St Helens head coach Paul Wellens has spoken about the “huge headache” he has fitting Tristan Sailor and Jack Welsby into his squad for the upcoming matches, starting with Hull FC on Friday night.

Welsby returned from his 11-week injury this past Sunday, coming on off the bench to get some much-needed minutes and that saw Sailor move to hooker.

However, the Australian clearly won’t be deployed there from the off against Hull FC and questions over which man plays full-back and what the role of the other one looks like loom large.

Prior to Welsby’s injury, Sailor found home on the wing but both Kyle Feldt and Owen Dagnall are two of the competition’s form players and that’s largely down to the success and form of Sailor in the number one position.

Speaking to the media at his weekly press conference ahead of Friday’s home clash with Hull FC, Paul Wellens explained that the return of England’s full-back has created a welcome headache.

“Well, it’s both. It’s a huge positive, but also a huge headache when you’re selecting a team,” he explained.

“If you look at the 21-man squad that we’ve announced today, we’re in a healthy position at the moment, and quite naturally there will be some disappointed players who miss out, and players that realistically are worth a jersey, but I can only pick 17 players, so there’s some tough calls I need to make.”

St Helens boss rues headache as Welsby returns

That 21-man squad saw just one change with Curtis Sironen returning after his recent HIA as Jake Davies dropped out with St Helens only really missing Konrad Hurrell (match fitness), Jake Wingfield (ankle) and Lewis Murphy (quad), the latter two being season-ending injuries.

On those headaches, Wellens explained that his team have embraced the squad-first mentality and noted players have been, and will have to continue, making sacrifices.

“What I know and what will be the case, is that if we are to achieve our ambitions this year, and we have very high ambitions, it’s going to take a collective effort,” argued Wellens.

“So the 17 that play this weekend have got a job to do, but I’m pretty certain it’s not going to be the same 17 every week from now to the end of the season.”

On Welsby and Sailor specifically, he revealed: “There may be a solution but quite naturally, you can’t give every single player what they want all the time. What you do need is players within your team who are, at times, prepared to do what’s best for the team, even though, on occasions, that won’t suit what’s best for them.”

Wellens pointed to Sailor’s spell at nine on Sunday as an example of that, stating: “It’s really good for me to know that we’ve got players within our squad who are prepared to do those types of things.”

Paul Wellens discusses team selection for Hull FC clash

As for the team selection, he confirmed that there “will not be wholesale changes” suggesting that it could be a very similar looking squad, albeit with Curtis Sironen returning.

He explained: “The team’s performing well. Obviously, Curtis has been really strong for us in the weeks leading up to, obviously, getting his head injury at Wakefield, so he will come back into the team, whether that’s off the bench or starting. I’m not quite sure, but he will certainly play.”

Another second-row forward who returned last week was Joe Batchelor and Wellens hailed that performance, suggesting he too could be offered more minutes in the matchday squad.

He said: “I think the game at the weekend was perfect for Joe. Obviously, he’d had a couple of reserve hit outs, which were good for him, but he got some meaningful minutes and I thought he had a strong performance as well, which was really pleasing.”

Deon Cross was also named to the 21-man squad for a second week in a row although he featured for the reserves last week, however, Wellens noted the balance in his outside backs at the moment with the experience of Mark Percival and Kyle Feldt aiding the development of Owen Dagnall and Harry Robertson respectively. With those four players flying, Cross could find it hard to force a return to the squad.