By DENISE BRADY
KRISTIAN WOOLF is sweating upon the fitness of winger Tommy Makinson as he prepares his squad to face fierce rivals Wigan Warriors in Saturday’s Magic Weekend clash.
The 30-year-old England international hobbled off the pitch in the first-half of Saints’ 20-18 defeat to Catalans Dragons in Perpignan and Woolf is hoping for good news from the medics this week.
The Saints coach told League Express, “We will have to take a close look at Tommy this week before we make any decisions.
“His hamstring tightened up and I don’t think there’s a tear but I’ll see where that’s at.
“We wanted to make sure it wasn’t something more serious so we had to get him off.”
Despite the loss of Makinson and Saints’ third defeat of the season, Woolf remained positive following the match at Stade Gilbert Brutus.
He added, “It was a good game of footy, I thought we had a good attitude and turned up to play.
“It hurts when we’ve already got blokes playing out of position in the centres; we’re a bit short there at the moment and we’ll get some players back soon.
“Ben Davies did a really good job for us when he switched to the wing for Tommy. He’s out of position but scored a really good try for us.
“He’s playing wing to a centre who is a backrower and that’s hard but overall he did a good job.”
Woolf expects Konrad Hurrell and Will Hopoate to be available for Newcastle after missing out on the trip to France.
He added, “Konrad was sick this week; I spoke to him this morning and he’s feeling a lot better, not completely over it, but I’m confident he’ll be fine for next week.
“Will Hopoate trained very well last week and I think he’ll be okay too.”
Asked if he had any comment on rumours he may be returning to the NRL next season after being linked with coaching roles by Australian media, Woolf said, “I’m going to sort myself out at some stage but right now all I’m worried about is what we’re doing here at Saints.”
Another individual likely to leave St Helens this season is Welsh winger Regan Grace, with French media outlets reporting that he has signed with Paris-based rugby union club Racing 92.
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