Saints hit by Cunningham injury

Cunningham has been injury-free for a long time (Getty)

St Helens hooker Keiron Cunningham may be out for two months after badly tearing a quadricep in Friday's victory over Hull at Knowsley Road.

The 31-year-old faces a lay-off of six to eight weeks and the thigh injury has surprised medical staff.

"The gentleman at Liverpool who did the ultrasound said he had never seen a tear that size before," said coach Daniel Anderson.

Cunningham joins Paul Sculthorpe and Sean Long on the Saints injury list.

Prop forwards Jason Cayless and Nick Fozzard are also out but Jon Wilkin and Chris Flannery are set to return from injury, while prop Maurie Fa'asavalu is having the wire removed from his broken thumb on Tuesday.

Saints' next match is at Catalans Dragons on Saturday.

"Chris Flannery trained yesterday and so he is the most likely to return and Jon Wilkin and Maurie have a chance of playing as well," added Anderson.

Meanwhile, renowned sculptor Vanessa Marston has begun work on a statue of St Helens legend Cunningham.

At a civic ceremony following the Challenge Cup win at Wembley last August, the local council announced that it planned to commission a statue to honour the club, with over 10,000 fans voting for it to be of Cunningham.

Cunningham, who has played over 400 games for the Saints said: "I was really flattered and deeply honoured by the tribute and look forward to the finished article which is such a great honour for this first-class club."

Marston plans to create a small version of the statue in clay, gradually scaling up to full-size before completing the final bronze cast statue which will be placed in a prominent position in St. Helens.