Cunningham in disbelief over Owens signing

Keiron Cunningham has spoke of his disbelief that St Helens have been able to sign Jack Owens. 

Owens has moved to Langtree Park in the off-season, having signed from Widnes Vikings in which he played 18 times, scoring nine tries as well as kicking goals in 2015.

St Helens‘ head coach was quick to find a new fullback following the injuries to Jonny Lomax and Shannon McDonnell and Cunningham believes it’s a coup for the club to sign somebody of Owens’ talent.

“Jack’s been running at fullback all pre-season; he’s been phenomenal. He’s a great recruit and somebody we’ve followed closely for a while,” Cunningham told the Liverpool Echo. 

“I’m still shocked that Widnes let him go, I honestly am. It’s definitely our gain. We’ve put lots of education into him and he’s loving being around, it’s a different environment and everybody’s challenging him. He just loves it.”

With Owens now taking the vacant fullback spot from Jonny Lomax, Cunningham has said he is not setting a date for Lomax’s return, and that the club need to be careful in terms of avoiding a reoccurence.

“I’ve not given Jonny a timeframe. Obviously he’s coming off a recurrence of that injury, when Jonny’s ready he’ll be ready,” he said. 

“He’s going to go over to Ireland where they’ve got some 3D technology to have a look at him and he’ll probably get re-checked in six weeks. Luckily we signed Jack Owens.”