England star fullback Jack Welsby is in doubt to face off against Australia in the Ashes later this year after undergoing surgery on his knee.
In a club statement, St Helens RLFC confirmed that Welsby has undergone knee surgery and is set to be sidelined for 16 weeks (four months), putting him in doubt to face Australia later this year.
A star of the Super League, the 24-year-old fullback has featured for England on 13 occasions since his debut in 2022 and even became the nation's youngest-ever Test captain.
His absence is set to open the door for AJ Brimson to wear the No.1 jersey for England later this year after it was confirmed at the beginning of May that his application was approved to convert his international allegiance from Australia to England.
It is understood that Brimson is half-English because his mother, Vanessa, was born over there.
While he has been a shining light for the QLD Maroons when they've needed him most over the last few years, the Gold Coast Titans utility hasn't received the same honours to represent his country on the biggest stages, a fact that helped his case in making the switch to his birth country's rivals.
He previously suited up for Australiaย in the 2019 IRL 9s World Cup in Sydney and represented the Junior Kangaroos againstย France in 2019, but he has not been selected for a Senior International Match.
โThis was a unique case in that a player who qualifies for two Tier 1 nations had elected to represent one of those nations in 9s and was therefore unable to represent the other nation in 13s," IRL Chair Troy Grant said.
โYet the player has had no further opportunity to represent his elected nation in 9s, as he had anticipated, and has also not played a Senior International Match.
โThe aim of the international eligibility rules is to ensure that the best players are able to represent a nation for whom he or she qualifies but in this case the player had been left sidelined.
โThe tribunal therefore felt that player Brimson should be allowed to switch his international eligibility fromย Australiaย toย Englandย and approved his application to do so.โ
