St Helens head coach Paul Wellens has admitted that he is “relaxed” about his current contract situation, insisting he has a bigger focus.
That focus is quite simply to win as many of St Helens’ final five games as possible with the Red Vee almost guaranteed to finish in second, securing an all-important home semi-final, if they win all five of those games.
Wellens has admitted that is a very tough ask with the club’s next four fixtures being Hull FC, Hull KR, Wigan Warriors and Leigh Leopards, before a Round 27 clash with Castleford Tigers, but by winning all of those they would leapfrog second-placed Wigan barring a key turnaround in points difference.
When asked if the fact their fate now sits in their own hands adds pressure, Wellens explained that there’s no pressure at all given how far the club have come since their mid-season struggles.
He explained: “If you look at where we are now, where we were, where we’ve come from, there’s huge positives to be taken already. You mentioned winning five games, it’s so easy to say, isn’t it?
“When you look at the quality of the teams and the calibre of the teams we had to play, that’s going to take some effort from us but we’re all excited about that challenge.
“Quite naturally, we’ve got our eyes set on the teams above us, and we want to continue to climb the table, but at the same time we know that a team like Wigan are not easy to chase down, because they’re the champions for a reason.”
Paul Wellens “relaxed” over St Helens contract situation
Despite having overseen that resurgence in form which has guided Saints to being genuine top two contenders, Paul Wellens remains off-contract with no decision made for the future.
Asked by Serious About Rugby League earlier in the month, Wellens confirmed that “honest conversations will be had moving forward”, however, those talks haven’t happened yet.
“Not yet, but to be honest, I’m pretty relaxed about the situation,” Wellens responded when asked again by Serious About Rugby League, as he outlined his bigger focus.
“I’m obviously just focused on helping the team perform. Hopefully the team performs well and keeps winning and whatever happens on the track happens down the track.
“I think our main and my main focus is probably on the team performing well on the weekend.
“Behind closed doors conversations will happen at some point, but it’s not something that’s going to be brought up right now.”
Final five fixtures create prime opportunity to battle harden Saints
With just one loss in nine, St Helens have been on a tear but the step up in opponents in this final five weeks marks an opportunity in Wellens’ eyes.
He explained: “We’re going to be playing in the types of games that you’re going to need to play in come play-off time. So, there’s also a real positive around that as well.
“We’re pleased with where we’re at as a team, but we’re very conscious that we want to continue to improve, and next month will give us a real good opportunity to do that.”
He accepted that the recent form has been a result of effort and application, stating that he ‘can’t credit the team enough’ in their approach to matches, but he still sees room for improvement.
“Within that, there’s always been a little bit of technical, tactical stuff that we look to tidy up on and brush up on. A few weeks ago we lost the game to Leigh, we didn’t quite get it right.
“When reviewing performances, there’s always little bits that you want to tidy up, but credit to the team at this moment in time, they’re turning up every week.”
