WOULDN’T it be amazing if Paul Wellens took his side to the Grand Final at Old Trafford and was then not offered a new contract by the club?
Paul’s current contract expires at the end of this season and there has been no indication from St Helens that it will be renewed.
And we also know that a significant number of the current St Helens squad will be leaving the club at the end of the season.
It looks as though a considerable amount of rebuilding of the squad will get underway.
And until a few months ago it wouldn’t have been surprising to see Wellens himself joining the exodus from the Totally Wicked Stadium.
There was a stage in the season when the fans had plenty to complain about.
By the end of April, for example, they had already lost three times to Warrington, who themselves have enjoyed a disastrous season in 2025.
And Saints have failed to record a single win so far this season against the two three clubs in Super League – Hull KR, Wigan and Leigh.
In August and September they lost three games in a row to those three clubs.
And it’s not just that they have been losing matches, but that the attacking flair that the club used to be so well known for seems to have completely disappeared.
To be fair, that happened under the previous coach Kristian Woolf, but the consolation in his case was that his emphasis on defence produced Super League titles in each year of his tenure.
Paul began well, with a great World Club Challenge win against Penrith in 2023, but since then there has been a general shortage of big wins and entertaining performances.
Until Saturday night, that is!
Saints were 14-6 down when suddenly something stirred in the collective memory of the players.
They got back to 14-12 with a well-taken try by the departing Jon Bennison before they scored a try that began after the final hooter had sounded after Leeds had conceded an unfortunate penalty for a player being offside when picking up a loose ball.
Saints had just one tackle to try to win the game.
Only a piece of magic could do it for them.
And magic was what they produced.
It was reminiscent of the days when Saints were noted for brilliant ball-handling skills.
The ball went through 16 pairs of hands, with Harry Robertson and Tristan Sailor making especially thrilling contributions, ending with Shane Wright going over for the try.
I think it was actually bigger than the ‘Wide to West’ try they scored almost exactly 25 years ago, because more players were involved.
But it came out of the same stable.
The only thing that puzzles me is why we had to wait until the game was almost lost before St Helens decided to revert to their old entertaining selves.
Wouldn’t it be good to see that approach a little more often?
And does it mean that Paul Wellens will be offered a new contract?
I don’t know.
Perhaps if we see a little more of that style of rugby on Saturday at Hull KR, we might find that the deal will be done.