Paul Wellens issues injury update on trio including new recruit following Salford Red Devils thrashing

Paul Wellens says St Helens remain hopeful the issue which forced Lewis Murphy from the field early during their demolition of a young Salford Red Devils side won’t be anything significant.

Former Wakefield Trinity winger Murphy joined Saints on a two-year deal ahead of the 2025 campaign, bringing an end to a short stint Down Under in penning his contract at the Totally Wicked Stadium.

After marking his official debut for the club with a try in last weekend’s Challenge Cup victory against community club West Hull, he was on the scoresheet again on Saturday evening against a Salford side largely made up of reserves amid their financial woes.

The 22-year-old grabbed Saints’ second try of the night eight minutes into a game which ultimately ended 82-0, the biggest-ever winning margin in Super League history.

Paul Wellens issues injury update on trio including new recruit following Salford Red Devils thrashing

Murphy didn’t quite see out the full 80 minutes, being withdrawn early by Wellens and his backroom team late on with the game already well won.

Explaining the speedster’s sudden exit from the action post-match, Wellens said: “He felt a bit of a grabbing sensation in his hamstring, so it’s obviously something that we’re going to have to get checked out.

“We took him off early, but it’s a bit of a precautionary measure. We’re hoping there’s nothing more significant there.

“I thought first and foremost he carried the ball really well and was hard to tackle.

“But one of the other reasons that we brought him here was because, as we saw a few years ago when he had a Wakefield shirt on, he’s a wonderful finisher. When he got an opportunity tonight, he took it.”

Wellens also provided an update on the duo of Agnatius Paasi and Moses Mbye, who sat out Saturday’s Round 1 clash.

Both are still on the comeback trail from long-term injuries, but the Saints boss insists it probably won’t be too long before we see them back in action..

He detailed: “They’ve both found themselves in similar positions… they both could have played (tonight), but both are returning from injuries where we feel that getting a bit more training load into them will actually bulletproof them for the long-term.

“We felt, as a performance team and a coaching team, that would be more beneficial for them.”