St Helens interim coach Eamon O’Carroll has stressed just how important Jack Welsby is to the club ahead of his 200th career appearance and a changing of the guard among the club’s senior figures.
It’s been a difficult couple of seasons for Welsby in terms of form and playing across a number of positions but it could be set to get harder in terms of the expectations on his shoulders as at 25, he will be one of the elder statesmen in the team.
Mark Percival announced his retirement on Thursday, just over a week after Jonny Lomax confirmed he too would hang up the boots, and it means that of the St Helens’ side who lined up in their 2022 Grand Final victory, only Welsby, Curtis Sironen and Matty Lees remain.
Lees will depart for PNG Chiefs in 2028 whilst Sironen and Alex Walmsley, who was also a prominent member of that 2022 squad albeit didn’t play at Old Trafford, are both the wrong side of 30.
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Jack Welsby happiest at full-back but needs must for Saints
Even at only 25, Welsby is one of the club’s most experienced players and that will be highlighted when he makes his 200th career appearance on Friday but it will likely again come at a position other than full-back.
Speaking to the media on Thursday, Eamon O’Carroll admitted: “I think long-term I see Jack as a full-back, I think he’s got the ability to be one of the best, if not the best full-back in the competition, but unfortunately for where we’re at at the minute with what sort of cards we have got to play, it’s about filling them spots with the best quality players that we can and getting the right balance throughout the squad.”
O’Carroll would actually praise Welsby’s performances at centre, with his showing in defeat against Leeds one of his best in recent weeks and months, and the coach explained how that doesn’t simply show Welsby’s quality on the field, but also off it.
He said: “It’s the quality of person as well because he knocked on my door on Monday and said, ‘look, mate, I know where we’re at, I can see where we’re at, if you need me to do a spell at 9 or 13, I’ll do that as well’.
“I just think he’s putting the team before himself. It’s no secret his favourite position and his preferred position would be full-back, but he understands where we’re at at the minute and he wants us to be as successful as we can and perform to the best of our abilities.”
St Helens’ coach stresses Jack Welsby’s importance in ‘taking over the mantle’
Of course, there will be few players at St Helens better placed to help fill the leadership void that the likes of Lomax and Percival will leave, but O’Carroll was clear that Welsby is already leading by example.
Instead, he suggested that it was the England international’s job to nurture the leaders of the future: “I think Jack’s also had some really good support networks around him, the likes of over the years of James Roby, Louis McCarthy-Scarsbrook. He’s had Jonny Lomax etc so success leaves clues, doesn’t it? I think he’s had some good clues left for him there.
“It’s his job now, and I’m sure he’ll do it, to take over that mantle and be that leader and help guide this young group to that sort of next phase but I think it’s probably a little bit unfair to expect Jack to do it all on his own.
“I know that the club are fully aware of that, and I think putting some reinforcements in and around him is going to be key.”
That last comment would potentially hint to new recruits, something that incoming head coach Kevin Walters has intimated when speaking to other outlets, including when appearing on James Graham’s The Bye Round podcast.
What the future holds at St Helens, who may well miss the play-offs for the first time in the Super League era, is unclear but Jack Welsby likely needs to be a big part of it, especially during this transitional phase.
