{"id":645486,"date":"2026-06-18T15:12:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T15:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/645486\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T15:12:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T15:12:12","slug":"noah-stephens-recovery-potentially-measured-in-years-as-st-helens-boss-issues-nerve-damage-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/645486\/","title":{"rendered":"Noah Stephens’ recovery potentially \u2018measured in years\u2019 as St Helens boss issues nerve damage update"},"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 issued an update on the health of prop forward Noah Stephens with the homegrown talent set for a very, very long-term injury recovery.<\/p>\n

Rowley confirmed that Stephens\u2019 season is certainly over but admitted that in the worst case, the injury recovery is \u2018measured in years\u2019.<\/p>\n

Speaking at his press conference on Thursday, Rowley was asked about Stephens, who had failed a HIA and went to hospital after the loss to Castleford on May 23rd.<\/p>\n

Almost a month on, Rowley has now spoken, admitting: \u201cIt is a complex issue, so I think the club\u2019s going to put something out just to give some clarity around that, or as much clarity as we can give, because it\u2019s nerve damage.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a slow process, the outcomes aren\u2019t clear, we have to adapt and move as things present themselves, so it\u2019s a really troublesome and potentially bad injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re hoping that it\u2019s the best side of that injury, but it\u2019s a tricky one, and the worst side is very, very long-term and measured in years, and the best side is short-term, measured in months, and that would be three, six, and then start rehabbing, so it\u2019s season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sir Kevin Sinfield, play-off race heats up and who can stop Wigan Warriors?\u00a0\u2013 Click here to watch the latest episode of the Serious About Rugby League Show.<\/a><\/p>\n

St Helens boss issues Noah Stephens update amid long lay-off fears<\/p>\n

Stephens, still only 21, has 35 appearances to date for St Helens since debuting in 2024 and Rowley spoke about how devastating the blow was, both for Stephens as a player but also as a person.<\/p>\n

The head coach said: \u201cHe\u2019s probably the person I\u2019ve been most excited about since joining this club.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve really enjoyed working with him, and more importantly about him being a promising player, he\u2019s a promising person, he\u2019s an absolute diamond of a lad, and he\u2019s a cracking player, he works hard, he listens, he\u2019s receptive, he\u2019s coachable, and he\u2019s absolutely fearless.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rowley added: \u201cHe\u2019s unorthodox in how he plays, he\u2019s got leg speed, and so I really like him. Two things for me, the sooner he\u2019s better, because I like having him around as a guy, will be great for me, and the sooner he\u2019s better, because I want him in the team, will be great also.<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, I just care about him and him being fit and well as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

On what the next few weeks and months look like for Stephens, and if he can incorporate back into the squad, Rowley admitted that it\u2019s still a very complicated process but that ultimately he wants the 21-year-old in and around the squad when possible.<\/p>\n

He responded: \u201cWell I think we\u2019re not at that stage yet. I think rehab then it\u2019s all systems go with the club, but I think to get to the point of rehab is various hurdles to jump in terms of getting feeling back, getting sensations in different parts of his arm which he\u2019s not got yet and ultimately he can\u2019t drive.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s complexities in more ways than one, but I\u2019m with you, the sooner he\u2019s in this club, I don\u2019t care what he\u2019s doing, even if he\u2019s just sat with us in the coach\u2019s room, the better for everybody, because he\u2019s a pleasure to have around.\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 head coach Paul Rowley has issued an update on the health of prop forward Noah Stephens…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":645487,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-645486","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\/645486","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=645486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}