Jon Wilkin puts blame for St Helens woes on “penny-pinching” recruitment

Former St Helens captain Jon Wilkin has hit out at his former club’s recruitment, claiming it has been based on “penny-pinching” and is a major reason for the club’s current position.

Speaking on Sky Sports ahead of Saints’ clash with Catalans Dragons, a game which both sides desperately needed to win, Wilkin argued that St Helens simply have not recruited well enough since their run of four consecutive Super League titles.

From 2019 through 2022, St Helens were far and away the best team in Super League and whilst the maiden campaign with Paul Wellens in charge saw them make the play-off semi-finals, 2024 and now 2025 have seen a steep drop-off.

Saints were in danger of missing the play-offs for the first time ever last year and that form has carried over to 2025 with the club winning just nine of the last 24 games.

Pundit Jon Wilkin has now effectively absolved the under-pressure Paul Wellens of some of the blame by hitting out at the recruitment in recent years.

He argued: “It’s been a slow, I’d say, disintegration of that championship-winning team over the last couple of years. Paul Wellens comes into this with the expectation of his fans but without the playing squad maybe to be able to back that up.”

St Helens’ recruitment blasted by Jon Wilkin with “substandard” claim made

Something that would point to that is the lack of signings that St Helens have made with 2024 seeing them add just Daryl Clark, Matt Whitley and Waqa Blake, who has since departed, with Moses Mbye arriving mid-season.

Just three more came in 2025 with Deon Cross added recently as a fourth but Wilkin believes that some of the players brought in have been “substandard”.

“For me, recruitment at St Helens has been poor,” he argued.

“It’s been based on penny pinching and making deals with players who are substandard and not good enough to be at a club like this.

“They’ve brought in overseas players who simply are cheap in the marketplace. There’s far too much reliance upon youth and bringing young players through.”

He’d add: “Wow, Harry Robertson, of course I get excited when you see somebody like that. That’s one in 15 players. There’s 35 players in a squad and there’s a huge amount who are bottom heavy. Plus, when you go to the top end of the squad, Alex Walmsley is 35 now, Jonny Lomax is 34.

“Look, father time is gruelling and it’s an inevitability. (Saints have) an aging squad that is over-reliant on young and inexperienced players with overseas players who just aren’t doing it.”

Former St Helens man Paul Sculthorpe also made his defence of Paul Wellens and suggested, like Wilkin, that recruitment has not been good enough.

Sculthorpe argued: “He’s not been part of the England set-up and everything else for no reason. He’s an extremely good coach, but you need to invest in the tools that carry out the job on the pitch. And for me, there’s not been enough of that. There has been too much reliance on old legs.”

“Based on penny pinching” 🗣️

Jon Wilkin discusses St Helens’ recent recruitment 👀 pic.twitter.com/Cnls5Elmq9

— Sky Sports Rugby League (@SkySportsRL) May 15, 2025