St Helens boss reacts to play-off defeat and defends team over ‘nonsense’ criticism

St Helens boss Paul Wellens has come out swinging regarding previous ‘nonsense’ spoken of his team following their gutsy play-off defeat at the hands of Warrington Wolves.

Saints had led 16-10 at half-time with a late Warrington try pegging them back but it was their turn to score late in the second-half with Jon Bennison’s last-minute try taking the game to golden point.

From there, Warrington capitalised on a Saints’ error as George Williams kicked a drop goal to make it 23-22 and knock St Helens out and send Wire to a semi-final match with Hull KR.

It was an incredibly gutsy performance from St Helens, particularly in the final few minutes where they managed to somehow get back into the game after looking well out of it.

Paul Wellens spoke post-match to Sky Sports about the devastating nature, calling it a ‘soul-destroying’ loss, before using the performance to call out previous critics who had questioned his side’s effort and will to win.

“Yeah, I can’t lie, it’s soul-destroying. I’m just so disappointed for the team,” the St Helens boss reacted as he gave his initial thoughts.

He would later add: “There has been a lot of nonsense spoken about this group in recent times but you can see out there what they are capable of. We’ve got to get better, that’s the challenge for us now.”

St Helens set to get their hunger back

It was a positive reaction to see from Wellens and one that gives you the sense that St Helens really could be back on top form in 2025 and he referenced that when asked what the plans are for the upcoming campaign.

“Get better. At times the hunger of this group has been questioned and when you’ve won four Super League titles in five years, it’s not often easy to get motivated but I think off the back of this disappointment and the disappointment of Catalans last year, I’m pretty certain that this group will get that hunger back.”

The loss to Catalans in 2023 came as a result of a last-minute Sam Tomkins try whilst this year’s defeat came even later, four minutes into golden point, and those results are certain to be fuel to the fire for a return to Old Trafford.

Wellens continued to look at the positives, adding: “I love the way we played. That was a Saints team out there today, our identity, that’s who we are. Credit to the team because we got back on track with that a few weeks ago.

“We’ve grown massively off the experience that we’ve had in 2024. Resilience, you need to show resilience at tough times. I think we’ve done that in abundance. That was shown today. We will improve as a team off the back of it.”

Errors cost the Red Vee

Despite going behind after just 90 seconds after a Tommy Makinson knock-on from the kick-off, Saints would have the better of the first-half before then mounting the late surge as the hooter approached to tie the game up.

Effort, desire and attitude, which has at times even been questioned by Wellens of his senior players, were undoubtedly on display and that was the major theme of the St Helens boss’ post-game comments.

“It’s clear to see what they left out there. It was a brilliant game of rugby league. Great to be a part of but obviously devastated with the result.

“I’m really proud of the group, that’s my overriding emotion at this stage. We do need to look at where we can get better though. I thought we gifted them 12 points today. In big games, those moments matter and it mattered tonight.”

The team will now regroup, rehabilitate and prepare for 2025 when they will have a new addition to their coaching staff with Lee Briers set to link up with the club.