St Helens dealt another crushing injury blow with key man ruled out

St Helens have been dealt another injury blow, with prop Alex Walmsley set for a spell on the sidelines.

The veteran prop has suffered a foot injury which has ruled him out for around six weeks, leaving the Saints without four of their long-standing key pillars. Matty Lees, Jack Welsby and Jonny Lomax are also currently on the sidelines as a result of injury setbacks.

It is undoubtedly a major blow for Saints, especially while they are without captain Lees, leaving them unable to select from the two front-rowers who have routinely started in the pack for years.

Walmsley is scheduled to be the first to return to action of the four, with Lees, Welsby and Lomax not expected back until around the end of April. Walmsley is expected back a few weeks before that.

They take on Bradford Bulls, Castleford Tigers, Toulouse Olympique, Hull KR and Wigan Warriors in their next five games.

“We’ll get more feedback but he won’t be available this week,” Rowley said. “It will be long-term.

“He’s done some damage to his foot there so he will be in a boot for a little bit and he’ll have to take some time. It’s not like he’s the nimblest of little fellas so if he’s got a foot injury he’s got some weight going through it so we’ve got to be careful with that.

“He was fantastic at the weekend but he was clearly in pain because to be honest, we got a call in the warm-up to say he was no good but it was in a way that if he could deal with the pain it would do no further damage so he decided he’d get through it and he did.”

Rowley continued: “It won’t be a surgery job, it will just be time.”