St Helens head coach Paul Rowley has shared details of the injury to captain Matty Lees, confirming that the England international will be sidelined until early May.
Lees was appointed captain ahead of the 2026 season with the prop taking the armband from Jonny Lomax, who still remains part of the leadership group.
It could well be Lomax who takes on the captaincy in Lees’ absence, however, Paul Rowley emphasised that there is “no real drama” in regards to who will captain the club as he insisted that the leadership group is deep.
Whoever it is that does take on the captaincy role will be doing so for around 12 weeks with Rowley confirming that Lees won’t be back until round 10 or 11 of Super League, which puts his return date at early May.
Lees suffered his knee injury in the blowout Challenge Cup win over Workington with the Saints’ skipper leaving the field after a tackle saw his leg caught up.
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St Helens to be without injured captain until early May
Speaking to the media ahead of St Helens’ season opener on Friday evening against Warrington Wolves, Paul Rowley confirmed that the club are awaiting the verdict of a specialist.
“We’re still waiting on a specialist appointment that he has got to go through but he’ll be out for several weeks that’s for sure,” Rowley confirmed.
One positive is that the club don’t expect Lees to need surgery, with Rowley noting: “He’s sustained a nasty injury to his knee but it won’t require an operation, so that’s the positive.
“It’s just a lengthy rehab process that he’ll need to go through when we’ve got clarity from the surgeon.”
Despite the on-field impact that St Helens will suffer without their captain and star prop, Rowley pointed to the time away for the 28-year-old to be a possible ‘silver lining’ as he sought positives.
He said: “I think it’s two years now of back-to-back rugby and a lot of new things in his life to contend with, a new baby and his testimonial, so as disappointing as it is, I think it’s important that we turn to the silver lining that he’ll get to have a bit of a reset and come back in round ten or eleven.”
In regards who will replace Lees, Rowley called on each forward to step it up an extra 5% or 10%, noting: “There’s only one Matty and nobody needs to try and be Matty but if they add a little bit, 5%, 10% to their game, their work ethic and their aggression combined and we get the job done.”
In respect to other injuries, Rowley confirmed that each of Curtis Sironen, Mark Percival and Noah Stephens are among those who missed out in the Challenge Cup but are close to a return, though he didn’t commit to whether they would feature on Friday night.
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