St. Helens return home to the Totally Wicked Stadium on Friday night and will take on Castleford Tigers in Round 17 of Betfred Super League 2023, kick-off is scheduled for 8pm.
After back-to-back trips to Hull FC which ended with contrasting fortunes, Paul Wellens men are back playing in front of the Saints faithful and looking to get back to winning ways.
The first visit to the MKM Stadium saw the Red V secure passage through to the Betfred Challenge Cup semi-finals, but five days later the Black & Whites got their revenge in the league with a season-best performance ending our six-match winning run.
Friday night at the Totally Wicked Stadium is a Double Header too with turnstiles opening from 4:45pm, so fans can come to the ground and cheer on the next-gen too!
Head Coach Paul Wellens makes two changes to the squad that was named for last week’s league match, with Mark Percival returning after he missed out last week due to head injury protocols, and Sam Royle is also back in the 21.
Curtis Sironen pulled up in last Thursday’s match due to a tight hamstring, and the Saints boss revealed during his weekly press conference he expects the back-rower to be unavailable for a couple of weeks. Outside back Wesley Bruines is the other change to Friday night’s team.
⚪ 𝗦𝗤𝗨𝗔𝗗 𝗡𝗘𝗪𝗦 🔴
Paul Wellens has named his 21-man squad ahead of Friday night's home clash with @CTRLFC #COYS | #HistoryInTheMaking
— St.Helens R.F.C. (@Saints1890) June 28, 2023
As for Castleford, there are three changes to the Cas squad which was chosen for the Wire contest. Nathan Massey is still feeling the effects of being on the end of a nasty challenge against Warrington. Youngsters Aaron Willis and George Hill also miss out this time around.
Riley Dean is in line to run out for his Castleford debut having been unable to face his parent club last week. Albert Vete returns to the group after recovering from a calf injury and Mahe Fonua is the other inclusion to this week’s squad list.
