SAINTS will welcome back Sione Mata’utia for Friday night’s play-off semi-final against Leeds.

Mata’utia tweaked his ankle in the game against Leeds three weeks ago, but has been cleared fit to play.

Jonny Lomax and Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook both came back in the last match at Salford.

Saints also welcome back Agnatius Paasi from a two-match suspension.

The remainder of the squad, bar season-long casualties Theo Fages and James Bentley are all fit.

Woolf gave an update on Bentley after the latest specialist reports.

St Helens Star:

He said: “There is no chance of James being back before the end of the season.

“We were hopeful and talking to specialists but the risk was way too great and not something that any of us would live with if we took that risk.

“He’ll definitely be out of contact for a 12-week period and at the end of that there will be more scans to make sure all the healing is done before he is put into a position of contact to play.

“He is gutted, and we are just as gutted for him because we would love to have him playing for us.

“If you go back to 2020 he was one of our best all year and along with Morgan Knowles they were our two stand out players and a really big part of why we had success that year.

“Unfortunately for him, he has not been able to stay on the field this year.

“He had that broken leg that ruled him out for an extended period. He came back for four games and he was out again.

“That is our game – we have missed him, but other players have filled that hole and brought their own attributes to the team as well.

“We are going to miss him next year and for the rest of this, but he is still with us and still keen to contribute in some way to us having success.”