Casualty Ward: Singleton scan, Warrington boost & Croft doing it tough

Keep up to date with the latest injury news in Casualty Ward, this week including Brad Singleton, Warrington, Leigh and Salford.

Singleton to have scan

Wigan lost experienced prop Brad Singleton just minutes in to their 13-6 win at Warrington on Friday night.

Speaking after the game, Warriors coach Matt Peet said he will go for scans in the coming days.

Peet told Wigan Today: “He’s strained something. He knew straight away that he’d have to come off. He will need a scan. Everyone else is fine I think, I’ve not been made aware of anything else.”

Early last week, Wigan coach Matt Peet delivered the devastating news that prop Mike Cooper would miss the rest of the season with an ACL knee injury.

Peet said: “He’s looking at least nine months, possibly 12. He’s got more consultations coming up.

“It’s our intentions to support Mike wholeheartedly through his rehab.”

Warrington boost

Warrington boss Daryl Powell is hoping to have at least one player back ahead of their Super League fixture with St Helens on Thursday.

The Super League leaders fell to their first defeat of the season to Wigan at the Halliwell Jones Stadium with a 13-6 scoreline, putting a stop to their eight-game winning streak.

Head coach Powell was without prop forwards Gil Dudson and Joe Philbin due to suspension, while James Harrison and Joe Bullock continue to be sidelined through injury. 

Speaking after their defeat, Powell said: “We have the potential of getting at least one middle back for next week, so that’ll help a lot.

“And then the week after, Joe Philbin comes back. Then the week after is the international break. Joe Bullock also isn’t far away.”

Man of Steel doing it tough

Brodie Croft earned a rare, and very brief, stint on the interchange bench in the latter stages of his sides 14-6 win over Castleford on Thursday.

The half-back has appeared in every fixture so far for the Red Devils in 2023, but head coach Paul Rowley admits his Australian marquee man has been doing it tough.

“He’s been ill all week,” Rowley revealed in his post-mach press conference.

“He has actually only played two games this year where he’s not been poorly.

“He’s had one thing into another. He is in one of those periods where you seem to catch everything.

“He’s got a new child and his other child is a little bit older and has just gotten into nursery, so he’s catching everything unfortunately for him.

“We haven’t seen Brodie all week. This is the first he’s stepped up this week. He’s pumped full of antibiotics. I thought I’d treat him well and give him a three minute rest!

“It’s a mixture of everything, the kids, the weather. We’ve got a weekend off now, so we’ll do a review Friday and start our training next week on Tuesday.

“I’m hoping he can get some good rest and we can see the best version of Brodie.

Addy concern

Sticking with Salford, Danny Addy was forced from the field with a hamstring injury in their win over Castleford.

The Scotland international was seen testing his hamstring on the sidelines during the break, but did not return to action in the second half.

“He came off with a tight hamstring,” Rowley said. “He was struggling with power and he did a test at half-time. I think tomorrow will tell us a little bit more on that.

“We got him off straight away, so hopefully its minimal damage. But like I said, we’ll see tomorrow.”

Update on Leigh duo

Leigh coach Adrian Lam last week confirmed that off-season recruit Jack Hughes would be out for up to six weeks with a calf strain.

Lam told Love Rugby League: “Jack Hughes has torn his calf at Grade Two or Three, so that is going to be long-term.

“We are looking at four to six weeks for that so that’s not good news for the club or Jack.

“He has missed a fair few games this year as well so it is frustrating for him and us but we’ve just got to get on with it.”

Lam also said the Leopards could still be without Fijian international Ben Nakubuwai for a couple more weeks due to a knee injury.

Leeds star’s setback

Leeds coach Rohan Smith has confirmed that the ankle injury to winger David Fusitu’a is worse than the Rhinos initially anticipated.

Fusitu’a limped off the field in their defeat at Hull KR a fortnight ago with an ankle injury.

The Tonga international underwent surgery last week, but is expected to be out of action for up to three months.

Smith said: “Fus actually had surgery last Tuesday or Wednesday I think it was. That’ll be a 10 to 12-week type injury rather than a six to eight which we thought was the initial prognosis.”

Huddersfield blow

Huddersfield boss Ian Watson has confirmed that half-back Olly Russell will miss up to two months of action with a torn hamstring.

Russell, 24, suffered the blow during training ahead of the side’s Rivals Round clash with Leeds at Headingley Stadium.

Scans have since shown a Grade 2 tear for the England Knights representative, worse than originally expected according to head coach Watson.

“He’s going to be two months we think, eight weeks,” Watson confirmed.

“There might be a little bit shaved off that, depending on how he goes. He’s got a Grade 2 hamstring injury.

“It’s worse than we thought.

“He was obviously really disappointed at first. His mindset is about getting back as quickly as he can do. He’s just getting down to work.

“He was disappointed when he first heard the news.”

Mata’utia latest

Speaking to the media last week, St Helens boss Paul Wellens said Sione Mata’utia would be sidelined for an extended period of time following his head injury in their Good Friday defeat to Wigan.

Wellens says the medical team are taking the matter seriously with Mata’utia given an extended period of time to recover from the horror blow.

“I think it’s going to be lengthier than your normal concussion protocol would be considering it’s his second head knock in a few weeks,” Wellens said.

“The medical staff are very diligent in how they’re going to go about returning Sione first to training and then obviously to games after that.

“I don’t think we can give it a definite timeframe, but we are going to be taking a cautious approach with Sione.”

Keep up to date with all the latest injury news in Super League with our Casualty Ward feature, out every Monday.

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