{"id":648429,"date":"2026-06-20T05:38:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T05:38:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/648429\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T05:38:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T05:38:17","slug":"st-helens-boss-confirms-second-season-ending-injury-teases-signings-return-and-issues-jonny-lomax-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/648429\/","title":{"rendered":"St Helens boss confirms second season-ending injury, teases signing’s return, and issues Jonny Lomax 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

After offering an update on Noah Stephens with the prop\u2019s injured recovery potentially \u2018measured in years\u2019, St Helens head coach Paul Rowley has confirmed a second season-ending injury.<\/p>\n

The grim update regarding Stephens<\/a> confirmed that nerve damage will rule him out for the year but at worse case, possibly years with Paul Rowley wishing well the 21-year-old who has multiple hurdles to reach before he can even begin rehab.<\/p>\n

In that same presser, Rowley also confirmed that outside back Deon Cross is now done for the year with his ruptured bicep operated on.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Serious About Rugby League, Rowley said: \u201cAgain, (I think that there\u2019s) a statement coming after from the club, but Deon, as you know, has got a ruptured bicep, so he\u2019s had surgery on that now. That\u2019ll be a 12-week return, so season done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whilst that\u2019s a major blow, there was positive news in that off-season signing Jacob Host, who broke his leg in March, could be back in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s in full training now with the boys, so metres are being managed, but we won\u2019t be too far off with Jacob,\u201d Rowley told Serious About Rugby League.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he may be looking at a return for Magic Weekend, but again, after such a long-term injury, there\u2019s a lot of water under the bridge to get to that point, and as I\u2019ve said many times this year already, putting people back in in certain games, there\u2019s a risk attached to that as well in terms of being match fit.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all nice on paper, players returning, but a cluster of them is still difficult to manage, because game fitness after such long lay-offs has obviously got to be taken into account.\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\u2019 Jonny Lomax not necessarily done for the season as Paul Rowley shares update<\/p>\n

That would be a major boost for St Helens who have had horrible luck with injuries in 2026, something that Rowley admitted has made it difficult from the get-go this season.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cIt\u2019s been like that since minute one, to be honest. .. It\u2019s been a very, very unprecedented injury situation, but long-term as well, so it\u2019s significant players (too).\u201d<\/p>\n

The latest significant player to have an injury blow was former captain Jonny Lomax, who fractured his jaw in the loss to Warrington Wolves<\/a> with Saints since confirming that he had had surgery.<\/p>\n

On Lomax and his recovery, Rowley said: \u201cI\u2019m hoping to see Jonny over the next couple of days, so he\u2019s operated on and home.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the game, it was not pretty at all. He\u2019s had very ugly injuries, sustained two fractures and a lot of blood coming from his mouth, etc but emotionally, it would have been tough for him as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s had a second big injury in a year, a point in his career where he\u2019s getting to the end side, so to speak, so every game\u2019s special and precious for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe gets pragmatic and puts his head around it, and I\u2019m looking forward to having some good chats with him, because as I said at the time, he\u2019s a champion bloke and champion player.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if that meant the season was over for Lomax, Rowley added: \u201cNever assume. I think normal human beings, you could safely say that that would be season done, but he\u2019s not normal, so I\u2019m not putting one penny of my money on Jonny not returning this year.\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":"After offering an update on Noah Stephens with the prop\u2019s injured recovery potentially \u2018measured in years\u2019, St Helens…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":648430,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-648429","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\/648429","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=648429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/648430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=648429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=648429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=648429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}