ST HELENS hope to have a number of big names fit again in the coming weeks as the club slowly emerge from their injury crisis.
Key absentees, particularly in the outside backs and back row, have hampered coach Paul Wellens’ attempts to get their season off the ground.
Saints head to Huddersfield Giants on Friday without the services of Kyle Feldt (hand), Konrad Hurrell (hamstring) and Harry Robertson (quad) in the backs, while Joe Batchelor (hamstring), James Bell (foot) and Matt Whitley (head) are missing from the pack.
But Wellens expects all of those to be pushing for returns by the end of the break for the Challenge Cup final, and some as soon as next week.
Whitley will be free to play at Hull KR in round 13 as long as he passes the head-injury protocols, but centres Hurrell and Robertson are also set to return to full training next week.
Hurrell has been sidelined for more than two months and hasn’t appeared for Saints since their early Challenge Cup win over West Hull, while youngster Robertson was in hot form until his injury last month.
Wellens said: “Konrad will have a training session on Thursday and another one on Saturday – should he come through those as we expect him to, he’ll be in full training with the squad the week after.
“The back end of 2024 was really cruel on him with the neck operation and there’s been frustration on Konrad’s part that he’s not been able to get going in 2025.”
Meanwhile Feldt, Batchelor and Bell are all a few weeks from coming back into contention following their respective injuries.
In the short term, Saints are still waiting to see whether Jake Wingfield will be able to shake off a dead leg in time to feature at Huddersfield.
“We’ve got number of options,” said Wellens of that back-row spot.
“The most natural choice is Jake Wingfield, who left the field (against Catalans Dragons) with a dead leg and is making progress.
“Morgan Knowles has filled in back row before and might need to again.”
Saints have also called up potential debutant Jake Davies – the younger brother of Ben, who recently left the club for Oldham – to their 21-man squad as cover in that position.