Warrington Wolves confirm season-ending injury to influential forward

Warrington Wolves have confirmed that Luke Yates will miss the remainder of the Super League season with a neck injury.

The forward has been struggling with the issue recently and the latest results have confirmed that he requires surgery, which will ensure he is unable to feature for Sam Burgess’ side for the rest of the year.

It’s a tough setback for Yates and Wire, who climbed to second in Super League on Sunday after defeating Bradford Bulls. They are already facing the prospect of being without lead halfback and captain George Williams for a prolonged spell too due to a neck injury of his own.

Speaking after the win over Bradford, Burgess confirmed in his press conference: “Yatesy will be gone, unfortunately, for the year. That result came back, he’s gone for the year. It’s unfortunate for Yatesy and the group. He’ll have to have a similar procedure to George on his neck. He’s out for the season which is unfortunate, as I said.”

Burgess added: “He’s a bit down naturally. He’s put a lot of effort in through the off-season to get the group where it needs to be with standards off and on the field. He’s a heavy influence on the group, so he’s naturally disappointed.”

In more positive news for Warrington, Burgess admitted that they will be able to call upon some of their other injured players sooner rather than later.

“I guess over the next month or so we’ll see a few back. I’m not so sure after the break, but maybe a week or two after. We’ll start to see Cai (Taylor-Wray), Jimmy (Harrison) and maybe Lindop back.”

When Warrington return after the Challenge Cup Final break, they face a massive run of fixtures. They will initially host Hull FC before travelling to St Helens and then hosting the current league leaders, Leeds Rhinos.