St Helens dealt triple injury blow as ‘doesn’t look good’ verdict made on senior star

St Helens look set to be without three key players for next Friday’s game against Leeds Rhinos – with Paul Wellens admitting a calf injury suffered by Joe Batchelor doesn’t look good.

Batchelor was one of three Saints stars that left the field during their 46-4 win on Sunday afternoon against Salford Red Devils.

He appeared to pull up with a calf problem during the match, something Wellens confirmed post-match before offering a grim verdict on an early prognosis.

“Joe felt a pop in his calf, so that’s never really a good sign,” Wellens told Sky Sports.

The Saints also lost Curtis Sironen in that game, with Wellens admitting: “Curtis had a bit of a back spasm going on, so we’ll get that assessed.”

And to compound the Saints’ woes, young half-back George Whitby came off with a head knock in the second half. He subsequently failed his HIA, ruling him out of next weekend’s game against Leeds Rhinos.

Wellens admitted that game next Friday poses a significant step up, and a chance for the Saints to show their play-off credentials.

He said: “Leeds are a team in form at the moment. We’re under no illusions about the challenge that awaits us next week.

“We’ve been inconsistent, there’s no getting away from it. But we’re looking to start to string some performances together and if we do that, we can slowly climb the table. The challenge is to day in, day out apply ourselves to make those improvements we need.”

On the win at Salford, Wellens added: “We’re not going to be judged on this. People came here expecting us to win and get the result and we’ve done exactly that, that’s all we can do.

“It got a bit heated towards the end but I was pleased with how we stuck to the task – I was disappointed we conceded that try at the end, though.”