Paul Wellens surprisingly drops star player to the bench against Leigh Leopards

St Helens lost out in a tight and feisty affair with Leeds Rhinos last Friday night and Paul Wellens has had a lot to deal with in the aftermath.

The fixture didn’t just mark the first loss of his tenure but it also threw into contention the suspension of some key players.

That’s mean that Wellens has had to reshuffle his squad for their trip to Leigh on tonight and the key move that has been made is the reintroduction of leader James Roby.

The enforced changes for Wellens are the suspended Sione Mata’utia, Curtis Sironen and Konrad Hurrell.

Ben Davies takes over from Hurrell at centre as Roby starts at nine with Joey Lussick dropping to the bench. Agnatius Paasi meanwhile starts at prop as Alex Walmsley is surprisingly dropped to the bench.

Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook makes his 450th appearance from the bench.

Tee Ritson is still kept out of the side with Jon Bennison on the wing instead.

The Saints will be hoping to get back to winning ways and have replaced Curtis Sironen and Sione Mata’utia in the backrow through the inclusion of Sam Royale and James Bell.

A rare start for Bell who is highly thought of by those at the Totally Wicked Stadium.