Chris Bailey has targeted the home clash against Hull KR or the following week’s trip to St Helens for his potential Huddersfield Giants return.
The Australian loose-forward has been sidelined since suffering a torn bicep during the 38-14 home victory over Catalan Dragons on March 19.
Bailey required surgery to repair the damage and was expected to remain on the sidelines for up to four months. But he hasn’t ruled out being in the selection mix for the clash against the Robins on July 5 or at Saints five days.
“The recovery’s going good and I’m a bit ahead of schedule,” said Bailey.
“It’d be good if I could make it against Hull KR or St Helens, but that’s definitely my target.
“And I’ll definitely be doing my best to make it. These last few months have been tough and very frustrating, and you really miss not being out there.
“The good thing is that when I do come back I’ll be fit and strong, because our rehab team have done a fantastic job with me.
“Having said that, I know I can’t take getting a place back in the side for granted.
“Even though some of our form has been pretty mixed – we just don’t seem to be able to put two good halves of footy together and need to find some better consistency – we’ve got a good, strong squad capable of achieving a lot more in this competition.
“I just hope I can show I deserve to be part of the side when I get back to full fitness.”
The strength of the squad was demonstrated in impressive fashion with the impressive 30-19 home weekend win over Warrington Wolves.
Besides Bailey, not featuring that day were the likes of injured trio Leroy Cudjoe, Brett Ferres and Aaron Murphy, who were all sidelined with knee injuries, while Scott Grix and Kyle Wood missed out on selection.
Grix was available to play following his one-match suspension but missed out because of the way teenage replacement Jared Simpson had performed on his Super League debut at home to Wigan the week before, while Wood stepped aside for fellow half-back Jamie Ellis.
Simpson and Ellis were both highly-impressive performers against the Wolves, with Simpson grabbing a vital second-half try and Ellis holding his nerve to land two late match-clinching drop goals as well as a magnificent touchline conversion while regular goalkicker Danny Brough was spending 10 minutes in the sin-bin.
Jacob Fairbank also came up with a big display in the place of Ferres on his first Super League performance of the season.
And with all three earning praise from Paul Anderson, it looks like the head coach could have some massive selection calls to make in the final five rounds of the regular Super League season.
