7 things wrong with St Helens right now

When St Helens lost to Warrington Wolves on Friday night it marked their fourth consecutive defeat, the first time the club have gone on such a streak since 2016, and that’s led to the question of what is going wrong at St Helens.

It’s not a simple answer either with lots of factors contributing to the club’s ongoing spiral which they will aim to stop when they travel to face Leigh Leopards on Friday night. Nothing less than a win will satisfy the faithful fans of the club who are accustomed to success.

Last season marked the first year since 2018 that the club did not make it to a final with Paul Wellens’ team being knocked out in both the Challenge Cup and Super League playoff semi-finals. Of course, they won the World Club Challenge but that achievement has since been matched by rivals Wigan Warriors who now hold all four available trophies.

In doing so, Matt Peet’s side have become the first team to achieve the feat since the St Helens team led by Daniel Anderson in 2006. That success seems a far cry away with the club in their current state so we’ve assessed seven things that are currently wrong at St Helens.

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Seven things wrong with St Helens right now

St Helens suffering an injury crisis

Whilst they’re not the only team to be suffering an injury crisis, it is undeniable how many key players St Helens have missing. The injury list for senior players currently stands at ten with arguably at least seven of those players being preferred choices for a matchday squad of 17 men.

Perhaps even worse for the club is that of those 10 stricken players, seven are forwards whilst a further two can fill in in the second row meaning that the pack is decimated. Against Warrington, Wellens had to opt for Moses Mbye at loose forward and could only carry one forward on the bench in young Noah Stephens.

Whilst the injury list remains as it is, St Helens will be facing an uphill battle to recover their form with current absentees including; Tommy Makinson, Alex Walmsley, Sione Mata’utia, Joe Batchelor, Morgan Knowles, Jake Wingfield, Matt Whitley, George Delaney, Ben Davies and Konrad Hurrell.

Spine uncertainty

The old adage is that forwards win you a match and the backs decide by how many is true but when you’re missing as many forwards as St Helens are then you need your backs to do something a bit special.

A current problem for Paul Wellens would be that he doesn’t appear to know what his best spine is with the past few weeks seeing a number of different one, six, seven and nine combinations. The two recent defeats to Wigan and Warrington have seen Harry Robertson, Jack Welsby, Jonny Lomax and Daryl Clark occupy the positions.

However, Lewis Dodd was recalled to the bench for the game against Wire but with the 22-year-old exiting for the NRL, uncertainty reigns over his status. He was subject to criticism from Jon Wilkin over his efforts against Warrington but as were all senior spine players for their inability to break down a team with just 12 men.

Bang-average attack

Relating to Wilkin’s comments about St Helens’ key playmakers being unable to break down a Warrington team that played for 50 minutes with 12 men and 10 minutes with 11 is the fact that their attack has appeared disjointed all season long.

Jack Welsby is quietly putting together a strong season for tries and assists with the full-back registering 26 tries or assists so far, something only Matt Dufty can surpass, but in this run of four defeats, he has only registered one of each.

Pair that with the club’s overall season stats which make for curious reading. St Helens have made 92 clean breaks (3rd most) yet they boast the lowest average gain of any team. That highlights the fact Saints have so many sets on their opponent’s line but simply cannot break them down. Against Warrington they had 38 play the balls in Warrington’s 20, but just two tries. A serious concern.

Are St Helens just flat-track bullies?

What makes St Helens’ attacking numbers even stranger is the fact that despite their ‘poor attack’, they have actually scored the third-most points in Super League with 451. That’s an average of just over 25 points per game, enough to win most Super League games.

In this current streak of form, they’re only averaging 11.5 points per game which marks a huge drop off. The reason why there is such a stark drop off is because St Helens’ 451 points this season are incredibly misleading.

Almost 40% of their points scored have come in just three games against Super League’s bottom three teams. A 58-0 win over Hull FC, 60-4 against Cas and 52-6 against London equate to well over a third of their points scored in just a sixth of their games. By contrast, they’ve scored just 42 in their last three games across the top three.

Have Saints signed well enough?

Whilst they’re suffering from a terrible injury crisis, questions have to be asked about if that is a by-product of their recruitment in recent years. Prior to the 2024 season, the Red Vee signed just four players but even one of those was just the confirmation of a loan deal in Tee Ritson.

Both Daryl Clark and Matt Whitley have suffered from injuries this season with the latter still out injured. Those four signings marked the lowest of any Super League side for the 2024 season but it was eclipsed by the fact that they only signed two players last season, one being Ritson’s initial loan deal.

The other player that they signed, Wesley Bruines, has already left the club. With just five additions across the two seasons, one of whom has left, questions have to be asked of the club’s recruitment particularly when contrasted to Wigan, Warrington and Hull KR.

Can St Helens do it on the road?

With St Helens looking less and less likely to make the top two this season, thereby missing out on an all-important home play-off semi-final, the club’s away form has to be looked at. This season, they’ve won just four of their eight away games with two of those coming in the first month of the season.

The other two away wins have come against bottom side London Broncos and 10th-placed Castleford Tigers, two of the games in which they displayed their ‘flat-track bully’ approach. They have also since lost at home to Castleford following the Tigers’ sudden improvement.

With five away games to play in their remaining nine, as well as the trip to Elland Road for Magic Weekend, there are a worrying amount of home games in which St Helens can capitalise. Making matters worse, the home games they do have come against in-form Cas, and playoff rivals Hull KR and Salford.

Paul Wellens’ contract situation

Whilst all the above reasons affect one another, there is no bigger issue at the club currently than the uncertain situation surrounding head coach Paul Wellens.

Wellens is out of contract at the end of the season and the club are yet to make any public indication about whether they will renew his deal or not. The St Helens boss has recently admitted that he and the club are “under pressure” and uncertainty over his future does not help that.

Add into the fact the news that St Helens-born Lee Briers will return to England to coach for 2025, and questions will be asked about if the Brisbane Broncos coach is lined up as the replacement for Wellens.

*Stats sourced from Super League website*