Hull KR injury update amid Rhyse Martin return date and Joe Burgess latest

Rhyse Martin could be set to make a return from injury as soon as next week, Hull KR boss Willie Peters has confirmed.

Martin joined Rovers in the off-season from Leeds Rhinos, but his progress at Craven Park has been stemmed by injury. The back-rower injured a quad in February, just three Super League games into his time at Craven Park and after undergoing surgery on the issue, he hasn’t featured since.

As such, he has missed three and a half months of action so far, meaning he is yet to fully establish himself in east Hull. A comeback is close for the Papua New Guinea international, though, with Martin pushing for a return to action before the end of the month.

Peters insists Martin has a number of hoops to jump through before he can be considered ready to make a return, but if he does manage to tick all the necessary boxes, he could be in line to play against Wakefield Trinity on June 27.

“Hopeful of next week,” Peters said. “It’s come around now, it was a long injury for Rhyse but he’s handled it extremely well. The performance team are happy with where he’s at and he needs to jump a few hurdles before he plays next week.

“He hasn’t done a full session yet. It’s all part of his return to play, he needs to get through some stuff this week and then he needs to do what he needs to do next week.

“There’s no guarantee next week but the medical staff have told me he’s on track and I trust them. We won’t rush him, if he’s OK to play that means he’s ticked everything off.”

Hull KR boss gives injury rundown

Rovers take on Castleford Tigers on Thursday night and they will have the opportunity to move four points clear at the top of the Super League table for 24 hours at least before Wigan Warriors take on Wakefield Trinity on Friday.

Whether Joe Burgess and Sam Luckley, who sat out of last week’s win with minor knocks, will be involved remains to be seen, though, despite Peters suggesting they would likely be named in the 21-man squad.

“We’ll finalise our team later on this week and see where Joe Burgess is at,” he said. “We’ll name the squad tomorrow and finalise everything later in the week.

“We’ll wait and see with Sam just to see where he’s at a bit later in the week. We’ll name Sam in the squad but he needs to get through a couple of things before he plays.”

It might not be such good news for Lee Kershaw, though, who could be set to miss the remainder of the season at the very least. Kershaw has picked up a knee injury and there are fears he could have ruptured his ACL.

“He’s seeing a specialist on Thursday so we’ll know whether it’s that nine month injury,” Peters added. “In this case it looks like that but we’re hoping it’s three or four months. I’ll be able to give you a definite answer after Thursday.”