The back row forward will return to the Hull FC team on Saturday.
Hull FC back rower Jed Cartwright.
Jed Cartwright will make his comeback for Hull FC against Huddersfield Giants this Saturday afternoon, Andy Last has confirmed.
Cartwright has been absent for the last three and a half months, having torn his hamstring in the York Knights game at the end of February.
But after completing his rehab and with another week of training under his belt, the back-row forward is now deemed ready to make his return to action and, by Last’s admission, who last week said there are more facets that go into selection than fitness, is determined to make up for lost time.
“He’s had another good week’s practice under his belt,” Last said. “The reason behind last week’s non-selection was because we were carrying some guys in the team who had some knocks and Jed was coming back from quite a significant injury.
“We didn’t feel like it was right to put him into the team while carrying those knocks. But he’s got another good week’s practice under his belt and he looks really sharp.
“He will give us some strike on that edge. I’m really excited to see Jed play and I know he’s really keen to put in a strong performance for the club and the team.”
Elsewhere, Last has also confirmed the extent of Cade Cust’s and Zak Hardaker’s injuries. Both players dropped out of Hull’s 21-man squad this Thursday, with Cust out for 3-4 weeks with a shoulder injury he played with at Warrington and Hardaker out for at least a week with a head/neck issue.
“Cade has been battling an issue with his AC joint,” Last said. “It’s something list rugby league players suffer with over the course of their careers.
“Cade has been battling on with that. He took a jab before the game last week and it was still a little bit sore but he was brave enough to knock out sixty minutes for us, which is a credit to Cade and his desire and toughness to battle away and stay out there.
“He was very sore the following morning so we sent him for a scan and a little bit more damage was in there. He’ll be missing for three to four weeks.”
And on Hardaker, Last continued: “He had an MRI scan during the week and there is no long-term severity in terms of disc issues or anything like that. He’s just suffering some symptoms from his head getting caught in an unfamiliar position.
“He has got to go through his return-to-play protocols on the back of that concussion. Everything has gone into spasm and his neck is a little bit stiff. He’s improved significantly so fingers crossed he will be available for our game next week against Wakefield.”
On the injury front, Hull are without 15 players for the Huddersfield game, with James Bell (knee), Lewis Martin (ankle), and Davy Litten (knee) deemed the only players close to a future in the near future.
“James hasn’t quite improved enough,” Last said. “He needs more running time. There’s a little bit of soreness in that knee where he had the operation. He needs to get the k’s into his legs and feel more confidence with that and have no adverse effects. It’s a week-to-week thing at the moment.
“We aren’t going to get many players back for a significant period of time. We might get Lewis Martin available soon. He’s out of his boot and back on the field running. Davy Litten has had a good running session today and very confident that he’s going to be back sooner rather than later. After that, it’s weeks before we get a significant number of our long term injuries back for selection.”
The side remain without Will Pryce (ACL), John Asiata (hamstring), Sam Lisone (pec), Ligi Sao (shoulder), Connor Bailey (collarbone), Arthur Romano (ankle), Brad Fash (knee), and Joe Ward (ACL). Yusuf Aydin and Roman Dawson are suspended.