Luke Walsh: Will miss Saints' upcoming clash against Leeds
St Helens have confirmed that in-form scrum-half Luke Walsh will be out of action for between four and six weeks with a calf injury.
The Australian, who has made a superb start to the new Super League campaign, suffered the knock in last Friday's win over Catalan Dragons.
The former Penrith Panther came off the field at half-time and he will be joined on the sidelines by centre Jordan Turner, who could miss up to a month with a hamstring problem.
St Helens take on resurgent Wakefield this weekend while Walsh and Turner will now miss out on the mouth-watering clash against Leeds, but head coach Nathan Brown says rising talent Marc Percival should be available to face the Rhinos.
"He's (Walsh) out for four to six weeks with Jordan missing around three to four with a hamstring," Brown told the club's official website.
"We have a number of other players carrying minor knocks who might also miss a week. Alex Walmsley will probably miss out whilst Sia Soliola is 50/50."
Despite the bad news, Saints skipper Paul Wellens is confident his side can cope without the influential Walsh.
He said: "You always want your better players playing for you, that goes without saying, but I think we're fortunate in the fact that at the back end of last year we were playing without a half-back.
"Jon Wilkin filled in for that role and did a really admirable job so Wilko can come in and play that position, albeit it alters the way we play slightly. We should still remain competitive."
Brown will use the Wildcats game as an opportunity to blood some of the club's younger players and he is backing them to impress.
"We have a lot of confidence in the squad and the younger players who played last season will get an opportunity," he added.
"The likes of Greg Richards and Joe Greenwood have been working and training hard and have been waiting for a chance. Matty Dawson has a good chance too and we're confident they will do a good job for us."