SAINTS coach Paul Wellens is hoping to welcome back second-row Curtis Sironen for Saturday’s home clash with Salford Red Devils.

The Australian, who has sat out in recent weeks due to a hamstring injury, was named in the 21-man squad for last week’s trip to Catalans but did not feature against the Dragons.

Last week Wellens did welcome back prop forward Alex Walmsley and winger Tommy Makinson to action, who both came through unscathed.

However, Saints will still have Agnatius Paasi, Mark Percival and Sione Mata’utia out through injuries and Morgan Knowles sitting out due to his five-match suspension.

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Speaking at Wednesday afternoon’s Saints press conference, Wellens said: “Obviously Curtis Sironen was named in the squad last week but never got to play so we’re hoping that Curtis will play this week.

“It was great to have Tommy back last week and obviously he will continue but other than that we don’t have any other players returning from outside the 21 we named last week.”

The Saints coach hopes that Sironen can bring a return to the form he showed the back end of last year and early on in 2023, when he was instrumental part of Saints’ success Down Under in the World Club Challege.

He added: “I’m of the opinion that, in terms of our back row quality, what we have here, Sione Mata’utia when he’s fit, Curtis Sironen, Joe Batchelor, I think we really have three of the best backrowers in the competition and the way Curtis particularly finished last year and the way he started this year, particularly with the games down in Australia.

“I thought he was outstanding, so hopefully we can get that Siro back out on the field and performing consistently well for a long period because he’s a really important member of the group.”