Castleford hopeful Liam Watts will be fit for St Helens clash

James Messenger 25 Aug 2019 3:26 PM

Castleford are hopeful that prop forward Liam Watts will be fully fit in time for next week’s huge clash with St Helens.

Watts has made 25 appearances for the Tigers in 2019 but hasn’t featured since injuring both his hand and ankle away at Hull KR earlier this month.

With three games remaining, Daryl Powell’s side sit outside of the top five on points difference and still have to play Saints and Wigan away, either side of a home game against Yorkshire rivals Hull FC – Watts’ former club.

Discussing Castleford’s mounting injury list, Head Physiotherapist Matt Crowther admitted they were optimistic that Watts could be involved in their game at the Totally Wicked Stadium next Friday.

He said: “Liam injured both his ankle and his finger in the same game at Hull KR away.

“He ruptured the middle tendon of his ring finger and what that means is, if you don’t get anything done with it, you could end up with a ‘S’ shaped finger, so we took the advice of one of the best hand surgeons in the country.

“He gave the advice that he needed to be in a full splint for four weeks, resting that and just being able to move the end of his finger.

“This will make a full recovery but he can actually play in a splint after four weeks. As for his ankle, he had injured both his lateral ligaments and they’ll be about two to three weeks, so coming up to the St Helens game he should be fully fit.”