St Helens boss Paul Wellens has high hopes that Kyle Feldt will be fit enough to take on Leeds Rhinos this weekend.
The Saints travel to Headingley on Saturday evening looking to secure a spot in the play-off semi-finals and go within 80 minutes of a spot in next month’s Grand Final. St Helens’ side enter the play-offs in a tricky spot having struggled for form in recent weeks, winning just one of their last four regular season games.
But, they’ll fancy their chances of beating Leeds, a feat theyt have managed three times this season already, especially if Feldt is fit. The winger is St Helens’ top tryscorer with 21 in all competitions, 20 of which have come in Super League, and his experience on the wing has been key for the Saints this season.
He left the field last week in the second half of the clash with Castleford Tigers with a back issue, though, and it remains to be seen if he will be passed fit to play on Saturday.
“He’s making good positive improvements,” Wellens told Serious About RL. “He had a few back spasms there that impacted on his ability to do his job properly so we thought with what’s coming up that it would be better to get him off the field. He’s feeling confident for the weekend.
“It was a back spasm and sometimes that can be very uncomfortable, I think that’s the case of Kyle. We’ve thrown the kitchen sink at him in terms of the medical stuff and hopefully he continues to make the progress he’s making.”
The head coach added: “He’s scored 20 tries and he was out for 12 weeks as well. When you put that into context it’s a pretty impressive strike rate.
“He’s been a great addition to the group, his experience has been invaluable particularly for young Harry Robertson at right centre, it’s the first time he’s played that position and we’ve asked a lot of him and I think having Kyle’s experience outside of him has really helped.”
St Helens boss on Lewis Murphy and Owen Dagnall
While Wellens seems optimistic about Feldt, he knows he will be without Lewis Murphy for the rest of the season after seeing him pick up yet another thigh injury last week. Murphy has missed much of the season due to the issue and he suffered a recurrence on his return to the fold last week.
“It looks that way unfortunately,” Wellens said when asked if the winger’s season was over. “I really feel for Lewis. He came to the club and wanted to make a real strong impression. Whenever he’s played he’s done a really good job but he’s not quite had the luck with injuries this year.
“He’ll take a bit of time away, he’ll freshen up a little bit and have a strong pre-season and put himself in a strong position so next year his season looks a little bit different to what it did this year.”
Wellens still hasn’t ruled out a return to action for Owen Dagnall before the end of the year, though, with the winger being out since August with a hamstring issue. He won’t play this week seemingly, but if Saints progress to the final four, there is a chance the youngster could feature.
“Potentially,” Wellens said. “He goes for a surveillance scan next week. That will depend on us obviously winning the game this weekend but there is no yes or no yet, we’ll see where we are in a week or so.”
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