What Paul Wellens wants from his Saints team going forward

We asked the priority areas to address and what scope he has to shake up the team if there is no response this week.

MC: After a defeat as bad as Sunday’s - has this been a tough few days of review and reflection?

PW: It has been an extremely tough couple of days for everybody reflecting on that – not just the result but the manner of the result.

We know we fell way below the standards we expect and I have got to take responsibility for that and ensure that we rectify that very quickly, and that is what we are working hard to do.

MC: Everyone reacts differently – and plenty have said their piece, but it is the response of the players that is the most important from here?

PW: That's the challenge for the players, as an individual, you've got to have pride in your performance and pride in what you do.

We did not have many at the weekend who lived up to expectations.

I would expect the playing group as a collective and the individuals within that team to respond in the appropriate way.

MC: It is a short turnaround from Sunday to Friday, what have you had to prioritise in terms of addressing and ensuring you fix up for the next game and going forward?

PW: Defensively we conceded some very uncharacteristic tries and the most disappointing thing around that was a lot of the poor stuff we did came down to a lack of energy and intensity.

We contributed to that in terms of how much possession we coughed up but at the same time when you’re out-enthused by your local rival, at home, in a Challenge Cup quarter final that is something that can’t sit well with you and it certainly does not sit well with me.

MC: Were some of those errors from fatigue and chasing the game – as well as the cumulative effect of the early errors?

PW: It just became a vicious cycle that we could not get out of and as I said after the game, I was really disappointed by the amount of errors we made and the amount of defence we made ourselves do, but there was a period with 18 minutes to go where they went two tries ahead and we went for a short kick off. That is not us.

There was a mindset that we wanted things a little easier and the longer the game went on the worse things got.

MC: Watching the game live it felt like a total drubbing, and there were several really bad spells in the game. Watching the game back there was period before half time, where you did have field position that could have been exploited more. It did not need to turn into such a lob-sided game in that last 20 minutes?

PW: It was a cup game and naturally the most important thing is the result but in the past we've lost games because we haven't quite got something right, we have leaked one try or haven’t got the bounce of the ball.

But what we did at the weekend was it seemed like we gave in that that's very uncharacteristic. That's very not like this team and that's something I'm very keen to not see happen again.

MC: Do your senior blokes speak back to you and give you their side – because you always talk about how honest they are where things go wrong - or has there been an element where you've had to lay the law down yourself this week?

PW: I think it is the latter. I have had to be very blunt with the group this week in terms how we're going to approach things moving forward.

They are a good group of players who are honest and a lot have been hugely influential in terms of success the team has had in recent years, but what we've got to quickly realise as a group is the fact that we've won competitions in the last four or five years and it counts for nothing anymore.

You have got to want to go out there and achieve more and do more, and that's what we've always prided ourselves in as a club.

Do we look back on our successes with fond memories? Of course. But at the same time we have got to get our heads in what is next because if you sit there and reminisce then the opportunity you have now in front of you passes you by.

MC: Have you scope to freshen up the team?

PW: Well Matty Lees and Mark Percival return and they are a couple of guys who will freshen things up.

I am still pondering a few decisions on how we approach the week because I do agree that we perhaps do need a bit of fresh energy around the group, but also there’s a group of players who are stinging with that performance and really want to put things right again.

I have to get the balance right, but all options are available.

MC: You say you are now going to cope again with Alex Walmsley for four weeks, but you have had nine months without Agnatius Paasi.

His size is a big miss in that team. I looked at the recent Catalans game and Chris Satae put a dent in the Saints line off the bench – a role that Iggy does at Saints. He has been a big miss in that pack – although that is not mentioned a lot?

PW: He has been a big miss – he is a unique player who really gives the team impact and for the opposition he is really hard to handle.

Agnatius has been a huge miss and it is absolutely brilliant to see back out on the training fields and to see him running and in and around the group and he's continuing to get better each day.

So it's a real positive sign and obviously when he is back fit and in contention that he can come back and give us the same impact which he's done since he arrived at the club.

MC: I watched Noah Stephens going through the pre-match drills and looking very enthusiastic and running strong, is he in contention for this one with you being so depleted in the pack? Is he knocking on the door?

PW: Yes, he's knocking on the door and he's not on his own there.

Tee Ritson is knocking on the door, Ben Davies is knocking on the door, as are Sam Royle and young lads like Jonny Vaughan and Dayon Sambou.

They are all coming into my thoughts more and more. So the challenge for those guys is to continue to work hard.

But Noah is doing a great job in training and I have spoken to him myself and even if it is not this week and I don’t think there's an opportunity too far away for him.

MC: With Hull, you probably could have done with playing them a couple of weeks ago because off-field changes invariably produce a response on it?

PW: There is no pressure on Hull this week – but they have obviously had a bit of disruption with changing the coach, and obviously a few players have left as well.

But I think what you get off the back of that is they are going to have a young, enthusiastic team, with probably a lot of Hull fans in there who when they pull the shirt on will do all they can to impress.

So the challenge for us is there. What we got on Sunday was out-enthused at home in a cup tie and we can’t allow that to the way you approach because, yeah, people talking about.

MC: Do you have to keep things quite simple in terms of getting back on the horse – despite plenty of voices saying you should put 30, 40, 50 points on them?

PW: I think we're at our best when we keep it simple. We want some variety off the back and want to be team the supporters enjoy coming watching and so it's about getting the balance right.

And what we have the tendency to do here – and I thought we got this one wrong last week is we put the cart before the horse.

If you don’t do the tough stuff and bring energy and intent, then there's no point in attempting to do the other things. So do the simple things well first.

MC: Are some of these problems inevitably down trying to evolve a playing style that the club has had since 2020. Maybe teething troubles in transition, frustration or looking for short cuts to push the passes wide to soon and offload when there’s nothing on?

PW: Potentially, and us as a coaching team we'll have a look at that.

There's always a balance to be struck because we've been hugely successful in recent times playing in a certain way, but also I know from past experiences that you get to a point where you get worked out and become a little bit predictable.

And I think we got to that point a little bit so it is about getting variety, evolving what we do, but whilst retaining the very simple basics that made us so successful in the past. That's something that I am trying to impress on the playing group.

I am hoping that last week’s experience gives us an opportunity to do that further.

Sometimes out of the biggest disappointment you can get the most improvements.

MC: Saints attack is under scrutiny – but I would throw in you can't properly judge an attack if you are repeatedly giving the ball up in good field position and that is a priority to sort?

PW: Precisely that. I said to the players in the week that we can look at the game plan. We can look at different things around that. Did I get my substitutes right and my interchanges – we reflect all the time.

But ultimately rugby league is a simple game and if you cough up the possession that we did it doesn't matter what your gameplan looks like if you haven’t got the ball to do anything. That is a simple fix.