Brown hails Makinson’s effort

St Helens coach Nathan Brown is pleased with the way Tommy Makinson is playing for St Helens this season.

The winger has produced some stunning finishes during the course of the current campaign, and Brown is generally happy with the way the rest of his back line has been playing.

Makinson bagged a hat-trick in last week’s win over Widnes Vikings.

“Tommy scored some nice tries,” said Brown.

“He’s scored some really nice tries throughout the year, he’s finished off some great movements.

“As a whole, apart from a very small part of the game, I thought we did reasonably well [against Widnes].

“Hopefully this week we can improve again, go to Hull and do a good job there.”

Makinson also had an unintentional part to play in the injury to Luke Walsh which appears to have ended the halfback’s campaign.

“When it happened in the game, I wasn’t quite sure what had happened, but the outcome wasn’t good,” Brown added.

“I think Tommy Makinson’s fell on Walshy. It’s just one of those things that can happen in the game.

“It was unfortunate. It’s one of those things you’ve just got to deal with.”

St Helens have been hit with injuries to players in key positions. As well as Walsh being out, Jon Wilkin is absent from the 19-man squad which will travel to face Hull FC.

Shannon McDonnell has been included, however, and it looks as though Jordan Turner will play in the halves once again.

“Obviously it’s not ideal, you want your best players in all positions playing, never mind your key positions,” Brown said.

“It’s a part of the game, and sometimes as a club you get what you could consider the wrong end of the stick.

“We’ve had our fair share of bad luck, and it’s probably got a little worse than any of us would hope.

“On a positive note, we’ve got Paul Wellens who’s filled in at full-back and done well. James Roby is playing terrific, and Jordan Turner and Gary Wheeler have both spent time in the halves.

“We just need other people to step up around them and see how we can go.

“Our pack of forwards is playing well. Our outside backs are starting to play well. As a group, we’re still confident that if we do the right things and make some slight adjustments, we can give ourselves a good shot at things.”