{"id":469827,"date":"2026-03-11T15:10:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T15:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/469827\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T15:10:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T15:10:11","slug":"st-helens-coach-provides-mark-percival-update-as-forward-duo-on-brink-of-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/469827\/","title":{"rendered":"St Helens coach provides Mark Percival update as forward duo on brink of return"},"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 may have lost a number of bodies to injury over the past seven days, but will also be hoping that some players could return this week to balance out the damage.<\/p>\n

Jacob Host (broken leg), George Delaney (HIA) and Nene MacDonald (knee) all left the field due to injury in victory over Bradford Bulls on Saturday evening, as the squad began to look even more bare than it already was.<\/p>\n

The likes of Alex Walmsley, Matty Lees and Jack Welsby are all sidelined, but in what will no doubt be good news for Saints fans, Mark Percival and Jake Wingfield could come back into the side this weekend.<\/p>\n

The Red Vee travel to Castleford Tigers on Saturday to play in the Challenge Cup Fourth Round, and their 17 could include both players for what would be the first time this season.<\/p>\n

Saints assistant boss Eamon O\u2019Carroll spoke to the press this week to reveal the latest regarding the squad, and after being named in the 21-man squad last week, centre Percival could finally get his chance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got some options there, in terms of how we use our rotation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve gone with a couple of outside backs in recent weeks on the bench, which you wouldn\u2019t normally do, but that\u2019s to cover other areas and maybe move some back rowers up [to the front row].<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got the likes of Percy, who was in the squad last week, and he\u2019s going really well at the minute, so he\u2019ll be in the conversation and then obviously Jake Wingfield as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having not played in 2026 as yet, match fitness could be an issue, however O\u2019Carroll was confident that Wingfield especially could play big minutes in the middle, despite having that lack of match practice.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a fit lad is Jake,\u201d the boss said when asked if he could play 80 minutes so soon after returning. \u201cHe\u2019s had a really strong pre-season, a little bit of disruption with the injury, but he\u2019s been able to keep himself busy and keep himself fit.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf \u2018Wingy\u2019 is to get the opportunity, I\u2019m sure he will grab it with both hands and he\u2019ll be ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

St Helens coach provides update on forgotten quota forward<\/p>\n

Another forward who could come into contention this week is Agnatius Paasi, who is yet to play for the club despite agreeing a contract extension at the end of last season.<\/p>\n

The overseas prop feaured in the Championship last week, on loan at Salford, but could make his return to the side against Castleford, given the number of pack injuries.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe went really well [at Salford] and he\u2019s trained again with the team,\u201d said O\u2019Carroll. \u201cI think what we need to do it go through our training session today, reassess where we\u2019re at and then we need to look at all our options available.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith having a few key individuals out, we need to make sure that we\u2019ve covered all bases, so Iggy will certainly be in contention, as will a number of other players.\u201d<\/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 may have lost a number of bodies to injury over the past seven days, but will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":469828,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-469827","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\/469827","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=469827"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469827\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/469828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}