Paul Wellens welcomes RFL punishment for John Asiata comments

St Helens are battling with Wigan Warriors and Leigh Leopards for a spot in the top two but a recent meeting against one of these two hurt Saints’ chances.

As they met Leigh in the Challenge Cup semi-final, the Saints lost four players to injuries including two key men who are now out for the season.

The Saints lost Alex Walmsley as well as Agnatius Paasi who came off worse.

Paul Wellens said Paasi’s knee was “blown to smithereens” and it would later be revealed that Paasi suffered an ACL, MCL and ankle ligament injuries.

Wellens was very open in his opposition of Asiata’s tackles and the decision not to punish them and he is now set to be investigated by the Compliance Board.

However, he welcomes being charged by the RFL as he wants to fight for his opinion.

He said on Saints TV: “I think that discussions and conversations are taking place around tackling techniques and whether certain tackling techniques are safe or not.

“I’ll leave those discussions to the people involved in making those decisions. I’ve made my thoughts perfectly clear on what I think.

“With regards to what’s going on, obviously after what’s been said has been referred to the compliance department of the RFL and I’ve heard nothing back since.

“So I’m just basically focusing on my coaching, focusing on the team and sitting tight-lipped until I hear anything back from them.

“Well, other than being referred to the compliance, I’m waiting to find out whether or not I will be charged. And then should I be charged, then I welcome the opportunity to stand before any tribunal and give my views on why I said what I said.”

He also gave an update on Paasi:

“Agnatius had to wait six weeks for his MCL to heal before he then has an ACL repair so that’s why he’s taking time with Agnatius.

“He ‘s just walking around at the moment with a bit of a boot on and with a bit of a brace on, on his crutches and just being patient for the six week mark so he can go and get that surgery.

“I mean we’ll know more obviously when he goes in and gets the surgery on the seriousness and the extent of it.

“Obviously it’s a pretty serious injury already, we know that. They’re never easy injuries to get over at the best of times.

“We’re certainly not writing Agnatius off and saying right now it’s a career-ending injury. We’ll support him as best we can through his rehab too, see how he gets moving and hopefully the signs will be good when he does start to make a strong recovery. But as we sit here right now, we just don’t know.”