Wakefield Trinity winger Tom Johnstone facing six weeks or more out

Head coach Chris Chester gave an update this afternoon after the 25-year-old was injured in Sunday’s 23-22 defeat to Wigan Warriors.

“Tom sees the specialist tomorrow and we’ll get an opinion then on whether he needs surgery or not,” he said.

“We’re hopeful it doesn’t require surgery and it’s probably looking at four to six weeks.

“It was the elbow he did. A lot depends on Tom’s pain threshold but we’re looking at four to six weeks best-case scenario.”

Johnstone played on with the injury and scored a brilliant try.

Chester does not believe that made matters worse.

“The damage had already been done,” added the coach.

“The strapping he had in place meant he couldn’t bend it in the game and he took his try fantastically well.

“He managed to get through the game and we’re quite hopeful it doesn’t require any type of surgery.”

Following the Covid outbreak at Hull FC, that forced a hasty reshuffle of fixtures, Wakefield now play Catalans Dragons on Saturday rather than St Helens.

Trinity have brought utility-back Ryan Hampshire and winger Lee Kershaw into their 21-man squad who could both act as a replacement for prolific wideman Johnstone.

Jordy Crowther and Jack Croft are also included and Chester said: “Potentially there could be changes.

“People like Joe Westewrman and Jordy Crowther didn’t play last week as both were not 100 percent injury-wise, Jordy with knee/hamstring and Joe just needed some more rehab on his knee.

“They’ll definitely come into consideration and Matty Ashurst obviously comes back into the 17.

“We’ll leave a couple of players until tomorrow before making a decision on them but I’ve said whoever is not 100 per cent fit tomorrow won’t be involved at the weekend.

“We’ve got some guys waiting with a clean bill of health so there’s good competition for places.”

Catalans have England full-back Sam Tomkins back from suspension while PNG star David Mead and ex-England hooker Micky McIlorum are also included after recovering from injury.

Wakefield Trinity (from): Tupou, Lyne, Miller, Fifita, K Wood, Arona, Ashurst, Kirmond, Westerman, Pitts, Kopczak, Tangata, Crowther, J Wood, Croft, Kershaw, Hampshire, Tanginoa, Navarrete, Kay, Gigot.

Catalans Dragons (from): Mead, Langi, Folau, Yaha, Maloney, Drinkwater, Casty, McIlorum, Moa, Whitley, J Tomkins, Garcia, Bousquet, Davies, Jullien, Da Costa, Maria, Baitieri, Mourgue, Kasiano, S Tomkins.

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