PAUL ROWLEY admits that his St Helens players are “ready for a break” following an unlikely 30-10 defeat to Castleford Tigers.
Saints were outplayed at the OneBore Stadium, conceding twelve penalties and also making double-figure errors.
Before round twelve, Saints were sitting pretty at the top of the Super League ladder but, with Leeds Rhinos’ win over Huddersfield Giants and Castleford’s demolition of Rowley’s men, they now sit second.
“We would rather have played next week and had another game, but that’s the emotion,” Rowley said.
“The reality is that we had pretty much the same roster out there that have got us to this part of the season and they are ready for a break.
“Take my emotion out of it and most of the players have gone back-to-back and have been in long games for a while.
“It’s a short break and then we are back in, but we would rather have got back on the horse.”
The result backed up Rowley’s pre-match assessment that Saints still have much to work on.
“We’ve scrapped our way through to this point with massive adversity, without kicking up a fuss or whingeing about it,” said the coach.
“What I know is I’ve got a group of players and staff who get on with their job and whatever is put in front of us we get through it and do our best.
“But I also know there’s a lot of improvement in us. There’s probably another 20 percent to add, which we’ll need to add when it comes to crunch time.”