{"id":1185156,"date":"2026-09-04T01:34:32","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T01:34:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1185156\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T01:34:32","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T01:34:32","slug":"st-helens-injury-news-as-noah-stephens-update-shared-and-key-pair-likely-out-for-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1185156\/","title":{"rendered":"St Helens injury news as Noah Stephens update shared and key pair likely out for the year"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Breakout youngster Jake Davies and centre Nene Macdonald are likely done for the year at St Helens with interim coach Eamon O\u2019Carroll issuing a comprehensive injury update.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Speaking on Thursday, one day before Saints\u2019 crunch clash against Leigh Leopards, O\u2019Carroll explained why both Macdonald and Davies were not in the 21-man squad<\/a>, as he suggested that neither man will play any more this season.<\/p>\n

For Macdonald, it\u2019s a familiar issue with O\u2019Carroll confirming: \u201cNene\u2019s got an issue with his knee, so he won\u2019t play probably. I think he might have been in a position to play, but we\u2019ve decided not to there.\u201d<\/p>\n

On his chances of playing next week against Hull KR, O\u2019Carroll added: \u201cI think he\u2019ll be done.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for Davies, he said: \u201cJake is really unlucky. He\u2019s just had a little bit of an issue with his leg. He\u2019s been complaining of just a bit of an issue with his shin.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve ended up managing that and he\u2019s been good, I think his performances have backed that up, but he\u2019s starting to struggle in the week so we\u2019ve just got some investigation done there.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s probably too technical for me to explain, but there\u2019s a little issue there where we have to offload him for a little bit, so he could be a couple of weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most Read on Serious About Rugby League<\/p>\n

O\u2019Carroll admitted that may mean Davies is done for the year, however, he explained the importance of diagnosing the problem now, stating: \u201cThe positive to that is we\u2019ve found out at the right time so it didn\u2019t become a bigger issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think what\u2019s important is I don\u2019t want to put someone like Jake who\u2019s 19 or 20 years of age in a position where it\u2019s going to be detrimental for his future, and his immediate future is next year and impressing under a new coach, so we\u2019ve decided to take him out of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

RIP Sir Billy, under-the-radar challengers, Hull KR\u2019s controversial call and more \u2013 Click here to watch this week\u2019s episode of the Serious About Rugby League Show<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

St Helens boss explains forward absentees<\/p>\n

St Helens will hand out a debut to Oscar Knox on Friday night and their squad is littered with youngsters, particularly in the pack where they\u2019ve lost Daniel Suluka-Fifita (suspended) and Alex Walmsley (concussion protocols).<\/p>\n

On Walmsley, who passed his HIA but later displayed symptoms, O\u2019Carroll said: \u201cHe\u2019s being looked after\u2026 there\u2019s protocols there, those sort of decisions are taken out of the players\u2019 hands and the club hands, you have to follow the protocols.<\/p>\n

\u201cAl passed his test, but had a few delayed symptoms, so we\u2019ll just go through that process now and see how he is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another experienced forward who remain unavailable is Curtis Sironen and O\u2019Carroll confirmed that the Australian is still recovering from the after-effects of his knee infection that\u2019s ruled him out since round 19.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cIt\u2019s an infection in his knee. He spent a couple of weeks in hospital there and naturally lost some weight, it\u2019s about building him back up and getting him back to his fighting weight, which with infections can be tricky as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll go through a very similar process like we are with Al, we\u2019ll look after him and when he\u2019s ready to go he\u2019ll be ready to go, we\u2019re not too sure when that is though.\u201d<\/p>\n

Noah Stephens update issued<\/strong><\/p>\n

There was also an update on forward Noah Stephens, who has not played since the away game against Castleford back in May. The club\u2019s most recent update came in June when then head coach Paul Rowley confirmed that Stephens\u2019 recovery could be \u2018measured in years\u2019<\/a>, highlighting the severity of his injury.<\/p>\n

Rowley would reveal that the young forward was suffering from nerve damage, even confirming that Stephens could not drive as he didn\u2019t have full movement in his arm.<\/p>\n

Offering an update today, O\u2019Carroll said of Stephens\u2019 recovery: \u201cThat\u2019s an ongoing process. Unfortunately, there\u2019s not really too much clarity within that, what I can say is if anyone wants some sort of reassurance that Noah is doing really well.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s coming in, he\u2019s got a smile on his face, obviously he\u2019s got a fairly significant injury there, but most importantly as a person he\u2019s doing well and he\u2019s got some great support around him which is fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Breakout youngster Jake Davies and centre Nene Macdonald are likely done for the year at St Helens with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1185157,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4102],"tags":[4151,79,16,15],"class_list":["post-1185156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117210205913730380","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1185156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1185156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1185156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1185157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1185156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1185156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1185156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}