Kristian Woolf refused to use the late withdrawal of Alex Walmsley as an excuse for St Helens’ defeat to Warrington.
Walmsley pulled out minutes before kick-off after suffering a calf injury.
He joined the likes of Lachlan Coote, Tommy Makinson, James Roby and Morgan Knowles on the sideline as Saints went down 19-0.
It was Woolf’s first defeat as Saints boss, but he said the absence of key players was no excuse.
“It’s obviously a challenge, he’s a good player and a leader in our group, but it’s something we’ve got to get over and handle a little bit better than we showed tonight.
“The fact of the matter is you lose good players in our sport and we’ve to get a little bit better at getting on with things.
“We’ve got enough out there to win games of footy and enough out there to play better than what we did.
“It doesn’t help but those injuries throw up a challenge. Tonight we didn’t take that challenge on. It was disappointing.”