Cunningham joins Saints' 'voodoo' injury victims
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Your support makes all the difference.Jinxed St Helens have an entire first-choice pack and three captains on the injured list following the loss of Keiron Cunningham.
The Great Britain hooker tore his quad muscle during the victory over Hull on Friday night and will be out of action for six to eight weeks. Also struggling are the props Jason Cayless, Maurie Fa'asavalu and Nick Fozzard, and the back-rowers, Paul Sculthorpe, Jon Wilkin and Chris Flannery.
Of those, Flannery is likely to return at the Catalan Dragons on Saturday, while Wilkin and Fa'asavalu have a chance of doing so.
Saints will have their fourth captain of the season in charge, with Sculthorpe, Sean Long and now Cunningham all absent. The captain's armband, which their coach, Daniel Anderson, described yesterday as "a voodoo doll", passes to the Great Britain full-back, Paul Wellens.
It will be the first game that Cunningham has missed through injury during Anderson's three years at the club. "The only game Keiron has missed was the one I told him to miss against the Catalans two seasons ago," Anderson said. "Other than that, he's played every single game since I've been here."
Bradford have also lost a key player, their second-rower Glenn Morrison, who is ruled out for three months with a knee injury.
Luke George is out of Wakefield's squad to face Hull on Friday after damaging his knee against Hull KR last weekend.
Warrington have not yet given their Australian Test centre, Matt King, a cognitive head test to determine whether he can play at Bradford on Sunday. King was carried off with concussion after a high tackle by Wigan's Richie Mathers, which was being assessed by the Rugby League's disciplinary committee last night.
Another player, Trent Barrett, has avoided suspension after being found guilty on a downgraded damngerous throw charge from the same match.
Hull KR are to use their new floodlights for the first time for Saturday night's game against Castleford.
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