Kristian Woolf has expressed deep concern after Mark Percival’s recent injury setback.
The centre lasted just 20 minutes in St Helens’ Challenge Cup quarter-final against Warrington Wolves on Saturday before leaving the field with a recurrence of a hamstring injury that has restricted his involvement post-lockdown
It’s the third time the England international has struggled with the injury, despite his attempts to ensure it had fully recovered
Woolf revealed that he had kept Percival (pictured) out of action for an additional two weeks, but the extended layoff hasn’t resolved the issue.
Despite his limited time on the field, Percival demonstrated his value to the team with a crucial offload leading to St Helens’ opening try by Jonny Lomax.
Woolf said: “He showed his class there, he’s a key player for us, a player we’ve really missed and you can see in the first 15 to 20 minutes there how class he is as a player and how much of an impact he was going to have on the game.
“It’s more disappointing from the point of view that we thought we’d done everything we possibly could to get him right. He felt 100 per cent right, we’ve just got to figure out what’s going on there because we can’t keep having that happen.”
Meanwhile, St Helens have added a young Albanian player to its Academy squad.
Eliot Peposhi has signed a two-year professional contract with the club, becoming the first Albanian Rugby League player to turn professional.
Peposhi, 16, said: “I’m very honoured and extremely grateful to St Helens for offering me the contract.
“They are a big club with so many honours and such a massive history. It is simply brilliant that I am now part of it. Now I need to push and work even harder as my ambitions are to play the game at the highest possible level and perhaps one day I can represent my heritage and be part of history with the Albania Rugby League team.“
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