WARRINGTON halfback Leon Hayes is hunting a return to the Wolves first team for the first time in more than 14 months after having had to deal with a string of injury issues.
The 21-year-old club development-system product was a stand-out in the early months of Sam Burgess’ reign as coach at the start of last season.
However, an ankle fracture and dislocation sustained in April 2024 against Salford in round nine of Super League, eight of which he had appeared in, stopped Hayes in his tracks.
He then tore a hamstring in pre-season before aggravating the ankle injury, but is building up his fitness again.
Hayes, who played his junior rugby at Rylands Sharks and Bank Quay Bulls and represented Lancashire at Academy level, has made 13 first-team appearances for Warrington, the first in the 38-36 defeat at Huddersfield in August 2022.
He has also had temporary spells at the old West Wales Raiders and North Wales Crusaders, for whom he scored four tries and kicked 23 goals in eight games in 2023.
Hayes made his return to action on Saturday in a 40-6 reserves win over Castleford Tigers, playing the full 80 minutes.
“We’ve had a really detailed plan around getting him back to a position of fitness, which includes playing for the Reserves,” explained Burgess.
“I’m so happy for him that he’s finally here and he’s trained really well for a couple of weeks now.
“He should go into his first game back with a bit of confidence and we should all be happy to see him back.
“It’s been a tough 15 months when he was doing so well last year, no doubt about it.”