Warrington injury update with trio in contention to return as forward suffers setback

Cai Taylor-Wray, Joe Philbin and Jordy Crowther are all in contention to return from injury lay-offs for Warrington Wolves this weekend, but Josh Thewlis and Sam Stone are both out for at least another month.

Having lost their last two games and slipped down the Super League ladder to fourth, Wire host fifth-placed Hull KR on Saturday evening.

Like many clubs in Super League, the Wolves’ squad has been heavily hit by injuries over the last few weeks, with the number of absentees as they were beaten at Wigan Warriors last weekend sitting in double figures.

But the positive news is no fresh blows were picked up in that defeat at Wigan, and three stars are in line to make their returns against KR.

Warrington injury update with trio in contention to return

Head coach Sam Burgess carried out pre-match media duties at Wire’s training ground on Wednesday afternoon.

Young full-back Taylor-Wray has had a stop-start campaign so far with a number of injuries hampering him, but the latest has been the most serious, keeping him out since the back end of April.

Providing an update, Burgess detailed: “(Joe) Philbin will be close, Cai (Taylor-Wray) and (Jordy) Crowther are close. They’ll all be in contention to play.

“I’ve got confidence in the medical team. He (Taylor-Wray) has had a lot of complications with this injury… what was four-to-six weeks has turned into 12 weeks.

“That’s tough for him to accept and for us as a squad. He’s there or thereabouts now. so it’s about not rushing him at this stage.

“When he comes back in, let’s hope it’s the last of it for him and he’ll have some energy for the back end of the season.

“If Cai’s ready, he’ll play. If not then, we trust Lachie (Lachlan Webster).”

Elsewhere, veteran forward Ben Currie was forced off late on at Wigan, but the issue is only a minor one and will not sideline him.

Burgess confirmed: “He’s okay, he just had a finger issue, he’s trained all week so he’ll be fine.

“It was a clean dislocation, he’s had no issues with it. He could have played on, but he couldn’t get it back in straight away.

“We had a substitution left and there were only a few minutes left in the game, so it wasn’t the end of the world.”

Josh Thewlis latest provided as Sam Stone suffers setback

Utility back Thewlis has been out of action since late June, and has now gone under the knife.

Burgess explained: “Josh had surgery on Monday, so he’s out for an extended period of time. He’ll be out for four-to-six-weeks, give or take.”

Malta international Sam Stone meanwhile hasn’t featured since Wire’s Challenge Cup semi-final defeat to this weekend’s opponents KR back in May.

The back-rower won’t be back anytime soon as Burgess confirmed: “He had a bit of a mishap in training, so he’s another month or so away. You wont see him for four weeks, at least.

“He was due back this week, but he got injured in training last week.

“I don’t want to give too much air to the injuries. Players are returning, and we’re always happy with that, but we’re not getting carried away looking at who’s possibly back where or when.

“The squad I’ve got to select from this week is a bit larger than last week, and we’ll go from there.”

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