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St Helens reveal damning news on Alex Walmsley ahead of Salford Red Devils Super League semi-final

St Helens have been struck by a major blow going into the semifinals.

The Champions have lost Alex Walmsley who has been a key pillar of their success in recent years playing in all three of their three peat Grand Final triumphs as well as their 2014 win over Wigan.

England’s best prop alongside former Saints teammate Luke Thompson who now plies his trade at Canterbury and has made a real splash in the NRL since leaving in 2020.

Walmsley has been something of a wrecking ball in recent seasons especially in last year’s semifinal against Leeds but he won’t have the same impact on this years semi against Salford with him ruled out and with the likes of Will Hopoate and Mark Percival also doubts.

Crucially he’s also set to miss the Grand Final if Saints were to get to the final and worse he will miss the World Cup for England in a big blow for Shaun Wane’s squad.

In a statement today Saints said: “Scans have unfortunately ruled prop forward Alex Walmsley out for the conclusion of the 2022 Betfred Super League season and the upcoming Rugby League World Cup.”

This will put more pressure on the aforementioned Thompson at the World Cup as well as the likes of Tom Burgess who today escaped a lengthy ban with an early guilty plea which limited his ban in the NRL to two-games.

It’s a bigger blow for the Saints at a crucial time of the season and with Matty Lees also a reported doubt it could limit the Saints impact in the middle which is where they excel.

Equally, it balances out the injury to Brodie Croft for Salford whilst being reminiscent of the last time a side chased four consecutive titles when Leeds lost Jamie Peacock for the business end of the year.

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