St Helens head coach Paul Wellens has showered tonight’s opponents Hull FC in praise with the Red Vee still wary despite massive injury blows to John Cartwright’s side.
Both Will Pryce and John Asiata limped off in the win over Leigh Leopards and it’s since been confirmed that Pryce looks likely to be done for the season, whilst loose forward Asiata is confirmed to be finished for 2025.
It was a massive blow after what had been an incredible win and it wasn’t the only one as it was also confirmed that Liam Watts failed his HIA, leaving the Black and Whites without three key players for tonight’s clash with St Helens.
The positive news for John Cartwright is that he should be able to call on Aidan Sezer whilst Jordan Rapana, Brad Fash and Ed Chamberlain all returned to the 21-man squad but they’ll have to step up if they’re to meet a St Helens’ side in dominant form.
Saints have won eight of their last nine with the most recent three wins coming with an aggregate score of 126-8, however, head coach Paul Wellens isn’t expecting an easy game.
Saints ‘preparing for tough game’ against Hull FC
Speaking in his mid-week press conference to preview the Black and Whites, Wellens pointed to Hull’s pack and their explosive backs as a key danger – something that St Helens have themselves as well.
On Hull, he said: “They’re a big physical forward pack. There are some young lads are in the outside backs who are really good young players.
“There’s a lot of threats across the park that you have to handle and deal with, but obviously as a collective as well, as a team, they really compete hard for each other also. Friday’s going to be a huge challenge for us.”
Of course, Hull’s threat is seriously weakened by not having either Pryce or Asiata and whilst Wellens acknowledged that, he pointed to the Round 17 game at the MKM Stadium where St Helens only managed to win 13-6.
“Obviously they’re two huge losses for them, there’s no getting away from that,” Wellens explained.
“However, when we played them up at Hull about a month or so ago, both of those guys weren’t playing, and we had an extremely tough game so that’s what we’re preparing for again.
“I think Hull have made dramatic improvements in the last 12 months, largely so in terms of how competitive they are. I think John Cartwright has clearly set some really high standards in what he expects from his team, so we’re preparing for them to come here and given the position that they’re in, they’re going to be desperate to win.”
St Helens “tough to beat” as Wellens hails recent form
Whilst Hull FC will be desperate for a win and have shown exactly what they can do with their strong performance last week against Leigh, their form pales to that of St Helens who are becoming a genuine dark horse for the Grand Final.
Asked about his side’s recent form, Wellens said: “I think that’s where we need to be. If we bring that every week, we’re going to be tough to beat.
“That’s not to say we’re going to win every game, but we’re going to be really hard to beat. We want to be a team that are hard to beat, and we want to be a team that when teams come up against us, they know they’re in for a tough day. That’s about setting high standards and building consistency.
“We’ll continue on in that fashion, hopefully, and we know that in the next month or so there’s some huge games.”
Should St Helens manage to win every game then they would earn themselves a second-place finish given the fact they can take points away from Wigan and have superior points difference.
Doing that will be incredibly difficult but the fact it’s even a chance given where Saints were after their Magic Weekend loss to Leeds Rhinos is a testament to the incredible turnaround that Paul Wellens has overseen.
🔻 𝑺𝑸𝑼𝑨𝑫 𝑵𝑬𝑾𝑺
Head Coach Paul Wellens has named his 21-man Saints squad that will face @hullfcofficial on Friday night in @SuperLeague!
Read more 😇 https://t.co/6IlsZyXMmI #COYS | St Helens Flooring
— St.Helens R.F.C. (@Saints1890) August 20, 2025
