JOSH Thewlis will miss Warrington Wolves’ trip to Castleford Tigers next week under concussion protocols.

The winger was taken off after being hit on the head during the first half of the 38-20 victory over Leigh Leopards and subsequently failed his in-game Head Injury Assessment.

That means Thewlis is now mandated to sit out of training and games for 12 days, thus ruling him out of next week’s trip to the Mend-A-Hose Jungle.

Greg Minikin deputised on the right wing for the remainder of the Round Five victory but head coach Daryl Powell confirmed Matty Russell would come in for his second Wire debut next week.

The winger, who rejoined the club from Toulouse Olympique in the off-season, was due to feature for the reserves against Hull KR on Saturday but he will not be kept back to play next week.

“He fails that HIA so it’s a bit of time off for Josh,” he said.

“We’ve got Matty Russell waiting in the wings and he’s ready to play – he was going to play tomorrow (for the reserves) but we’ll pull him out of that now.

“We’ll look to give him an opportunity next week.”

Powell reported no fresh injuries among his players from Friday evening’s game as The Wire made it five wins from as many Super League games.