SAINTS coach Paul Wellens has paid tribute to the club's backroom staff in both the strength and conditioning and the medical/physios wing for their efforts during what has been an unprecedented injury-hit season.
Last Friday saw another chunk of the club's short to medium-term casualties return to the fold with Mark Percival, Lewis Dodd, James Bell and Daryl Clark back in action for the vital game.
This follows on from the previous week's return of Jack Welsby from a hamstring injury with Tommy Makinson, Alex Walmsley, Matt Whitley, Sione Mata'utia, Joe Batchelor and Morgan Knowles all relatively recent returnees at the back end of the campaign.
It is a tough balancing act getting players back on the field for the must-win games that the season hangs on whilst not risking further re-injury.
The coach and staff must also avoid the pitfalls of having too many 'under-cooked' players back in at the same time - and minutes of the likes of Welsby, Clark and Walmsley have been managed.
Wellens said: "It has been unbelievably challenging for our medical and S&C staff this year, given the fact that we've had the amount of disruption that we've had.
"I can't speak highly enough of Nathan Mill, Andy Thompson and George Jackson in the medical department and Matty and Adam Daniels in the S&C department.
"They're working their fingers to the bone because it's not just about putting one session on for everybody.
"We've got a number of returning players coming at different stages, so some days they're delivering three, four or five sessions to cater for the individuals within that.
"What a lot of people don't see is the amount of hard work that's going on behind the scenes with the staff."
But there was praise too, for the way those players have responded - and the hoops they have jumped through to be ready to be thrust in at the deep end in some critical games that will determine how far the team goes this year.
"The players are responding to (the programmes they are given), Wellens said.
"They have to be turning up, they are being diligent and doing all the preparation.
"And Jack Welsby is a great example of that - someone that has hardly ever been injured.
"And he has had to really knuckle down through a 6/7/8 week rehab programme but he's reaping the rewards of that work."
Saints' only current casualties are Curtis Sironen (calf) who Wellens said was in with a chance for a play-off return, with Konrad Hurrell (neck) and Jake Wingfield (shoulder) surgeries deemed as season-enders.
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