Wellens has turned things around at St Helens, and emphatically so.
22:09, 11 Jul 2025Updated 22:12, 11 Jul 2025
Picture by Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com – 19/07/2024 – Rugby League – Betfred Super League: Round 18 – St Helens vs Warrington Wolves – Totally Wicked Stadium, St Helens, England – St Helens head coach Paul Wellens
Paul Wellens looks very healthy for a dead coach walking.
After St Helens produced a tepid performance at Magic Weekend, spluttering to defeat against Leeds Rhinos, the word was that Wellens’ time was up.
69 days later, St Helens have won seven of their last eight games, have climbed to third in the Super League table and are looking more like Grand Final outsiders than play-off hopefuls after keeping the same opposition pointless.
The sceptics can say what they want, Paul Wellens is doing a very good job.
This isn’t the same Saints team that won four consecutive Grand Finals. Many of the players are the same but this is an ageing squad that is doing a good job of pushing the next crop of talent through. Harry Robertson and Owen Dagnall were excellent here and George Delaney continues to establish himself as a top prop forward.
Like it or not, Wellens was tasked with spearheading a transitional period. Two and a half years into that and Saints are starting to come good again.
Two wins over Leeds Rhinos cannot be overlooked. The Rhinos not only beat Hull KR last week but the only team they have lost to since the start of May is Saints, and it’s happened twice. They did it without their best player, Jack Welsby, and without a specialist hooker after losing Daryl Clark and Jake Burnes to first-half HIAs.
Underpinning it all is an improved defence. Saints looked a shambles in the department earlier this year but they have secured three shutouts in their last eight games and conceded one try in four others. They have rediscovered that meanness and that gives them a great chance of achieving something that appeared very unlikely early this year.
Are Saints Grand Final contenders? It still feels like a stretch and this squad still doesn’t appear as strong as others. But they’re third, and that’s some return in those circumstances. The credit has to go to the coach.
More importantly, in the long-term, Wellens is proving that he is a good coach who can deliver big results. With plenty of salary cap space at their disposal, Wellens has the chance to truly put his stamp on this squad next year and make it his. And let’s be clear, he has earned that opportunity.