Warrington Wolves forward Ryan Bailey is set for another couple of weeks out after his rehabilitation hit a snag.
The uncompromising forward has missed the opening stages of the season after undergoing surgery on a muscle around his Achilles that had been a nuisance for a number of years.
That procedure was successful back in January, with Warrington chief Tony Smith originally hoping to have him back for the start of March.
However, the 31-year-old has had complications with his recovery, with one of the wounds becoming infected and subsequently filling with puss.
“He’s had a bit of a setback,” said Smith.
“We thought he would have been returning around this time, but one of the cuts got infected so the wound hasn’t healed how it should have. He’s getting the wound cleared up now, but it means another couple of weeks of getting his fitness back, so we should see him in the next couple of weeks hopefully.”
The news comes as a blow to the Wolves, who are already without front-rowers Mitchell Dodds and Ben Westwood, although the latter should be fit for the Easter period.
Despite having three of his biggest forwards out, Smith confirmed that he wouldn’t be dipping into the loan market.
“We’ve got Ben Evans ready to go and playing at the moment, we’ve got Joe Philbin, Benjamin Jullien, and Declan Patton all waiting for their chance. Gene Ormsby is also waiting and beyond that we’ve got Jack Johnson and Sam Wilde who all had first-grade experience last year. While we’ve got a few injuries we’ve still got a lot of options at the minute.”
