Noone injury woe (From Warrington Guardian)

Noone injury woe

THE start of an important year for Paul Noone has been cruelly hit by injury and he was one of four Wolves players spending time in hospital yesterday, Wednesday.

Noone, who is earmarked to replace Mike Forshaw at loose forward in 2005, suffered a concerning bleed to the back of his eye in the 12-6 friendly defeat to his hometown club Widnes Vikings on Tuesday.

Academy half back Jamie Durbin and centre Anthony Jerram broke hands in the game, which is disappointing news for them as the new season approaches, but yesterday's x-rays cleared fears of a break to Andy Bracek's arm.

Noone took a blow 30 minutes into the Widnes game and was on his way to hospital with a patch over his eye before the second half had started.

The 23-year-old was allowed home on Tuesday night but had a date with an eye specialist at Warrington Hospital yesterday morning as Warrington Guardian went to press.

Head coach Paul Cullen said: "He has gone back for a scan. First indications are that there is no fracture to his cheekbone or eye socket. That is the good news but there is concern to a bleed in his eye which initially affected his vision."

Noone, who was sidelined for the last 10 games of Super League IX with a hairline fracture of a fibula, has worked hard in pre-season training so far in preparation for a crunch year ahead.

Forshaw's boots are a big pair to fill but Noone has been handed the No13 squad jersey and has a key role to play in Super League X, specially as four other back rowers' spells with Wolves came to an end in September.

Forshaw and Darren Burns retired while Jerome Guisset and Ian Sibbit were released.

The remaining back rowers in the squad with Super League experience are newcomer Logan Swann, Mike Wainwright and Paul Wood. Regular hooker Jon Clarke has played in the back row too.

However, Wolves' young full time forwards were highly impressive in the way they handled Widnes' seasoned international campaigners like Terry O'Connor, Julian O'Neill and Mick Cassidy at The Halliwell Jones Stadium two days ago.

Powerfully built 18-year-old Bracek, who Wolves bought off St Helens for £22,500 in the close-season, stood out with his bullocking bursts and aggressive defence but his fellow England Academy internationals, 19-year-old Simon Grix and 18-year-old Steve Pickersgill, also shone.

Grix, who Wolves snapped up from Halifax, played at half back against Widnes but prefers the loose forward's role.

Cullen, who was pleased with the performances of Wolves' Academy players as well as his new full time youngsters, said: "I thought Steve Pickersgill was outstanding going forward against a very big Widnes pack and both Andy Bracek and Simon Grix showed that they can justify the interest that we've shown in them."

Grix, while playing at half back, held some responsibility in maintaining the team's shape and structure against Widnes and Cullen felt he handled the work well.

Cullen added: "I was very pleased about the way that he went forward. It was very controlled and we nearly came up with a couple of plays on the end of it."

Grix enjoyed his first Halliwell Jones Stadium experience although he was not too happy with his second half display.

He said: "In the first half I thought I got into the game quite well but in the second half my kicks weren't going right or passes weren't coming. However, I did enjoy it and it was a good game considering we had a young side out there and Widnes fielded such an experienced one.

"Everyone in the Warrington team wanted to impress, specially the young players and I hope I made a decent impression. There was a lot of enthusiasm from the team and that showed in the amount of defending that we did. We kept Widnes out for a long time in that first half."