Sculthorpe no nearer Saints Comeback - Anderson

St Helens coach Daniel Anderson has expressed concern over the well-being of captain Paul Sculthorpe.

The former Great Britain skipper has suffered a nightmare two years with knee and Achilles injuries, with Anderson claiming he is no nearer to a comeback than he was a month ago.
Sculthorpe underwent surgery on his Achilles in the autumn and has yet to resume contact training.

"It is a worry," he said. "He's hit a bit of a plateau in his rehabilitation, it's not going as rapidly as it was a month ago.

"He is still running but he's been stuck at 75 to 80% for a couple of weeks now. He can't do anything dynamic and he can't come into the team until he's 100%. That's the frustration.

"Until they give me the number that's very close to 100, I don't think about it, I just think about what we've got available."

And the answer to that is 'not a lot'. Anderson has five regulars sidelined through injury including Great Britain forwards Jon Wilkin and Maurie Fa'asavalu.

The pair have been ruled out for six weeks with torn knee ligaments and a broken thumb respectively, while Willie Talau will miss Friday's clash with Warrington with a calf strain.

"We've had a few setbacks," added Anderson. "We were healthy two weeks ago and crowing about it. But that's the way it goes.

"Someone who hasn't played or has a single digit number of first-grade games will be playing on Friday night. I'll decide which one it is later in the week.

"I have a lot of senior players who have been in this situation before. You just get on with it. We're playing our first home match and we're confident that we'll still make it very difficult for Warrington."

Three-quarter Chris Dean, 19, prop Gareth Frodsham, 18, and half-back Kyle Eastmond, 18, who have three Super League appearances between them, have all been called into St Helens' initial 20-man squad.