ST HELENS have received another injury blow with the news that centre Mark Percival will be out for up to six weeks.
Percival had surgery on Monday (June 10) for a bone spur injury in his ankle.
The 31-year-old has made 14 appearances this season for Saints, scoring three tries and kicking 29 goals.
He joins fellow outside backs Jack Welsby and Lewis Murphy on the sideline for a significant period.
Saints head coach Paul Wellens said: “It is really unfortunate that it has happened now because we have had a cluster of injuries around the same time, which is not ideal.
“But Mark had got to the point where something needed doing if he was going to be able to finish the season strongly so we had to make a strong call there, albeit a disappointing one.
“You can never question Mark’s toughness – but he has been uncomfortable there for a while and there was a strong thought that we would be able to manage it throughout the course of the year.
“That has proved not to be the case now. He was feeling the pain and we had it re-investigated and had to come to a decision moving forward and there was only one decision – get it fixed.
“He has been having this problem for a while and having this procedure done will almost certainly alleviate those problems moving forward.”