It’s almost a week since St Helens made the decision to part ways with Paul Rowley and now one of the early frontrunners to take the job has opted to withdraw from consideration.
Ben Hornby, the South Sydney Rabbitohs assistant, had emerged as someone Saints were expected to target with the 46-year-old having missed out on the job at St George just days before the decision to part ways with Rowley.
He’d quickly become the betting favourite for the role as well, however, per reports down under he has now ruled himself out of the role with a key reason offered.
Per Code Sports, Hornby is in talks to sign a new deal as the Bunnies assistant, where he works under legendary coach Wayne Bennett, whilst family reasons are also cited as to why a move to Super League and St Helens have been ruled out.
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Ben Hornby out of St Helens race
Hornby was understood to be one of those that Hull KR interviewed before securing Nathan Cayless as Willie Peters’ replacement so there was some doubt if he would want to make the move to England, however, the prestige of St Helens and the proven pathway of becoming an NRL head coach, as seen with Justin Holbrook and Kristian Woolf, was a different draw.
Nevertheless, Hornby has now ruled himself out of the role so attention will turn to which other coaches feature strongly in the betting with Perth Bears’ assistant Ben Gardiner, who was linked to Saints last year, the initial second favourite, per Betfred.
Eamon O’Carroll has been appointed as the club’s interim coach until the end of the season but that’s all it will be as O’Carroll has already agreed to make a switch to rugby union for 2027.
Other names who feature in the betting include Paul Rowley’s former assistant Kurt Haggerty, London’s Jason Demetriou, whilst O’Carroll is made a 10/1 shot to remain on for 2027.
