St Helens’ Will Hopoate has been ruled out of Saturday’s Challenge Cup semi-final against Wigan Warriors through injury.
However, Jonny Lomax still has a chance of playing in the game, as does Regan Grace as he closes in on a return to action.
Hopoate only returned from a hamstring injury for last Friday’s Super League game against Salford Red Devils, but struggled on after suffering a reoccurrence of the issue.
“He was desperate to get back for the Salford game to put himself in the picture to play fullback this week, and unfortunately it was just a little too soon and he’s had a reoccurrence of a hamstring injury,” said Saints head coach Kristian Woolf.
Halfback Lomax came off in the first half of the Salford match with a bicep injury but could yet feature at Elland Road this weekend, according to Woolf.
“He’ll give himself every chance,” said the Saints boss. “He’s extremely diligent, he works very hard. The next couple of days are crucial in terms of how he comes along.
“We won’t put him out out on the field and he won’t put himself there unless he feels he is 100 per cent and able to make the impact Jonny usually has.”
Winger Grace also has a chance of featuring for only the second time this season, having been out since picking up a hamstring injury in an earlier round of the Challenge Cup at Whitehaven.
“He has some chance as well,” said Woolf. “He’s a little bit like Jonny, we’ll give him a chance over the next couple of days to show that he is 100 per cent fit and make sure we’re not taking any unnecessary risks there as well.
“While this is a big game and we certainly want to throw out the best team we can to give ourselves a chance of going through to a Challenge Cup final, there’s a lot of footy to be played so we’re not going to take an unnecessary risk with any player that we know is probably going to lead to injury.”
Forward James Bell is definitely ruled out as he will complete a two-match suspension.
