St Helens saw their Super League season end on Saturday night in devastating fashion and the post-mortem has already begun.
After the last-minute heartbreak suffered in 2023 when Sam Tomkins danced through to defeat them in the semi-final, the 2024 season ended in even more brutal fashion for St Helens as Warrington Wolves defeated them in golden point.
It looked like it might have been Saints’ story to write as Mark Percival nailed a sideline conversion to tie the game up and send us to golden point following Jon Bennison’s last-gasp try, however, England captain George Williams had other ideas as he nailed a one-pointer to secure a 23-22 win.
Warrington Wolves will now travel to Hull KR on Friday whilst St Helens begin their analysis of what went wrong in 2024, something that the Sky Sports pundits did immediately in the aftermath of the thrilling affair.
Former St Helens captain was blunt as he stated: “They’ve not performed. No team that’s been a champion wants to finish 6th, that’s quite clear.
“There’s been loads of reasons why and I think Paul Wellens himself questioned some of his senior players and their motivation and I think that’s right. It’s hard to consistently be hungry.”
Have St Helens lost their ‘hunger’?
Credit: SWpix
St Helens went through a golden spell from 2019 till 2022 where they lifted each and every Grand Final available but following their impressive World Club Challenge win in February of 2023, silverware has eclipsed the Red Vee.
After Wilkin had suggested that ‘consistent hunger’ for trophies is hard when you’ve won so many, Sam Tomkins agreed but put a positive spin on the situation as he highlighted it as a possible turning point.
He said: “You’ve always got a goal to strive for but just kept ticking off goals and goals and goals. It’s inevitable at some point. They had to change. They couldn’t win competitions forever could they?
“I think this year could be really big for this Saints side. Paul Wellens is there saying they’re going to get their hunger back. We saw a hungry side tonight and if they could perform like that for 27 rounds next year they’ll be a force.”
Despite errors costing them in crucial moments, particularly for Toby King’s first and Matty Ashton’s second try, it was arguably the best performance that St Helens had put in all season and one that looks like a major building block for 2025.
Jon Wilkin would agree, labelling the loss as a “stimulus” for change: “With the proximity to so many big wins and so many trophy wins. it’s quite easy to just lose that minor edge, that small edge and I don’t think they’ve evolved enough or changed enough and I think this is the stimulus to change that.
“They’ve now got recruits coming in and how big could Lee Briers be? If we’re talking about where maybe Saints have been deficient then it’s in attack so I’d be excited if I was a Saints fan thinking about what Lee Briers can contribute.”
That led to a Sam Tomkins prediction as he touted Saints for a much-improved 2025: “Success is different for all clubs and for St Helens, this wasn’t success, but next year being right up at the top of the league will be.”
