Tristan Sailor sends out Paul Wellens message and gives St Helens position verdict

Tristan Sailor insists the St Helens squad have always been behind Paul Wellens, with his resilience shining through in the team on Thursday night.

The Australian, who has come under plenty of criticism himself of late, was one of the stars of St Helens’ 40-0 win over Catalans Dragons at the Totally Wicked Stadium, and that was a win that eased the pressure on head coach Wellens. The Saints had lost their last three heading into the Catalans game, with their underwhelming performance at Magic Weekend sparking anger among supporters.

Chairman Eamonn McManus sent a clear message in his programme notes, too, insisting he understood fan frustration and immediate and vast improvement was required.

That’s exactly what he saw from Wellens’ side on Thursday and Sailor will now hoping the Saints can use that result to build up a head of steam in Super League over the coming weeks and months.

“It takes a lot of resilience to get through what he was copping and our performances – he cops the brunt of it,” Sailor said to BBC 5 Sports Extra.

“We’re always behind Paul and I think it shows his resilience has reflected on us, and hopefully we can keep that moving forward.

“We’ve obviously had a bit of a rough start, had a few close losses and for the past couple of weeks haven’t been at our best but the boys were awesome.

“We’re always behind Wello, hopefully we can continue this run going forward.”

St Helens man gives wing verdict

The criticism on Sailor has stemmed from the lack of impact he has made in the stand-off and full-back roles he was signed to play this season so far. Wellens made the change this week, though, starting him on the wing and bringing Jonny Lomax back into the XIII after dropping the veteran last month.

Sailor scored a try and set one up in the game, while also making three clean breaks and 121 metres on what can only be described as an impressive night for the former Brisbane Broncos man.

“I loved it, one of my strengths is that I can play a lot of positions and sometimes dynamic-wise you have to move to fit in,” Sailor said.

“It worked really well, I enjoyed getting to run the ball and do a lot of talking.

“Tom Trbojevic has done a similar thing in Origin where he plays on the edge but can roam through a bit. I had that role, was able to support the boys and help get some one-on-ones.”