Kristian Woolf explains Mark Percival’s omission

When Kristian Woolf named his 21-man St Helens squad to take on Leigh Centurions this Thursday night, there was one glaring omission.

Mark Percival had not been included in the squad which worried Saints fans, however, Woolf has eased their fears considerably by detailing in his pre-match press conference that the centre is merely being rested due to the short turnarounds.

“Mark Percival is very healthy actually,” Woolf said.

“I had him in my office wanting to play which is a really good sign.

“We just thought with the number of short turnarounds we’ve had already, the number we’ve got coming up and playing Thursday into a Monday that it wasn’t a smart idea to play a player with a little risk.

“He hasn’t been back too long from serious injuries – Mark is a key player for us and that doesn’t mean were disregarding the opposition at all.”

Also returning for Saints is Josh Eaves who, incidentally, had been on-loan at Leigh.

“We had a plan that once we went into this period we would bring back the guys that are on loan.

“We knew that we would use a lot of players and needed to bring them back closer to home.”