Matty Lees insists it is imperative that St Helens get back to winning ways this Sunday ahead of their upcoming World Club Challenge clash with Sydney Roosters as coach Kristian Woolf surveys the damage of a mounting injury crisis.
The Saints were beaten 19-0 at Warrington last Thursday, the first time in four years they have been nilled in a league match.
And Lees admits that with a trip to Hull next up this Sunday, it is vital the reigning champions waste no time in rediscovering their form, especially with the Roosters on the horizon.
He said: “We trained hard all week and we spoke about their strengths as a team. We spoke about dealing with them and that didn’t happen.
“We’ll improve going into the Hull game and we’ve got to do it straight away, there’s no doubt about that. It starts this week in training and we’ll see how it goes.”
Meanwhile, Woolf admits the Saints face a nervous wait to discover the extent of injuries to key duo Alex Walmsley and Mark Percival.
Walmsley pulled out minutes before kick-off against the Wolves with a calf injury, while Percival left the field midway through the game due with an upper-body injury.
And Woolf said: “Al damaged a calf in the warm-up and was deemed not good enough to go out. We will have to get it scanned and looked at in the week to see where we are at.
“Mark Percival came off with a shoulder or collar bone, and it’s sore. We won’t know the extent of it until he gets scanned during the week. Players like him don’t come off if they are not really sore.”
But Woolf refused to use that as an excuse for the defeat.
“That is not the reason we lost,” he insisted.
“We need to better at overcoming things. We were not playing well before Percy went off the field, so that is not the reason.”
