St Helens boss issues Mark Percival and Nene MacDonald injury latest

St Helens boss Paul Rowley has explained the latest on outside back Nene MacDonald, after he returned for just one game before being injured again.

The Papua New Guinean international underwent a knee operation in March, and was sidelined for around six weeks, but his rehab has not been plain sailing by any means.

Departing the field after 25 minutes in the game over Bradford Bulls, he would then not return until round 10 against York.

The intial plan in that game was that he would not play the full 80 minutes, but that plan wouldn’t come to fruition, with the Saints boss revealing post-match that he would have liked to have brought him off early.

Rowley has now explained the situation regarding his star centre, saying: “Nene had quite a significant knee operation that the return date couldn’t quite be fixed because it was how his knee and his quad responded to that trauma.

“It’s kind of OK, and he was OK to play. I guess it gave us a yardstick playing, and we got through that. But I think the next time he plays, we’ll make sure he’s 100% to go.

“We’ve got a plan in place. And I guess, again, putting him in against York gave us some directive and direction on where we wanted to go with it. So, yeah, it’s a grey area, but we’re hoping sooner rather than later.

There is no new timeframe regarding when we can see MacDonald back on the field.

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St Helens boss issues Mark Percival latest

Another man Rowley provides an update on is fellow centre Mark Percvial, who has played only three games this season.

The club have kept relatively quiet regarding the homegrown talent’s situation, who was said to be suffering with a hamstring injury in April.

Percival last played in the hefty defeat to Hull KR back in round six, a game that saw him depart at half-time due to a knock.

On the 32-year-old, the Saints head coach said: “Percy’s probably looking as good as he’s looked for a long time. I think if you speak to him, that’s how he would describe it.

“It feels like he’s had a bit of a watershed moment in terms of feeling good and all in one piece.

“He’s close now for a return. So, we’ll welcome him back sooner rather than later.”