ST HELENS chief executive Mike Rush has hit back against Jon Wilkin’s claims of “penny-pinching” in Super League club’s recruitment.
Wilkin had previously said on Sky Sports: “For me recruitment at St Helens has been poor and has been based on penny-pinching and making deals with players who are substandard and don’t deserve to be at a club like this.
“There are overseas players who are simply cheap on the market and rely far too much on youth.”
Wilkin doubled down on his comments with Rush on The Bench podcast, highlighting Waqa Blake, Konrad Hurrell and Moses Mbye as his evidence of overseas recruitment not being a success.
But Rush replied: “It’s been good and it’s unfair on Konrad and Moses.
“Overseas players are harder to get than ever before. Your days of getting a Jamie Lyon or a Matt Gidley are much much more difficult.
“When we’re playing well and the team is full of confidence, I think that Moses Mbye or Konrad Hurrell, who is out injured, do add a lot to our team.”
“We’re always going to get it wrong whether it’s an overseas player or not, you take risks and you gamble. What you have to keep in context is that it’s a salary cap sport and you’re putting certain numbers on player’s heads that you believe they’re worth.
“I understand your question but it’s much more detailed than picking a certain player and saying ‘is he playing well or not?’
“Waqa Blake played in an NRL Grand Final, that doesn’t necessarily make him a great player but for what we had available in our cap and what we valued the player at, it was worth a chance to do.”
Rush went further, explaining that the current Saints model is a “long-term one”.
“It’s moneyball-esque in order to get the best value and our club differs in that we probably rely more on British players to be at the forefront.
“Ours is a long-term model and what we’re about is trying to get it right over a sustained period of time. It’s only two years ago that we were half a minute away from being in a fifth straight Grand Final.”
