Sculthorpe playing for his Saints future in landmark comeback

13 April 2012

Paul Sculthorpe launches his latest comeback when he makes his 250th appearance for St Helens in Friday's home engage Super League game against Harlequins.

Even more significantly it is only his third game of the season after yet another injury setback and the former Great Britain captain admits: 'I know I am playing for my future.

Scroll down for more

Super Saint: Sculthorpe is hoping he can enjoy success with Saints

'My contract is up again at the end of the season and I will only earn a new one by playing matches. I've only played twice in the last eight months.'

Sculthorpe, 30, has been cut down by two serious knee injuries and a ruptured Achilles in the last three years and has only just fought his way back from a hamstring problem.

'I don't take any notice of the whispers that I'm injury prone or that I could be finished. When I'm fit I know I've got the ability to do the job and I'm fit now.

'I just want to get out there against a very confident Quins team, have a good game and get my career and Saints season back on track.'

Saints have slumped into the bottom half of the Super League table after losing four of their last five games and Sculthorpe has had plenty of company in the treatment room.

'We have suffered some horrendous injuries in major positions and we have also leaked too many points. But there is enough talent in our squad to turn our season round and come on strong when it matters.'

Sculthorpe accepts that his international career is probably over but the two-time 'Man of Steel' is determined to show he has plenty to offer whether he gets a new deal with Saints or has to seek a new challenge elsewhere.

'I have had some bad luck with injuries but I'll never quit,' says one of the icons of the Super League era.

With prop Bryn Hargreaves and centre Willie Talau also returning for Saints, they hope to deny unchanged Quins a third successive victory.

League leaders Leeds Rhinos are anxious to bounce back from last week's home defeat by Wigan when they take on Warrington Wolves at Headingley Carnegie. The Rhinos will be without injured duo Ali Lauitiiti and Simon Worrall but Warrington welcome back full back Stuart Reardon, centre Martin Gleeson and stand off Lee Briers. Forward Ben Westwood is suspended.

Second placed Wigan hope to have stand off Trent Barrett available after a two-match absence for their home game against Catalans Dragons who will buoyed by the return of classy scrum half Casey McGuire.

Bottom club Castleford Tigers, shock winners against St Helens last week, can leapfrog Hull FC if they beat them at The Jungle. Second rower Matt Cook has joined the Tigers on loan from Bradford Bulls. Hull have seven missing.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in