SAINTS’ long-term casualty Agnatius Paasi is lined up to make a return to action in the Reserves game at Castleford on Saturday.
The heavyweight Tongan international prop has been sidelined since last July when he sustained torn ankle ligaments, and an MCL and ACL from a tackle in the Challenge Cup semi-final against Leigh Leopards.
Although Saints will be patient with the front rower, and will gradually ease him back into action, it is nevertheless a huge boost for the team – especially given their current injury plight.
With fellow prop Alex Walmsley sidelined for a lengthy spell following knee surgery, and Jake Wingfield and Matt Whitley ruled out following shoulder operations, Saints’ pack is becoming depleted.
But the imminent return of prop Paasi is welcome on a number of counts after seeing the best part of 10 months taken from him as a result of the horrific knee damage sustained in the cup semi-final.
“We are not going to expect too much, too soon from Agnatius.
“We will have to be a bit patient with him – but to get him back is great.
“What we will do is assess his performance, see how he travels with a view at some point of re-introducing him back into the first team.
“He is going to play 30 minutes at the weekend. We have limited his time there and the next time we will extend that and then see where we are at.”
Paasi has had a number of opposed sessions with the squad which has allowed them to get some contact work into him.
Fitness wise he has been utilising anti-gravity treadmills to get into shape – always a difficulty for big men coming back from lower limb injuries.
Wellens added: “He has been around the physical nature of that now for a few weeks and he’s in a great position to go out there and play.
“Fitness is obviously a challenge for players with a significant knee injury and with one as serious as he’s had he’s limited on the amount of running his been able to do.
“But what I’ve been really impressed with since he has started running is the improvements that he’s made have been dramatic.
“Is he at full match fitness? No. Do we expect him to be there? No.
“But at the same time he could not have done anymore in terms of how hard he’s worked, particularly in the last few months, to put himself in the best position.”
Paasi brings a unique skillset to the game – and that has been missed by Saints.
Wellens said: “Agnatius is a really powerful ball carrier, unbelievably skilful for a big man in the way can offload the ball and gives us something a bit more around our attack with our second phase.
“We’ve missed him hugely with him not being there and over the next two, three, four, five weeks I think he will just continue to get better. I’m confident he’ll get back to a position where he can be really effective for the team in a positive way.”
Paasi will have been in a dark place since sustaining a devastating ACL damage from what was a high-profile incident due to John Asiata’s controversial tackling technique.
And that almost 10 months of recovery will have been a lonely journey in rehab, but there is light at the end of the tunnel for the hugely popular Tongan front rower.
Wellens explained how Paasi has dealt with not just his recovery but his re-integration to the top squad.
“He’s very quiet is Agnatius – and he just gets on with his work and doesn’t say too much,” Wellens said.
“But he’s been included more in a lot of the team meetings and he’s been running in training sessions with the main team again because we are very much trying to reintegrate him back in.
“I think off the back of that he’s feeling a lot more comfortable in the environment.
“He’s a quiet man, who doesn’t say a lot but what he does say is all very positive.”
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