St Helens’ fears were confirmed to be true after head coach Paul Wellens revealed that young winger Owen Dagnall will be ruled out for potentially the remainder of the season with a hamstring injury. On top of that, opposite winger Kyle Feldt reported symptoms of concussion after the win over Hull FC, leading to him failing a HIA assessment.
Dagnall has been one of the hottest young talents in Super League this year, scoring eight tries in 11 appearances.
The winger pulled up with the injury towards the end of the game against the Black and Whites, with scans now confirming the extent of the damage.
Speaking in a pre-match press conference this week ahead of his side’s heavyweight clash with Hull KR, Wellens said that the winger’s season is likely to be over, with a slim chance of him making it back in time for the playoffs.
He confirmed: “Owen Dagnall has got a grade three tear of the hamstring. Obviously people saw at the time when a player pulls up like he did, it’s never usually a good sign and scans confirmed our worst fears there. There is a real outside chance Owen could be back for the playoffs, if we were to be involved, however that is slim. He’s got to throw the kitchen sink at it to do all he can.”
On Feldt, he explained that whilst he saw out the full 80 minutes, it wasn’t until post-match where the Australian started feeling ill.
“Kyle, unfortunately after the game started to feel unwell. He reported to the doctors and they performed what we call a SCAT 6 and that has provided that he be ruled out this week. We’re short in that position, so we’re going to have to do something slightly different this week” said Wellens.
St Helens boss discusses wing options following double injury blow
Replacing one winger is hard enough, but replacing two wingers will mean a reshuffle of players ahead of Friday night’s fixture.
There are multiple options for Wellens to choose from, with Tristan Sailor, Harry Robertson and Deon Cross the likely candidates.
The former fullback analysed the potential options that he could put out against the table-topping Robins.
He said: “Harry Robertson’s gone out to the wing and done that effectively for us a few times with Matt Whitley in the centre. So there’s different things we can do there, particularly having Joe Batchelor in the team. There’s a couple of different ways that we can go.
One option not taken by the Saints boss was to recall Jon Bennison, who is currently on a season-long loan at Championship side Widnes Vikings. The 22-year-old has played four games in his time on loan so far, scoring two tries including a 70m effort over Featherstone last week.
Wellens was asked why he chose not to bring him back, and said he believes that the Vikings is the best place for him.
He said: “Jon’s been doing a fantastic job at Widnes and he’s been enjoying his rugby again. He’ll continue to play this week, but it is a really strong option for us. Jon’s got pedigree and Jon’s played in a lot of big games now, so we have no hesitation to call him back if we need to.”
St Helens face, on paper, the toughest run-in of any playoff-contending team, facing three of the current top five.
