Warrington Wolves star nearing return from serious injury

The outside back is nearing the end of his long road to recovery from the ACL injury he suffered towards the end of last season.

Wrench has been out of action since sustaining the injury against Toulouse Olympique in August, robbing Powell of one of the most highly-rated young players in his squad.

However, the Wire head coach confirmed the 21-year-old was “probably 10 days away” from a return to the field despite a slight setback in his recovery process through illness.

That may put him in contention for next week’s home game against Hull Kingston Rovers, while there is also a reserve team game against London Broncos at Victoria Park next Saturday.

Connor Wrench leaves the field after being injured against Toulouse last year (Image: Mike Boden)

“He’s only a couple of weeks away from coming back,” Powell said.

“He’s been ill for the last week – he’s been working extremely hard and that’s maybe rattled his immune system a little bit.

“He should be back training tomorrow and he’s probably 10 days away from playing.

“It will be great to see him back out there – the medical team have done an awesome job and he’s looking in great shape.”

In his weekly pre-match press conference prior to Friday’s return to action against Wakefield Trinity, Powell was also asked about his recruitment and retention plans after the passing of a significant date in the rugby league calendar.

From May 1, players in the final year of their contracts can now start speaking to rival clubs about moves for 2024 and beyond.

Daryl Clark, Ben Currie and Peter Mata’utia are the highest-profile Warrington players to whom that currently applies, while the club can also intensify their efforts in bringing players into the club.

They are currently seeking a replacement for the departed Thomas Mikaele, but Powell insisted there is “nothing imminent” on that front.

He also referenced centre Toby King, who is currently on loan at Wigan Warriors for this season but is contracted to The Wire until 2025, with Wigan boss Matty Peet making his desire to keep King at the DW Stadium known.

“We’re going through the process at the moment in terms of what we want to do from a recruitment perspective but there’s no news on that,” Powell said.

“I’ve seen what Matt Peet’s said about Toby and he’s contracted to us, so we’ll have a decision to make and some consultation about that. We’ll go through all of that before we put anything out.

“The turnover won’t be anywhere near as big as last year, that’s 100 per cent certain.

“We’ve got a couple on options and a couple off-contract so we’re just working through that at the moment.

“We’re always looking while there’s salary cap space, but there’s nothing imminent.

“Obviously Thomas left and there’s little bits to come in terms of extending players’ contracts, but the salary cap moves about a bit at times based on different circumstances.

“For now, there’s nothing to report.”