Hull KR sweating on fitness of key forward for St Helens clash as coach issues injury update
Jai Whitbread in action for Hull KR in 2025
Hull KR boss Willie Peters has confirmed that Jai Whitbread is ‘touch and go’ for this weekend’s clash against St Helens, but there is positive news on the injury front for team-mate Sauaso ‘Jesse’ Sue.
In what proved a bruising encounter, the Robins – who lead the way in Super League – were beaten 28-6 at Headingley by Leeds Rhinos last Thursday night.
Both Whitbread and Sue were forced off early on in that loss, with the latter appearing on the bench in a knee brace later in the piece, as their chances of took a turn on online sports betting at Bovada and other platforms.
The prognosis for both isn’t terrible, though, as boss Peters has now confirmed.
Hull KR sweating on fitness of key forward for St Helens clash as coach issues injury update
Versatile forward Whitbread left the field circa 18 minutes in at Headingley, just after Leeds had scored their second try of the evening.
As the Robins gathered behind the sticks, he appeared to be in some discomfort with a lower limb problem, and was subsequently replaced by Sam Luckley.
In his pre-match press conference on Tuesday afternoon ahead of Friday night’s home clash with Saints, head coach Peters explained: “There’s nothing serious there, we’ve just got to monitor him.
“He’s got to get through some testing, so he’s a bit touch and go for this week, but we’ll see how things go later on in the week.”
Sue meanwhile lasted just four minutes at Headingley having been replaced by Dean Hadley after limping following after taking a heavy blow to his knee in a tackle.
As expected, the prop will spend some time on the sidelines now, but the prognosis is a positive one with all things considered.
Peters said: “We got some good news on Sauaso, it’s two-to-four weeks at this stage.
“We feared that it was going to be an ACL, but it wasn’t, so we’ll just get him right now. It’s a two-to-four week recovery.”
The KR boss also confirmed that both Arthur Mourgue and Mikey Lewis had recovered okay after picking up minor knocks in the defeat to the Rhinos, with that duo definitely set to be among his 17 on Friday night at Craven Park.
One man who won’t be though is hooker Micky McIlorum, who fractured his ankle in training earlier this month.
Sharing the latest on the veteran, who has already confirmed he will depart at the end of the year, Peters said: “We’re not going to go down the surgery route, hopefully we can just get him right, but we won’t know for a few more weeks at least.
“It’ll be one of those that we need to look at in a few weeks time because we certainly can’t make a decision now.
“We certainly don’t want his career ending that way, so we’ll be doing everything we can with the medical team and Micky himself in terms of getting him back for finals (the play-offs).”
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