Warrington Wolves injury news ahead of Leigh Leopards visit

The winger suffered a knee injury during the Challenge Cup clash with Catalans Dragons on Saturday but was able to finish the game, but scans have revealed a low-grade medial ligament injury.

In his pre-match press conference, head coach Daryl Powell said Thewlis would be missing for “one or two weeks,” ruling him out of Friday’s game and casting doubt on his fitness for the Magic Weekend clash with Hull FC.

Thewlis joins Matty Nicholson (finger) on the sidelines but aside from that, Powell confirmed there were no fresh injury concerns ahead of the trip to Leigh Sports Village.

"Josh is going to be missing for one or two weeks with his injury," he said.

"He got strapped up in the game last week – he’s a pretty tough kid and he did well to get through that.

"It’s a low Grade Two MCL so he wouldn’t be right for this week. He’s got potential for next week but I’d say the week after Magic is more likely for him.

"Everybody else is alright – we’ve had a light session today then we’ll have our team run on Thursday before being into the game on Friday."

In terms of replacements for Thewlis on the wing, Powell has plenty of options.

Matty Russell is available again after missing Saturday's Challenge Cup game under concussion protocol while Connor Wrench, who is looking for his first-team return after nine months out with an ACL injury, and Greg Minikin are also in contention.

Connor Wrench played 40 minutes for the reserves against London Broncos earlier this month (Image: Bob Brough)

"There’s a couple of outside-back options – Greg Minikin is there and we have to make a call on when Connor Wrench comes back into the team," Powell said.

"He’s not going to be too far away from playing – he’ll be in the team pretty soon."

Warrington will be without scrum-half Josh Drinkwater for the game after he was handed a one-match suspension having been charged with Grade C dangerous contact by the Match Review Panel.

Powell confirmed youngster Riley Dean will be recalled from his loan spell from Championship leaders Featherstone Rovers and would be in contention to feature alongside George Williams, with Peter Mata’utia and Stefan Ratchford also options to move inside from centre.

Young scrum-half Leon Hayes is not in contention having picked up a minor injury while training with dual-registration club North Wales Crusaders.

Riley Dean will be recalled from his loan at Featherstone Rovers (Image: SWPix.com)

"We’ve certainly got options – Riley Dean is an option, as is Pete Mata’utia and Stef Ratchford," Powell said.

"They’ve all played half for us before so I’ll make a call on that.

"It’s disappointing with Drinky getting a ban but every team has to deal with him.

"We’ll recall Riley and I don’t think we’ve got any option other than to do that.

"Leon injured himself training for North Wales last week.

"He’s in a boot at the moment so he’ll be out for a couple of weeks – it’s nothing major but he won’t be available for this game."