Jed Cartwright’s St Helens deal clarified as injured stars near return

Interim St Helens coach Eamon O’Carroll has confirmed that Jed Cartwright will remain with the club despite the injury he suffered last week taking him past what was believed to be the initial terms of his loan.

Hull FC confirmed earlier this month that Cartwright had joined the Saints on a one-month loan with a view to making that a permanent transfer. Love Rugby League then subsequently revealed that Cartwright had actually agreed to sign for the Saints for the rest of 2026, with his Black and Whites career over.

Cartwright picked up a quad injury last week which will sideline him for around four weeks, taking him past his first month with the Saints.

And O’Carroll has confirmed the forward is remaining with the Saints – seemingly confirming a longer deal has been agreed.

Cartwright to remain at St Helens

Speaking on his pre-match media conference on Thursday, O’Carroll confirmed that they will be dealing with Cartwright’s rehab, and he will be their player for a prolonged spell through to the end of the season.

“Jed will be with us,” O’Carroll said when asked whether Cartwright would return to Hull to rehab the injury.

“It’s a real shame for him. People see that Jed is out injured but what they don’t see is during that game, he was sending messages back to the bench that he wasn’t coming off.

“He didn’t want to leave his team-mates out there without him and you can already see the impact that he’s had.”

The Saints now have to seemingly decide whether they want to retain Cartwright beyond this season – with his contract, and time, at Hull FC coming to an end.

Saints stars near injury return

The Saints are once again down to the bare bones for this weekend’s trip to York Knights. George Delaney, Cartwright and Matty Evans all drop out of the team that faced Wigan last weekend – though Alex Walmsley does return to the fold.

However, there are some set to return soon – with Mark Percival the next nearest. “He’s the closest – he’ll be a couple of weeks away and then he’ll be able to be involved,” O’Carroll said.

Curtis Sironen, David Klemmer and Jonny Lomax will be longer absentees than that – but Nene Macdonald is also trending in the right direction after having a minor procedure on a knee issue that has plagued him throughout all of 2026.

“Nene won’t be done for the year,” O’Carroll insisted.

“He’s had some ongoing issues with that knee and we’ve had to do the right thing by Nene. We need to make sure when he comes back he will be at his best. I think it was yesterday he had an injection in there. We have to offload him now and he’ll then train on Saturday, so it’s a case of seeing how he reacts but we’re hoping it’s really positive.”

Youngster Billy Keeley will make his debut for the club on Saturday at York, O’Carroll also confirmed.

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