Tony Smith has issued an injury update ahead of Friday’s Betfred Super League Round 9 fixture against Leeds Rhinos, brought to you in association with Peregrine Property.
The Black & Whites picked up several injuries during last week’s fixture against Hull KR.
Jake Clifford and Jamie Shaul were both withdrawn at half-time with knocks sustained in the opening forty minutes, while Mitieli Vulikijapani also sustained an injury after the break.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Smith said: “All three players will be unavailable this week, with Mitch having picked up a one-match ban anyway.
“Jamie (Shaul) has injured his calf and will be sidelined for two to three weeks.
He added: “Jake (Clifford) has popped a ligament on top of his ankle we think at this stage. It’s not a necessary ligament, so the ankle can still operate without it.
“He’s doing well, but we’re just waiting for swelling to go down before we send him for scans and an X-ray.
“The best case scenario if it’s not too serious would be to play next week against Huddersfield, so we’ve got our fingers crossed for him.”
On Vulikijapani, he said: “Mitch doesn’t have an ACL in his knee, and it looks like he has aggravated some cartilage there so he wouldn’t have been available this week.”
On the ongoing recoveries of Tex Hoy and Jake Trueman, he continued: “Jake is getting there, he is doing everything in training and getting his strength up in both legs, almost to an equal level now, which is great news.
“The earliest he could be available would be the Wigan fixture at the start of May; he’s looking sharp and can’t wait to contribute on the field, but you don’t rush those sorts of injuries.”
“Tex is running well, he has an outside chance to feature against Huddersfield next week.
“We’ll have Davy Litten available to us too though so we will assess things and see what happens between now and then.”
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