with Cowen playing twice for the Red Vee in 2025, whilst Sinclair has played just the once.<\/p>\n<p>Both have previously played for Swinton on either a loan deal or dual registration deal so the move to the Lions makes plenty of sense as they land in a familiar environment and will earn much-needed game time.<\/p>\n<p>St Helens sent young forwards out on loan<\/p>\n<p>Cowen had previously been sent on a season-long loan to Halifax Panthers, with whom Saints sent plenty of players on loan in 2025, including young half George Whitby.<\/p>\n<p>However, after the Panthers entered liquidation and had their RFL membership revoked, Cowen had returned to full-time training with Saints.<\/p>\n<p>Now, he and Sinclair will make the switch back to Swinton with the pair in line to play this weekend when the Lions take on Batley Bulldogs away.<\/p>\n<p>A statement from St Helens confirmed the deals: \u201cYoung St Helens First Teamers Leon Cowen and Alfie Sinclair are joining Swinton Lions on a short-term loan.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe two 21-year-old forwards will get valuable match minutes under their belt in Paul Wood\u2019s Lions\u2019 team.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Where Hull KR rank among Super League\u2019s greats, referee controversy and Las Vegas predictions \u2013 <a class=\"in-cell-link\" href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/hOZAOj3TOZI?si=rHskNOTvga5WzFyB\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Click here to watch the latest episode of the Serious About Rugby League Show<\/a><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Young St.Helens First Teamers Leon Cowen and Alfie Sinclair are joining <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Swinton_Lions?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">@Swinton_Lions<\/a> on a short-term loan.<\/p>\n<p>Good luck, gents, do us proud. \ud83d\ude07<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/COYS?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">#COYS<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 St.Helens R.F.C. (@Saints1890) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Saints1890\/status\/2027103877015957581?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">February 26, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768085712_213_srl-logo.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"St Helens have sent two of their first-team squad out on loan to the Championship on short-term loan&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":222697,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-450659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=450659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=450659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=450659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=450659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}