ST HELENS’ failure to reach the play-offs for the first time in Super League in now official.
But interim coach Eamon O’Carroll said he was “unbelievably proud” of his players nonetheless.
A disastrous season which has seen Paul Rowley come and go as coach and the treatment room at full capacity will end against Hull KR on Friday with nothing to play for.
That’s after a 48-10 defeat at Leigh Leopards, their other direct top-six rival, emphatically ended any lingering hopes of making it in.
Former Bradford boss O’Carroll has won only two of his seven games in charge, and will himself soon leave the club for Welsh rugby union side Scarlets, ahead of Kevin Walters’ arrival as head coach next season.
“I’m unbelievably proud of the players,” said O’Carroll after the Leigh defeat.
“If there was one thing that I wanted to get out of it, it was that we had a team that turned up for each other and got back to that same sort of standard, regardless of who was playing and who wasn’t.”
Saints gave a debut to Oscar Knox on a very youthful bench while there were starting roles for Tom Humphreys and Billy Keeley.
“I think it’s great to give young lads a chance,” O’Carroll added.
“They can hold their head high and they’ll certainly be better for this experience. It’s just a shame I won’t be here to see it.”
While Saints have taken plenty of criticism from supporters this season, O’Carroll insisted the squad’s unity has never been in question.
“How we value each other inside our four walls is more important than anything,” he said.