{"id":455853,"date":"2026-03-03T20:14:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T20:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/455853\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T20:14:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T20:14:09","slug":"st-helens-dealt-another-long-term-blow-to-key-starter-as-paul-rowley-issues-club-injury-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/455853\/","title":{"rendered":"St Helens dealt another \u2018long-term\u2019 blow to key starter as Paul Rowley issues club injury update\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

\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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

St Helens head coach Paul Rowley has confirmed that another key starter has suffered a \u2018long-term\u2019 injury in another massive blow to the club.<\/p>\n

Prop forward Alex Walmsley is the latest man to join the likes of Matty Lees (knee), Jack Welsby (shoulder) and Jonny Lomax (wrist) on the casualty list with Walmsley suffering a foot injury in the warm-up before Saints\u2019 win against Catalans Dragons<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rowley had confirmed post-match that Walmsley, who opted to play, was \u2018playing on one leg at times\u2019<\/a>, but he confirmed to the media today (Tuesday) that his prop forward has actually suffered a foot injury that will require a lengthy lay-off.<\/p>\n

No specific timescale was shared by Rowley though he did confirm that the veteran will not need surgery. An update has now come from the club putting the timescale at \u2018around six weeks\u2019.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the media earlier, Rowley said: \u201cWe\u2019ve probably lost Alex Walmsley now, so we\u2019ll get more feedback on that, but he won\u2019t be available this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt won\u2019t be a surgery job. It\u2019ll be just time.\u201d<\/p>\n

St Helens boss explains Alex Walmsley injury<\/p>\n

Further explaining the injury, Rowley confirmed that his prop will be in a boot for some time as a result to the foot damage suffered.<\/p>\n

He joked: \u201cIt\u2019s not like he\u2019s the nimblest of little fellas, is he? So, if he\u2019s got a foot injury, there\u2019s a bit of weight going through it, and so we\u2019ve just got to be careful with that one.\u201d<\/p>\n

It now means Saints are without two starting props in Lees and Walmsley but Rowley was keen to highlight the latter\u2019s efforts in Perpignan.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cHe was fantastic at the weekend. He was clearly in pain, even from the warm-up, because, to be honest, we got a call in the warm-up saying he was no good, but the damage to his foot was in a way that if he played and he can handle the pain, then it wouldn\u2019t do any further damage.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe decided that he\u2019d get through it, and he did, and I thought it was really important to contribute to the win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hull KR\u2019s nightmare, Leeds Rhinos\u2019 dominance and possible Hull FC signings \u2013 Click here to watch the latest episode of the Serious About Rugby League Show<\/a><\/p>\n

Updates issues for Stephens, Wingfield and Percival<\/p>\n

One man who could help replace Walmsley is Noah Stephens, who himself has been nursing an injury for the past few weeks.<\/p>\n

Sharing an update, Rowley said: \u201cNoah was in the 21, but he wasn\u2019t available, so we\u2019re still at a stage where we\u2019re waiting to see, and just being careful with him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s never been far off. He\u2019s had a good pre-season, and he was unfortunate with the injury really. It was badly timed for him. It\u2019s certainly not a selection thing that kept him out of the team. It\u2019s been injuries, so we\u2019ll see how this week progresses with regards to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jake Wingfield and Mark Percival are others who falls into that category of being close but perhaps not close enough, with Rowley stating on Wingfield: \u201cIt\u2019s always the same, coaches push one way, medical push another. We\u2019ve got to try and find the right balance between risk and reward with all the players.<\/p>\n

\u201cWingy has had a few injuries before, so we\u2019ve got to be careful there. Both of them two players are probably the same line as last week. They\u2019re not far, but whether this week comes too soon or not, we\u2019re not quite sure at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for Percival, he said: \u201cHe\u2019s back in training with the full team, so it\u2019s probably match fitness and we\u2019ll make some decisions around that but he\u2019s certainly not far off now and that\u2019s great for the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rowley reported an otherwise clean bill of health with Nene Macdonald\u2019s substitution put down to simple game management following his injury the week prior.<\/p>\n

\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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"St Helens head coach Paul Rowley has confirmed that another key starter has suffered a \u2018long-term\u2019 injury in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":455854,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-455853","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\/455853","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=455853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}