Paul Wellens outlines the reasons St Helens aren’t top

After defeating Leeds Rhinos in last year’s Grand Final, the question was, would St Helens be able to win five Grand Finals in a row, right now the situation is that they are fighting with Wigan Warriors and Leigh Leopards for a spot in the top two and a home semi-final in the Super League play-offs.

Things have been a struggle for the Super League and World Champions and that title is responsible for the reasons why.

The Saints had a difficult start to the season due to their trip to Australia to battle Penrith Panthers in the World Club Challenge.

Since then they have struggled with injuries and suspensions but are still in the mix at the top.

Paul Wellens spoke about their league standings on Saints TV: “Yeah, well, I mean, ideally, we’ve always set our sights high and it’d be great to finish top. Obviously, we’re reliant on the other results there. So, what we’ll continue to do as a team is put our best foot forward each week and pick up as many points as possible.

“The Super League table is a really competitive one this weekend. It’s just great for us as a club to finally look at it. We’ve got parity again. We’ve finally got the same amount of games as everybody else and it looks a lot cleaner as a table now. So hopefully, we’ve made some strides up the table. Hopefully we can continue that.”

He said he was satisfied as he outlined the reasons the club have struggled to meet expectations in 2023:

“Yeah, extremely satisfied. I pay huge credit to the team because it’s been a very different year. We’ve had a lot to deal with.

“You mentioned the Australia trip at the start of the year. We’ve had a few suspensions which we take responsibility for. We’ve had injuries beset us as well, and more recently, which has been a challenge for us.

“Throughout all that, the group has stayed strong, the group have stuck together, and off the back of that, picked up victories and won games that have been close and tough. And that’s what you’re going to need to do again at the back end of the year. So hopefully we’ll grow as a team, grow as a group from these tough experiences.”