St Helens’ injury doubt revealed as Paul Wellens confirms Joe Batchelor lay-off

St Helens look set to be without Joe Batchelor for another three or four weeks at least, Paul Wellens has confirmed.

The back-rower spent two months on the sidelines with a hamstring injury before making his comeback for the Saints last weekend to take on Salford Red Devils. Unfortunately, though, his time on the field at the Salford Community Stadium, where St Helens eased to victory, was cut short after picking up a calf tear.

There has been some good news since in that the injury isn’t as bad as first feared, but Batchelor, who will be joining Hull FC at the end of the season, looks set to miss another month of action.

“Joe Batchelor has been for a scan and he’s looking like he’ll be about four weeks with a slight calf tear, so not great news,” Wellens confirmed. “But the physios at first look were expecting it to be worse so we’ll take a little bit of comfort in that.

Asked how much a concern the injury was given his recent spell on the sidelines, the Saints boss added: “It’s just frustrating for him personally because I can honestly say, hand on heart, and say there’s very few if any work as hard as Joe does on a daily basis.

“I know how much he cares and how much he wants to be out there helping the team. For those who saw his reaction when he had to leave the field, that was evidence of that. We’ll support him the best we can and what we won’t do is take stupid risks with Joe.

“At the moment it’s a three to four week timeframe, however, given it’s an injury following on from an injury if that needs to take five weeks, we’re prepared to be patient. We have to support him the best we can to get him back because once he is back and fit and firing, he can be a very important player for us.”

St Helens injury doubt

St Helens will be without George Whitby, who is out after failing a HIA on Sunday but is faring well. And, there’s a strong chance they could be without Curtis Sironen too, despite the back-rower being named in the 21-man squad.

Sironen left the field at Salford with back spasms and Wellens expressed some doubt about his availability.

“He was having real bad back spasms and he’s still moving gingerly at the moment,” Wellens revealed. “We’ve named him in the 21 and we’ll give him till the 11th hour to see if he improves. The signs at this moment in time are probably not looking good.”

Saints will also be without James Bell, with Wellens revealing the forward has gone under the knife: “James has has some minor surgery but it’s surgery nonetheless and he’s looking to be another hopefully three weeks but it could be four. It’s not ideal but the situation is what it is”