St Helens’ “problem” goes beyond Paul Wellens despite mounting pressure, claims pundit

After losing 17-4 to Leeds Rhinos at Magic Weekend, the pressure is mounting on St Helens and their head coach Paul Wellens but former player Jon Wilkin claims the ‘problem’ goes beyond the head coach.

Defeat to the Rhinos means Saints have lost their last three games and now sit with five wins and five losses in Super League this season and that’s understandably seen the pressure rise at the club.

Head coaches have to answer to results and currently Paul Wellens is that man but there’s an argument that St Helens are under the microscope more so than any other club would be, something the Sky Sports pundits spoke about after Saturday’s game.

Jamie Jones-Buchanan claimed that the “pressure” at St Helens is a result of the “expectation that Saints are going to win everything”, something they did during their four consecutive Grand Fina wins.

He explained: “They’re going through a bit of a transition and some of the individuals that have been playing, particularly on the edges for Saints, just haven’t being good enough and that’s up to Paul Wellens to remedy that, and I believe he needs time. With any transition, you need time to be able to do it.”

St Helens fans “need somebody to blame”

One man who is more in tune with what is going on at St Helens is former captain Jon Wilkin and he spoke on the feelings of fans as he also underlined the heightened expectation compared to reality.

Wilkin stated: “I went to a testimonial event for Morgan Knowles in the week and the fans that go are pretty hardcore and there were a lot of disgruntled fans there, they’re not happy.

“The problem at St Helens, and a bit like what has gone on at Leeds, is there’s an association of the shirt with what’s gone on previously without looking at actually what’s there in the current team.

“I think the team’s got old, I think they haven’t evolved what they’ve done quick enough, I think recruitment has not been great, and all of those things are conspiring to lead to a situation where they need somebody to blame for that and Paul Wellens is head coach.”

Wilkin added: “When you take a head coach’s job, you know you’re going to get pinned if you keep losing games, that’s just obvious isn’t it?”

He also argued that luck simply hasn’t been on St Helens’ side in recent weeks, using the controversial Lewis Murphy sin bin as an example this weekend.

“Sport’s cruel isn’t it,” Wilkin declared, expanding: “Sport’s really cruel so when you need luck it sometimes doesn’t come. I feel like Paul’s needed a break for weeks now. He needed a break last year when he got all his injuries and eventually your luck runs out and that’s the problem in sport.

“You think about the Lewis Murphy thing, it’s just bad luck. When I’ve been at a lot of games big calls feel like they go against St Helens at the big times and that must be infuriating.”

⏹ The Saints fall to defeat against Leeds at #MagicWKND 2025#COYS | @LPL_Airport pic.twitter.com/jMCVsfgEKL

— St.Helens R.F.C. (@Saints1890) May 3, 2025