SAINTS boss Keiron Cunningham expects a couple of his long-term injured stars to return to the Saints side to face Castleford on Thursday.

Although he stopped short of announcing them by name when stating there would be players "on the teamsheet this week that we haven't seen for a while,” they can only realistically mean Luke Walsh and Joe Greenwood, given that Atelea Vea is still four-week away, Jonny Lomax is a longer-term casualty and Paul Wellens is still struggling with his hip.

Where and how those players slot into a side that has won its past five games will give Cunningham a selection headache.

It is a welcome headache to have, infinitely more preferable to the one that he has endured at times this year when key players were struck down.

Cunningham said: "We look healthy heading into the game.

"Some of the boys played with a virus on Friday which took a lot of out of them, but we have recovered well and should be healthy this week.

"We are looking forward to it. We have picked up some good wins over the last few weeks but we can't rest on our laurels. Our last win is a short-lived one, it has been put to bed now and we are concentrating on Thursday.

"We're in a good spot but things can turn ugly very quickly. We have to ride our fortune and pick up points on the way.

"And we should be able to drip a few of our injured players back in shortly.

"There will be a couple of names on the teamsheet this week that we haven't seen for a while - and a few headaches for me in terms of team selection. They will freshen up the squad too so we won't be using the short turnaround as an excuse.”