St Helens have unbridled success in Super League in recent seasons.
2019 set off an incredible run of results which has resulted in the Merseyside club winning three Grand Finals in a row – and four does not look too far-fetched for 2022.
Etched in Saints’ folklore is Tonga national head coach Kristian Woolf who took over the club back in 2020.
Since then, Woolf has been at the helm, steering Saints to two Grand Finals and a Challenge Cup success and he revealed just how difficult it has been to keep the core group of players together.
“I am really happy with what we’ve been able to do,” Woolf told Saints TV.
“It becomes harder and harder particularly when you’ve had success because the player value goes up and the salary cap becomes harder to manage but we’ve had a stable group in some ways even though we have transitioned in the last couple of years.
“We’ve had a real sort of core of our group for a long time. It becomes harder with what is going on in the NRL with a new team there (the Dolphins) and the disparities in the salary caps. Clubs are looking at our players to try and get to where we are so it does become a bit of a challenge.”
Woolf also revealed that some ‘strong’ decisions have been made about who to keep at the Totally Wicked Stadium.
“We’ve got to make some really strong decisions about who will help us keep moving forward and that’s what we’ve done.
“I’m really happy with our group and I think if you looked all the way down our roster, all of them probably could have got more money elsewhere but they choose to stay here for the right reasons and that’s why we’ve had success off the back of that.”
