COACH Paul Wellens hopes an uncomfortable pre-season will help St Helens get back among the silverware in 2025.
Having won four straight league titles plus a Challenge Cup between 2019 and 2022, the club haven’t lifted a trophy since winning the World Club Challenge against Penrith Panthers in February 2023.
The spectacular 13-12 golden-point triumph Down Under was Wellens’ first official match in charge after succeeding Kristian Woolf, to whom he had been assistant.
Saints lost in the semi-finals of both the Challenge Cup and play-offs that year.
And last season, they exited the cup at the quarter-final stage and were sixth in Super League, their lowest finish of the summer era, before a 23-22 golden-point loss in their play-off eliminator at Warrington.
Wellens signed a contract extension for 2025 back in August, and with new assistants in Lee Briers and Eamon O’Carroll, who he says have freshened up the backroom staff, he is determined to deliver.
And he has decided against a warm-weather training camp as the trio work to bring Saints back in from the cold.
“We’ve already had some adverse training conditions, and there will probably be more to come, but I think the challenging aspect of that adds an extra element of toughness to what we are already doing,” he explained.
“We decided against a trip abroad because we want to get back to basics and try to reconnect with the town.
“What makes St Helens strong as a place is its work ethic and the willingness of people to get on with things even if the conditions are uncomfortable.”
Training locations have included Formby Beach, where players were put through a series of physical tests and took a distinctly bracing dip in the Irish Sea, before a two-mile run back to their transport base.
Saints host Salford on Saturday, January 25 in a testimonial for backrower Morgan Knowles.
Their first Super League match is a repeat of that fixture, again at the Totally Wicked Stadium, on Saturday, February 15.
