St Helens boss Paul Wellens comments on dropping Lewis Dodd

St Helens head coach Paul Wellens has spoken about his decision to drop Lewis Dodd for the derby game last week.

Despite injury problems, Dodd was not selected to play against Wigan Warriors in a game they eventually lost 16-12, with Jack Welsby and Jonny Lomax instead selected in the halves, with young Harry Robertson making his debut at fullback.

Speaking on the decision to drop the man heading to South Sydney Rabbitohs for 2025, Paul Wellens said: “I think it may send a message.

“My intentions were not to send a message to the group. My intentions were to firstly help a player who is struggling to form a little bit at the moment in time, but also help the team to win a game.

“I’ve not lost any belief in Lewis. We’ve had an in-depth conversation about where we feel he can improve.

“I said it last week after the game, and I’ll repeat myself again, Lewis Dodd’s not not getting picked because he’s going to Australia at the end of the year.

“I still believe he can be a really influential player for us towards the back end of the season.”

Will Lewis Dodd line up for St Helens this week?

Asked whether Dodd would be returning to the Saints side for their game against Warrington Wolves on Friday, Wellens responded: He’s in contention to play on the weekend.

“Still not finalised my seventeen yet, but as you can imagine, we haven’t got many to pick from at the moment.

“We’ve had some conversations around where we feel Lewis can improve. I believe that Lewis will be a premier half-back. I think he’ll go down to the NRL next year and make a huge success of it.

“I want to help him to improve as a player so when he goes, he’s in the best position possible to take on that challenge, whilst also understanding that we’ll get Lewis’ performance to the level that it needs to be so he can help us win games this year and hopefully go on and help us win a competition.”