St Helens handed major Jack Welsby boost as likely return date confirmed
St Helens star Jack Welsby in a pre-match warm up
St Helens have received an ‘encouraging’ injury boost regarding Jack Welsby, with the fullback ahead of schedule on his road to recovery.
The England international hasn’t played since July 26 due to a hamstring injury and the initial injury prognosis was two months: but he is on track to return earlier than anticipated, coach Paul Wellens has revealed.
It’s unlikely that Welsby will return for Saints‘ clash with Warrington Wolves on Saturday, but he could return within the next two or three weeks.
“It’s probably unlikely we’ll get any returnees this week,” Wellens told Love Rugby League in his pre-match press conference.
“There’s a few getting close now. Jack Welsby is getting really close now, he trained with the team on the field today so that was really encouraging.
“Daryl Clark (will be back) potentially the week after, Mark Percival and Curtis Sironen maybe the week after that along with James Bell but, again, that could change so we’ll just take it from week-to-week and see how things pan out.”
TRANSFER NEWS: Lewis Murphy’s first words as Super League return for 2025 confirmed
St Helens star Jack Welsby ‘super excited’ to make return from injury
Welsby’s hamstring injury marks the first time in his career in which he has spent a prolonged period on the sidelines: and Wellens says the superstar fullback is ‘champing at the bit’ to get back on the field with his team-mates.
“He has been brilliant,” Wellens said of Welsby’s recovery process. “For the first time in his career he has probably suffered a longer term injury like that and he’s handled it really well and has been very diligent with his rehab and everything that the physios have asked of him: and on the back of it, it looks like he’s returning ahead of schedule.
“Jack’s super excited. For the first time in his career he’s had a period of time off. If you think about his last few years, he had a full season into a World Cup, a full season into a Tonga series (last year) and never missed a game really up until getting injured at the back end of this year so it’s the first time he – as a professional player – has sat on the sidelines and watched his team-mates play so, as you can imagine, he’s champing at the bit to get back out there with his team-mates which is great for us to see.
“I think sometimes, even for a player like Jack, even though you’re not happy being on the sidelines and you’d rather be playing, having an experience like that probably reignites the fire inside you as to what it means to be playing out there with your team-mates.”
