ST HELENS are in the unusual position, for them, of entering a new Super League season without a single trophy to defend.
After losing their four-year grip on the Challenge Cup, when they were well beaten by Wigan at Wembley, Saints then narrowly missed out on the League Leaders’ Shield, by a single point, and then the Grand Final — both to the Warriors.
Ending a season trophy-less for the first time since 2019 will no doubt have left everyone involved disappointed, but it will also have given them a fresh resolve to go out there and look to reassert their dominance in the game.
Changes to the squad have been kept to a minimum, with the biggest signing to come in being Paige Travis, who returns to the club after a year with Parramatta Eels in the NRLW.
The knowledge and experience she can pass on from that season down under could add another dimension to an already high-quality squad.
The consistency that will come from a relatively settled squad should not be underestimated, and with a new strength and conditioning coach on board, Saints should be able to hit the ground running feeling stronger than ever before.
ONE TO WATCH…
LEAH BURKE is back and will be keen to make up for lost time after a second ACL injury in three years ruled her out of the whole of the 2025 season. Having successfully come back from her previous injury to finish as the league’s top try-scorer with 28 in 12 league appearances in 2024, many will be expecting a similar reaction this time round. But she will have a fight on her hands after Dani McGifford stepped into her spot on the wing so admirably last season. With a World Cup spot up for grabs, Burke really will want to be at her best.
COACH’S CORNER with England head coach Stuart Barrow
ST HELENS will be a very hungry team after missing out narrowly last year. They were very, very close to Wigan, so it’ll only really be fine-tuning that is needed this year.
They identified that they needed to be slightly more fit, athletic and powerful than they were last year to try and compete with Wigan, so I know they’ve put a lot of work into that in pre-season and taken on a new strength and conditioner to try and achieve that. So once the games start we’ll see what effect that has had.
They’re a champion side with lots of experience, but there are also youngsters coming through their academy now as well.
Squad: 1 Rebecca Rotheram, 2 Phoebe Hook, 3 Rachael Woosey, 4 Amy Hardcastle, 5 Leah Burke, 6 Zoe Harris, 7 Faye Gaskin, 8 Vicky Whitfield, 9 Katie Mottershead, 10 Chantelle Crowl, 11 Shona Hoyle-Holdsworth, 12 Emily Rudge, 13 Jodie Cunningham, 14 Paige Travis, 15 Georgia Sutherland, 16 Erin McDonald, 17 Caitlin Casey, 18 Luci McColm, 19 Caitlin Taylor, 20 Alyx Bridge, 21 Hollie Bowden, 22 Mia Drescher, 23 Olivia Leach, 24 Zoe King, 25 Dani McGifford, 26 Tracy Ojeaburu, 27 Mikayla Gillespie, 28 Jadine McVernon, 29 Emme McVernon, 30 Amy Taylor
RLW predicts: 2nd
First published in Rugby League World magazine, Issue 520 (May 2026)