CASTLEFORD TIGERS head coach Andy Last has given an injury update on his squad ahead of a fixture against Catalans Dragons this weekend.
Paul McShane, Liam Watts and Nathan Massey all left the field in the defeat against Warrington Wolves, but Last expects to have two of those back for the trip to the south of France.
“Paul’s responded really well to treatment so I’m hoping that hopefully he will be fine,” Last said.
“He picked up a bit of a dead leg at the knee, unfortunately half-time came at the wrong time for us because it stiffened up. He was really struggling with his mobility and made the decision to take him off for the catalans trip.
“He had found a bit of traction in the game and causing them some problems on the back of what he did really well against Leeds. Unfortunately he picked up that knock which made him unable to join the game.
“Nathan Massey was due to go back on for Albert Vete, he has a good engine and plays big minutes so we wanted him to do the last 25 minutes. He’s blown his nose and his eye socket has popped. That was a devastating blow because we had two subs with 25 minutes to go.”
“Liam Watts has got an AC joint, he will go for a scan as we speak so hopefully we get good news for that. A bad one can be six to eight and a good one two to three weeks.”
Mahe Fonua is set to return, but George Lawler will be out.
“Mahe has got a good chance, he’s passed all his return to play protocols. He’s had some reps in the team as a centre just to get some combinations going.
“George Lawler is just a pain threshold, it’s a sternum injury that every player has had in rugby league, but it is very sore and painful.
“Some people are able to tolerate that pain a little bit more but George has had a nasty whack on there and it’s about him managing that the best that he can.”
Cain Robb is still a few weeks ago.
“He’s ok, he’s getting a tough return to play training, he’s still in a pot so still a couple of weeks way.
“We’ve missed his energy and speed around dummy half as well as defensively.”
