Wellens Q &A - Catalans, travelling fans, Percival update

MC: Just going back to last Friday. It's a long way up to the top of the summit, but do you allow yourself a little pat on the back at base camp before you roll into the next game?

PW: Yeah, absolutely. After the game I told the lads it was important that they enjoyed it and that Derby games are special. When you get good results in them, off the back of a lot of hard work and a lot of effort, it's important that you enjoy the moment.

But obviously once we return to training in preparation for this weekend's game those celebrations have stopped. We're focused on what is the next task and that's another difficult game in Catalans.

MC: Catalans is a tough game. They've been a bit of a bogey side, haven't they this last four games, They've all been tight games but four defeats. How do you approach them?

PW: Well, I think we are in for another close game – and they tend to be close games whenever we play Catalan. So we're preparing for a tough game, but we go there in good form and confident and we feel that if we can play to our best, we can get a positive result.

But at the same time we know it's a tough challenge.

MC: They are slightly different to last time - Catalans have changed a bit, but just looking at Jordan Abdul, he's added something to that team, hasn't he? He was a bit of a menace on Saturday against Warrington?

PW: Yes he was and it largely centres around his kicking game, obviously he is very challenging there and hopefully we've had good preparation last week in dealing with Harry Smith in that respect, so it’s more of the same.

Jordan's obviously having a big influence on them as a team at the moment. He’s a big boy as well and has got a strong running game.

He brings the other people in and around him into the game as well, and although Catalans have had a fair bit of disruption and change of personnel, I think that the players that they had brought have really added something to them.

MC: What are you like after physically, how have you come through that game?

PW: Bumps, bruises, aches and pains like you would expect from a game like that. Obviously, we lost Matty Lees through suspension, which is unfortunate, but everybody else seems fit and healthy train well. You still there?

MC: Can we get an update on Mark Percival after his HIA?

PW: He's out of this week’s game and we will follow protocol there and get Mark checked out.

Again, that's obviously a big miss with a player of Mark’s quality, but what it does do is give an opportunity to somebody else.

What we have done well this year is when we've been missing players someone has stepped in and done a good job. Moses Mbye did it at Leeds a couple of weeks ago and it's a challenge for somebody else to do the same this week.

MC: It must be frustrating for Mark because he can't seem to get into his stride, whether it's injury or suspension?

PW: It is frustrating for him. He was suspended, came back and then he gets a head knock and misses another game.

What he has a great ability to do is not needing two or three games to build continuity.

When he comes back, he generally knows his job and hits the ground running.

So in that respect it's not a concern, but obviously for him personally he would obviously like to string some games together.

MC: Does he need extra checking over when he's had a couple of head knocks, historically, do you take different care with a player like that?

PW: Yes, definitely. And there's some protocols in place there.

Our medical team are fantastic in terms of the way they look after the players. A great example of that was last year when we didn't play Sione Mata’utia for nearly five, six weeks on the back of a head knock and that was our decision to look after him.

So with Mark, he will be sent to see a specialist. Our medical staff will go along to that appointment with him to get him checked out and but we're hopeful.

Mark's feeling good and not feeling any ill effects from the challenge at this moment in time, but obviously needs to go see the right people first.

MC: The build up to last Friday’s game, Morgan Knowles went into it with a bad arm. All I can say if he's got a bad arm, I want two. He was pretty impressive against Wigan, wasn't he?

PW: He was. He is as tough as they come. He had a pretty significant bang on his arm the week before but was adamant all week that he was going to play.

Not only did he play, he played very well. In a Derby game like that you need your middles to really aim up physically. You need them to play at a really high intensity. And Morgan Knowles probably is the benchmark.

MC: You look at the grunt he brings to the middle, 36 tackles and 20 carries, but the subtlety to his game often gets overlooked. He's got a decent pass on him as well, hasn’t he?

PW: He's very skillful and always has been ever since he was a young kid coming through the team.

We're trying to evolve our game and trying to evolve our attacking side of the game, a fair bit and using players like Morgan Knowles effectively can help us to do that.

But what he does do he does do really well, is that he values the tough side of the game first and he understands that you only get the chance to play and show your skill set off the back of the hard work. And again, that's something he does really well.

MC: Curtis Sironen building up for a bit of sibling rivalry on Saturday with Bayley. Is that something he's looking forward to?

PW: I would imagine but he's not mentioned it too much. When brothers go up against brothers we had the similar thing with Sione and Peter Mata’utia in the last few years. Obviously it's great for Curtis and Bailey to go up against each other and I am sure that they're both really looking forward to it.

MC: What's your plans travel wise?

PW: We fly on Friday afternoon. We purposely fly over that little bit later in the afternoon so we don't have to get up too early and deal with that side of things and so we'll arrive there Friday evening, we'll have a bit of food and bit of relax.

Game day is a bit of a longer day with it being a later kick off 9PM over there in France but it’s something that we've accounted for and we're happy with our preparation going on.

MC: It's a remarkable turn out from from Saints fans over there. It must be great for the players running out and there's 1000 there at behind the posts. Wonderful to take so many numbers overseas?

PW: It's unbelievable. Our fans in particular really seem to enjoy that trip for obvious reasons - you go there to the sunshine and go into the city centre and have a few drinks with each other. But it makes for a really great atmosphere.

Our fans seem to really enjoy the experience of going down there.

So we as a club and as a team, and all the players are extremely grateful for the support that they get.

We understand that you know people work and spend a lot of money to follow the team around so when they turn up in the large numbers like they do we are always so grateful for that.

Watch the Q&A video here, including what Paul Wellens said about Lewis Dodd and Agnatius Paasi: