By STEVE MASCORD
ST HELENS forward Joe Batchelor has played down fears over an ankle injury heading into the World Club Challenge, while Morgan Knowles is expected to recover from an illness that kept him out of Saturday’s win against St George Illawarra.
The Super League champions move today (Monday) from their Manly base to the Pullman at Homebush Bay, where their preparation for their clash with Penrith will go up a notch.
Batchelor appears their only injury worry.
“It’s just precautionary, hopefully,” Bachelor, 28, told League Express when asked about a surgical boot fitted to his right foot.
“You don’t need to bust it this week to try and get through it (the game). Hopefully it will be okay next week.
“I just rolled it and then added some weight onto it and tried to run it off and it was still a bit sore.”
Coach Paul Wellens commented: “He was put in a boot by the physio as a precaution until we get him checked out.
“Joe’s pretty confident there’s no serious damage there. But given the way the game was going, there was no need to try and force him to go back on.”
Will Hopoate and Mark Percival each had successful outings after injuries marred their 2022 campaigns.
“Mark and Will, the plan all along was for them to play 40 minutes,” said Wellens.
“Often the temptation as a coach is to push it for 50 or 60 and see how much more you can get out of them. It was important for those guys tonight we were really disciplined.
“We and they got out of the game exactly what we wanted from them.
“Morgan Knowles missed the game tonight; he was a bit under the weather. He wasn’t feeling too good. He’s such an important player for us, so we felt that pushing him to play tonight, especially when you’re not feeling well in these conditions, it could knock him back four or five days.
“We didn’t want to do that to him. He’ll be good to go next week.”
Batchelor, meanwhile, said his side’s early 10-0 lead was one of the best aspects of Saturday’s performance.
“Pretty happy with what we did, especially with the start to the game that we put on,” he said. “That’s what we like to do in games.
“(There are) some areas to fix up, but that gives us some work for this week.”