Kristian Woolf explains Will Hopoate withdrawal

St Helens Head Coach Kristian Woolf has confirmed Will Hopoate was only taken off as a precaution during their win over Hull KR.

Hopoate didn’t emerge for the second half, and was replaced by Joey Lussick, forcing Saints into a reshuffle. Jack Welsby dropped to full-back, while James Roby went into the halves with Jonny Lomax.

However, Woolf was confident there was no serious injury, saying it was just a tight hamstring.

He told the post-match press conference: “He’s tight through the hamstring and obviously he’s had some issues there before. So as a precaution we wanted to take him off.

“I think everyone can see how key a player he is to us and how good a player he is. And he showed his class last week, he showed his class in that first 40 minutes again tonight. He was a big part of what put us in a good position.

“We need to make sure we look after and then we’ve got him for the really important games.”

Woolf confirms no new names back for Wigan

Saints are about to head into their second double-header weekend of the season. They face Wigan on Friday night, before facing Wakefield on Monday afternoon.

However, Woolf confirmed he would have no players back for those games, apart from Morgan Knowles and Curtis Sironen from suspension.

Woolf added: “We’re obviously doing a bit tough there at the moment with injuries and in particular, some of our outside backs. That’s the way it goes and there’s a lot of teams in that same boat, unfortunately.

“We’ve got enough quality there, it’s about who plays in the team each week. And we do get Morgan Knowles and Curtis Sironen back and they’re two big players for us that have been playing great. So they’re going to make a difference.

“As I said, it’s about who we put out on the field and I’ve got every confidence that we put on the field to do a good job.”

St Helens 38-12 Hull KR: Saints one win away from securing top spot