{"id":549733,"date":"2026-04-25T08:47:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T08:47:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/549733\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T08:47:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T08:47:20","slug":"paul-rowley-provides-injury-update-on-st-helens-stars-including-jack-welsby-as-nene-macdonalds-return-chances-revealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/549733\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul Rowley provides injury update on St Helens stars including Jack Welsby as Nene Macdonald’s return chances revealed"},"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 boss Paul Rowley has revealed that star full-back Jack Welsby is \u201cflying\u201d through his injury rehab, as he awaits to return from a lengthy lay-off.<\/p>\n

Welsby suffered a shoulder problem that required surgery in the opening round of the season, where Saints were defeated 24-14 at the hands of Warrington Wolves.<\/p>\n

That injury would form part of the early stages of a Red Vee injury crisis, with the club doing it extremely tough on the injury front throughout the year.<\/p>\n

With the England international sidelined, Tristan Sailor has largely filled in at full-back in his place, and he has done a stellar job at it too, leaving Rowley with decisions to make when Welsby does eventually return.<\/p>\n

However, the former Salford boss won\u2019t have that selection issue for a little while yet, with Welsby said to be still a fair way from returning.<\/p>\n

Asked for a progress update on Welsby in his weekly press conference, Rowley revealed: \u201cI think he\u2019s just getting\u00a0to the three-month mark actually.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s flying in training.\u00a0He\u2019s got quite a few weeks\u00a0left to go yet, but he\u2019s flying and doing really well\u00a0and working hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another man who won\u2019t be in the side this week is Deon Cross, who failed a HIA in last week\u2019s win over Hull FC.<\/p>\n

Cross will miss out this weekend due to the RFL\u2019s mandatory 11-day stand-down policy, but he is on track to return next week against York.<\/p>\n

Wigan Warriors\u2019 worries, Hull FC drama and NRL takeover talk \u2013 click here to watch the latest episode of the Serious About Rugby League Show<\/a><\/p>\n

Nene Macdonald\u2019s chances of a St Helens return assessed<\/p>\n

One man who is close to a return to the field is Nene MacDonald, who has been named in the club\u2019s 21-man squad this week.<\/p>\n

The PNG international last featured for the Saints in their round four win over Bradford Bulls, where he only lasted around 25 minutes before being substituted.<\/p>\n

MacDonald was required to have surgery due a number of ongoing knee issues that he had tried to play through, but they just wouldn\u2019t heal.<\/p>\n

After missing the last six games, the 31-year-old is now back available for selection, however Rowley revealed earlier this week it is unlikely he would make his return against Wakefield Trinity.<\/p>\n

The boss said: \u201cHe\u2019ll be there or thereabouts, he\u2019s not far off. We\u2019ve got a cluster of players who aren\u2019t far off, but they\u2019ll all be later decisions I guess, but we wouldn\u2019t expect him to play this week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jonny Lomax, like MacDonald, will be a \u201clate call\u201d as to whether he makes the side or not. Lomax has been named in the last two 21-man squads, but has not yet made his return after dislocating his wrist in round two.<\/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 boss Paul Rowley has revealed that star full-back Jack Welsby is \u201cflying\u201d through his injury rehab,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":549734,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-549733","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549733","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=549733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549733\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/549734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=549733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=549733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=549733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}