It’s rare for this St Helens side to ever lose back-to-back games but Paul Wellens isn’t worried.
Indeed, ahead of Friday’s crucial visit of Hull, he’s found sifting through the mess has proved restorative for his soul. Saints fans could go into meltdown if the newly-crowned World Club champions suffer three defeats on the bounce. But Wellens - just four games into his reign as boss of the four-peat Super League kings - isn’t losing his cool.
After defeats against Leeds and Leigh, he admitted: “We’ve lost a couple of games and it is unusual for us. It doesn’t happen often. But it’s not the end of the world. They are an honest group. We sat down together and went through some vision. Although some of it’s not that nice to watch, it can be strangely therapeutic in terms of looking where you can improve.
“There’s a number of areas where we can be better. We don’t like losing and our supporters don’t like losing. I understand that. I get it. It’s a results-based business. But our intentions are firmly on getting a performance Friday and I say performance because performance is the most important thing: when we perform at our best or close to it we generally get the result we need.”
Wellens’ first game in charge was the epic success over NRL champions Penrith in Sydney. They won at Castleford upon their return but have suffered some hangover symptoms since. But Wellens insisted: “I genuinely still have a lot of belief in this team. That’s not changed off the back of two defeats. I’m excited about what we can achieve. And sometimes you go through periods like this and it can actually be really beneficial if you approach them in the right way and learn from the tough experiences.”
No one expected the champions to be slumped in tenth after three games ahead of facing Hull who were walloped 60-14 at home to Salford on Saturday. But Wellens added: “There’s an old saying about you should only look at the Premier League table after ten league games.
“Maybe it’s the same in Super League to see where the runners and riders might sit. I won’t look too much into that Hull result. Sometimes you can get freak scores like that. We’ll give them the utmost respect.”
Saints welcome back Aussie second-row Curtis Sironen from suspension but Tonga centre Will Hopoate will wait another week before making his return from injury.
