St Helens ‘even hungrier’ after 2024 as utility highlights team-first attitude

After a season without silverware, St Helens are ‘even hungrier’ heading into the 2025 campaign according to utility Ben Davies.

Incredibly, 2024 marked the first year that didn’t see the St Helens men’s side lift a trophy since 2017 with the club picking up the League Leaders Shield in 2018 and the World Club Challenge in 2023 to bookend their four consecutive Grand Final-winning seasons.

That lack of silverware has made those at the club “even hungrier” according to Ben Davies, who recently signed a one-year extension with the Red Vee that will take him into his sixth season.

Despite signing for St Helens in 2020, Davies has only played 40 games for the club with injuries and the incredible strength of the first-team Saints in front of him making game time hard to come by.

That’s something that he’s hoping will change in 2025, although he knows the test that he faces, telling saintsrlfc.com: “It’s tough with the high-level players we have in our team, at centre we have Koni [Hurrell] and Percy [Percival] for example.

“Whenever I get a chance I want to prove I can play at this level, I know I can, and I’ll be fighting for game time and in games when selected – 100%.”

Silverware ‘always the focus’ at St Helens, claims Davies

As a result of those in front of him, Davies was regularly used as the 18th man in 2024 meaning he often didn’t take to the field despite being in Saints‘ matchday squad – something that he spoke about to highlight the team-first mantra at the club.

The 24-year-old said: “Obviously you want to be out there in the seventeen, but you still have your job to do, help everyone be prepped and ready for the game.

“I do everything I can in that 18th man role because if you don’t then there is no point you being there. You’re still part of the team and need to be ready to be called upon if needed.”

As well as having a tough season personally in terms of inconsistent game time due to injury and those around him, it was a tough season for everyone at St Helens as they only finished sixth and were dumped from the Challenge Cup in the quarter-finals.

That difficult campaign is something that Davies reflected on as he outlined how the pain of ’24 is fuelling the passion and drive for ’25 – something that forward Alex Walmsley had previously said.

“2024 was a tough year for everyone, and we’re really excited to rip into next year and this Pre-Season,” Davies said.

“We spoke about it [2024] in meetings and reviews at the end of the year, now we’re even hungrier to drive towards silverware next year.

“That is going to be the focus, as it always is at Saints, and in Pre-Season it will be our goal to get well-prepared so we can go for finals and get silverware.

“That will all come from being consistent throughout the year, and the focus is well and truly on doing just that.”