news-engine

St Helens interim coach Eamon O’Carroll has eased fears over George Whitby after he was subbed off due to a knee injury in his first game back since returning from knee surgery. Whitby played from the bench as he made his first appearance since round 14 and he certainly injected plenty of creativity with his reverse pass to assist Jack Welsby a particular highlight in Saints’ 32-18 loss to Hull FC. The game would slowly get away from Saints and what was a miserable evening looked to get worse as he trudged off down the tunnel 15 minutes from time on account of a knee injury, however, interim coach Eamon O’Carroll has now clarified that it is not the same knee that the 20-year-old recently had surgery on. “George has got a little issue with his opposite knee so we thought it was right to take him off,” O’Carroll confirmed in his post-match presser, shared via the St Helens’ YouTube. “He’s back a week early and the knee that he has just had surgery on is absolutely fine but he took a bit of a bang, so we thought it was time to take him off which worked well anyway because he was playing limited minutes tonight anyway.” O’Carroll added: “We had to kind of do that but with where we’re at, the young lad put his hand up and said he wanted to play. He’d been training well with the physio so he came in and had one session with us and I thought he did a great job. “He brought some energy to the team, didn’t he? And we’ve certainly missed that.” Super League’s IMG nightmare, Hull FC hit new lows, and League Leaders Shield debate – click here to watch the latest episode of the Serious About Rugby League Show St Helens’ Tristan Sailor dilemma emerges again Whitby’s introduction in the first half saw starting half-back Jackson Hastings move to loose forward as loose forward Joe Shorrocks shifted to hooker, meaning that three quarters of Saints’ spine was home-grown. The Red Vee have had serious spine selection problems since the start of the 2025 season with a major headache being where best to play 2025 signing Tristan Sailor, recruited as a scrum-half but having clearly played his best rugby at full-back. Sailor is currently playing in the centres and O’Carroll has explained that he and Harry Robertson, who has recently moved from right centre to stand-off, need to find some more chemistry. “I love what Tristan does,” O’Carroll admitted, adding: “He’ll always put his hand up to do what’s right for the team. He understands the current situation that we’re in, which we’ve just spoken about, and he’ll do whatever it takes to try and perform at his best and do the right thing by the team. “Tristan will be the first to say that there are certainly areas in his game that he wants to be better at, but again, he’s working extremely hard on those, even though we’ve had a short turnaround this week. “Some of his defensive actions, he’s been looking to rectify and get some combinations there with Harry [Robertson]. Again, that’s quite a vast and extreme change, moving them two around. “They just need some rhythm and consistency with each other. On the positive, I think he’s been electric in the centre with the ball, and I think he’s certainly got a great combination there with that whole right edge, to be honest with you. I think they looked threatening for large parts last week.” Despite a lack of clarity or certainty over his position, Sailor recently penning a long-term extension that keeps him at the club until the end of the 2029 season, but O’Carroll was unable to shed light on whether centre will be the position he plays in that long-term period. “I wish I could give you an answer and some clarity on that, but we are really just looking at the here and now. I think that’s what we’ve got to focus on. If we look too far into the future, we’ll lose sight of what’s important now.”