St Helens back-rower Sia Soliola wants to end his Super League career with some silverware, and has spoken of an attitude change within the club that he hopes will help him achieve that.
The 27-year-old, who is looking to make an NRL return at the end of this season for the good of his family, called May’s convincing defeat to Warrington a “blessing in disguise”.
“Maybe we were just getting through games rather than finishing them and not addressing the real issue about how we were approaching those matches,” he said.
“Since Huddersfield there has been a big attitude change within the team. After the Wolves game Wello [Paul Wellens] said it was embarrassing and we took that on board.
“The club didn’t deserve that performance and nothing less than first place is where we need to be. It will be tough but we are capable of it.
“It was nice to have a break ahead of the match with Catalan but I’d rather have been in the Challenge Cup. It will be tough there but we will go with the right attitude. They did have a rough start but have come into form now and have players back. They have big forwards and it will be a real tough ask for us.”
Coach Nathan Brown revealed Soliola’s end-of-season intentions in April. The Samoan captain confirmed the rumour and also explained his reasons.
“I’ve expressed to the club that I am looking to go home at the end of the season and that is solely based on family reasons. The club has been fantastic to me but I feel it is time to move back home to Australia.
“Nothing is sorted yet and I am focusing on Saints and Old Trafford.
“It has been a hard decision and I feel I have made a lot of family members over here. It will be hard as Eamonn, Mike Rush and Nathan have been great to me, I can’t fault them; at this stage it is for family reasons.