“We just can’t match the financial offers that other clubs can” – why one club is resigned to losing high-profile stars

With both Lachlan Coote and Theo Fages linked with moves away and James Bentley already having signed for Leeds, it’s fair to say that St Helens may have to rebuild for 2022.

Grand Final winners for two years running, it may come as a shock to some, but head coach Kristian Woolf believes that the restraints of a salary-capped sport means that Saints could be resigned to losing some of their stars.

“I’ve made it really clear a number of times that we’ve got a number of blokes off contact and we’re under salary cap pressure which makes it really difficult to keep our squad together,” Woolf said.

“We’ve also got some really good young blokes that deserve upgrades and deserve to be playing a bigger part in the team, so it puts us in a difficult position.

“We just cant match the financial offers that other clubs can – some are a third higher or even double what we can offer them.

“I know all of those off contract would prefer to play at Saints, but it’s a professional sport and some of our players can earn really good contracts elsewhere and in some cases we need to shake their hands and wish them all the best.”