St Helens have made just three signings for 2025 with the club hoping quality not quantity proves true and one recruit has spoken on the influences behind his move to the Red Vee.
Even more interesting is that all three of St Helens’ signings hail from the NRL with two of those being wingers in NRL vet Kyle Feldt and former Super League speedster Lewis Murphy.
The other man is arguably the most exciting though with Saints adding Tristan Sailor to their spine, a playmaker capable of playing in the halves or at full-back and someone who possesses blistering speed.
St Helens made it clear that Sailor would be operating in the halves with the club revealing his number six shirt before they announced the remainder of the squad with some earlier suggestions being that Jack Welsby would move into the halves, as he did last year when Harry Robertson played at full-back.
Sailor has spoken on the honour of wearing the number six shirt and discussed the history of it and it seems the ex-Brisbane Broncos man is quite the historian as he’s now spoken on his willingness to learn of the club’s history, whilst also noting the legends who helped influence his decision to join the club.
St Helens signing reading up on club history whilst leader reflects on disappointing 2024
Credit: Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com
Speaking on the Sportsman Rugby League YouTube channel, Sailor spoke on the influences that helped bring him to St Helens with the club’s new assistant coach Lee Briers, who worked with Sailor in the NRL, being one of those.
“I’m super excited, I’ve been over for a few months and have sort of got used to the UK and the culture,” the 26-year-old explained.
“Especially during my decision-making process of coming over, Briersy (Lee Briers) was at the Broncos so he sort of explained everything to me and I also played at the Dragons with Jammer (James Graham).
“He spoke about St Helens and how big a club it was and as soon as I got over I bought some St Helens books and have read about the history of the club.”
The club almost made history for the wrong reasons last year as they teetered on the brink of missing the play-offs, something they have never done throughout the history of Super League, but they eventually finished sixth.
Hooker Daryl Clark knows that is not good enough with the number nine calling for improvement but admitting that improvement may not be enough given the strength of Super League at the top.
The England international said:”Coming off the back of last year, there’s no secret that it was a pretty disappointing season for the players and for the club. It’s not where we wanted to finish.
“The inconsistency that we had was miles off what the club expects so we’re definitely looking to up the levels.”
On the competition Saints face, he said: “There’s a lot of teams getting better. Saints came off four years winning it and have had two years unable to repeat that so we know we have to be better.
“We know it was disappointing and we know we’ve got to put it right.”
