Ben Jones-Bishop returns after blood clot on lungs
Ben Jones-Bishop will make his first appearance of the season on Thursday when Wakefield face Hull FC.
The Jamaica international has recovered from a blood clot on his lungs, while Trinity will also welcome back Jay Pitts and Reece Lyne.
With 19 members of his 33-strong squad unavailable, Wakefield coach Chris Chester will hand debuts to Connor Bailey and Yusuf Aydin against Hull and there will be a rare outing for Titus Gwaze, who has previously made four substitute appearances.
Chester said: “Bish is going to play. It’s not ideal for him because we missed three sessions last week but needs must. It’s important we get some experience back.
“It’s been a challenging eight or nine months for Bish but he’s worked really hard in the time off.
“He’s had all the tests and feels really confident in playing.”
Wakefield, whose game against Leeds last week was postponed after two players tested positive for Covid-19, still have two fixtures to re-arrange and coach Chester says his club are desperate to finish the season.
Chester said: “I’m not too sure about the ins and outs and what effect the change has on us but obviously there’s a worry that some games aren’t going to get concluded this year.
“It’s tough on every team. We’ve certainly had our fair share over the last two weeks. We’ve currently got nine players stood down and two members of our medical staff as well.
“We obviously picked up a couple of positive tests from the Catalans game and we had another during the week.
“It’s been a crazy couple of weeks. We just want to make sure we do our best to fulfil our fixtures to the end of the season.”
With Sunday’s rearranged Challenge Cup sixth round tie against Castleford in mind, Hull coach Andy Last has named a host of youngsters in his 21-man squad.
Lewis Bienek and Cameron Scott are set to make their first appearances of the season and Charlie Patterson-Lund, Ben McNamara, the 18-year-old son of Catalans Dragons head coach Steve, and Jude Ferreira could make their debuts.
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