DARYL Powell admits Joe Philbin is “rattled” after sustaining a concussion against Wigan Warriors on Friday night.
The Warrington Wolves forward took a blow to the head while attempting to tackle Wigan’s Kai Pearce-Paul during the second half of the 26-12 loss at the DW Stadium.
Play was delayed for a period of time while Philbin was treated and while he was eventually able to walk off the field, he went on to fail his head injury assessment.
That triggers a mandatory 11-day stand-down period but given Wire are now 15 days away from their next game – the trip to Wakefield Trinity on July 30 – Philbin is not expected to miss any action.
“Joe failed his HIA – he’s got a bit of time but we need to go through the checks to make sure he’s alright,” Powell said.
“He looked rattled and will need to be checked over, but he’ll be alright.
“There’s always checks and protocols in terms of coming back so we’ll see how he is.”
The two-week break will also give time for James Harrison to recover after he took a knock to the ankle late in the game.
Powell confirmed Harrison was of a mind to finish the game but was withdrawn as a precautionary measure.
Wire were once again without several key men, with George Williams’ absence extending to a third game with a hamstring injury.
After Friday’s game, Powell confirmed Williams had been due to face his former club this week until feeling more discomfort during Thursday’s final training session, so Danny Walker was forced to play out of position at stand-off.
He too is expected to return against Wakefield along with Matty Nicholson (finger) and Matty Ashton (calf).
“We thought George was going to be alright all week,” Powell said.
“He trained all week but felt his hamstring a little bit towards the back end of the last session.
“Riley Dean’s on loan and Leon Hayes is still injured. We’d trained with our units in place and losing our outside backs meant we’d have had to shift Ben Currie to centre, which would have thrown us all over the place.
“We decided to keep as much consistency in the units as we could.
“It was pretty late in the day – I thought Danny did a decent job to be honest but it is what it is.
“Our half-back situation has been frustrating all year to be honest but it should get fixed up against Wakefield. Then we can get some consistency hopefully.”
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