St Helens coach delivers double injury update as Nene Macdonald absence explained

St Helens expect Mark Percival to return to action soon, but fellow centre Nene Macdonald may be sidelined for a while longer, head coach Paul Rowley has confirmed.

Stalwart Percival has struggled with injury throughout this season so far, featuring just twice: with those two appearances coming in back-to-back games against Toulouse Olympique and Hull KR back in March.

Off-season recruit Macdonald meanwhile arrived at the club nursing a number of injuries which ultimately resulted in him requiring surgery.

He has played just one game since March, and has this weekend dropped out of Rowley’s initial 21-man squad to face Huddersfield Giants on Thursday night having been an omission on matchday last weekend in the Challenge Cup semi-finals.

St Helens coach delivers double injury update as Nene Macdonald absence explained

England international Percival – who had looked set to depart Saints at the end of the season before inking a new deal earlier this year – is also not included in Rowley’s 21 for the trip to the Accu Stadium, but there is good news where he’s concerned.

Speaking in Wednesday afternoon’s pre-match press conference, boss Rowley explained: “He’s really good.

“Percy is looking as good as he has for a long time, and I think if you spoke to him, that’s how he would describe it.

“He feels like he’s had a bit of a watershed moment in terms of feeling all in one piece.

“He’s close now to a return, so we’ll welcome him back soon.”

Papua New Guinean Macdonald’s sole appearance since March came a fortnight ago as Saints beat York 40-16 in a Super League Round 10 clash at the BrewDog Stadium.

Explaining the Kumuls star’s absence since then, Rowley shared: “Nene had quite a significant knee operation and the return date couldn’t quite be fixed, because it was about how his knee and his quad responded to that trauma.

“It’s okay and he was okay to play (against York), I guess it gave us a yardstick getting him through that, but the next time he plays, we’ll make sure he’s 100% ready to go.

“We’ve got a plan in place, and putting him in against York gave us a directive of where we want to go with it.

“It’s a grey area, but we’re hoping (he’ll return) sooner rather than later.”