“Relieved” Paul Wellens makes St Helens’ spine statement with Tristan Sailor verdict given

St Helens head coach Paul Wellens admitted he was “relieved” after his side’s 40-0 win over Catalans Dragons with the performance of the team’s spine and Tristan Sailor noted.

After three straight losses, it’s understandable why the Saints coach was relieved and the manner of the win will have given him plenty to celebrate as well with St Helens dominating a sorry Catalans Dragons.

Steve McNamara’s side started slow and made errors throughout and Saints were able to punish those errors with young half-back George Whitby the main beneficiary as he scored a first career hat-trick just days before his 19th birthday.

Whitby partnered Jonny Lomax in the halves in a move that saw NRL signing Tristan Sailor bumped to the wing and the former Brisbane Broncos man scored in a well-rounded performance on the edge, one that Paul Wellens paid tribute to in his post-match assessment on Sky Sports.

After waxing lyrical about the teen sensation Whitby, Wellens conceded the importance of getting a win after three straight losses.

“I think it’s important for us just to snap that losing streak,” he explained.

“For a number of weeks now I’ve been saying I don’t feel like we’re too far away and people must look at us and go ‘You must be mad’ but I felt we had a performance like that in us.”

Tristan Sailor applauded after St Helens win

Scoring 12 points inside eight minutes was a dream start and whilst they fell flat for 20 minutes during that first half, they punished mistakes to take a 24-0 lead into the sheds, something they only built on in the second half.

“We had a longer turnaround than Catalan and I think that showed in the game as well,” Wellens noted.

“We had four or five training sessions to really implement some stuff that I thought worked really well for us tonight. I can’t credit Eamon O’Caroll and Lee Briers enough in terms of the work that they put into the play and into the team in the last seven to ten days.”

Lee Briers was brought in as an attacking coach with the objective being to get the club’s spine firing, just as he had done at Brisbane Broncos, and there was a marked improvement last night from what the club had dished up at Magic Weekend.

Asked if that formula was the one to utilise going forward, Wellens admitted: “Potentially. I mean there’s a lot to like about what the guys did out there. Obviously throughout the course of the season, it’s going to be challenged in different ways and things can potentially change. But I really like the look of what they did tonight.

“I thought it was brilliant to see Tristan play free and play with a smile on his face. I thought he impacted the game really well from the wing also.”

Pressure has mounted with recent losses, even to the extent that reports linking Ben Gardiner with a move to the club to replace Wellens emerged, but the head coach reiterated earlier in the week his belief he can take the team forward.

Despite that, he did concede he was relieved as he offered praise to the fans and players: “I’m relieved but I’m relieved for the players because I know how much they care and how frustrated they’ve been that things haven’t been quite working for us. What I’m also relieved for is the spectators.

“There’s a lot been said over the last couple of weeks, since the disappointing team defeat at Magic. One thing I asked for the supporters for this week was to get behind the team. The team came to play, the supporters responded, and that’s my biggest take home from tonight.

.@Saints1890 nil the Dragons 👏#SuperLeague pic.twitter.com/lkqgJmmvL5

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