St Helens are one of three sides who could lift the League Leaders Shield on Friday night but they’ll need to beat Hull FC and hope that results go their way and against both Wigan Warriors and Catalans Dragons, both of whom have far better points difference than the Red Vee.

They’ve received a major boost in their efforts to do so though with prop Alex Walmsley having returned to their 21-man squad, following his horror injury against Leigh in the Challenge Cup semi-finals.

It had been assumed that Walmsley would be out for the season, something that Wellens alluded to only last week in his press conference, stating: “He’s a player that we’d obviously love to have back, but I think this season’s obviously come too quick for him.”

Whether Walmsley plays on Friday is yet to be seen but the fact he’s in a 21-man squad is a huge boost, as is the return of Will Hopoate, Konrad Hurrell and George Delaney.

On his centres, Wellens was optimistic about their chances when speaking to SaintsTV.

“They are both a chance of playing this week. Again, they’re two guys that have trained on field with the team today, trained really well.

“Obviously, we’ll have to monitor the response in the next 24 hours, but all being well, one, maybe both will play on the weekend.”

Curtis Sironen features again after making a positive return last week with Wellens attesting to his quality but also outlining the need to be careful with injuries.

“I think he showed his quality and obviously we had to look after him in terms of reducing his playing time coming off the back of the injury. But he’ll hopefully get a bit more time out on the field this week.

“Like I’ve mentioned, Curtis shows his quality every time he pulls on a jersey. It’s just obviously we need him out there and playing well consistently because he’s important to us.

“So it’s that stage of the year, we need to be smart with how we deal with the players and certainly take into account the amount that they put into the game last weekend which has obviously, like I said, left a few people with sore bodies.”