BIG prop Alex Walmsley said Saints' win against Wire is huge for the squad's confidence.

He paid tribute to the part played by young guns Morgan Knowles, Jack Ashworth and Jake Spedding, while believing a Saints camp that had been under fire from sections of their own fans can progress their performances after becoming the first team to win at league leaders Warrington Wolves this year.

It was Saints' sixth successive victory away to Tony Smith's side, and achieved with nine first-teamers sidelined.

"Warrington have been head and above the best team so far in Super League this year," said the giant Yorkshireman.

"For us to go there, scraping the barrel for experienced players and all the young players coming in, it's a massive win not just for the two points but the confidence it's going to put in the camp.

"And hopefully that will allow us to kick on. They're a top outfit and for us to do that under the adversity that we're under is massive for us. We've been low in confidence, losing players, and off certain results, so for us to do this I think it will spark us a little bit."

Walmsley added: "The fans expect one thing only and that's 100 percent.

"Over past weeks we've given 100 percent but sometimes when you don't have key personnel out there it just doesn't happen for you.

"I think the fans knew we'd give nothing but our all against Warrington.

"As long as we keep doing that every week, as long as we're putting bodies out there, we've got the team spirit to compete.

"If you take your starting 1 to 5 out of any team I'd like to see how they'd go. For us to have those boys missing and a few big pack members too, to go to the form team and put in a good win is massive.

"And when we do get other boys back it will be a massive boost and allow us to kick on further."

He was delighted with the way 20-year-olds Knowles and Ashworth plus 19-year-old debutant Spedding set about their work.

"Our young kids coming through are extraordinary talents," he said.

"St Helens have got a big reputation for bringing through high quality players.

"Our young boys are not here just to fill the numbers, they're here to be Super League players.

"The boys who have come in, if they were at other clubs would probably be starting Super League players so we're lucky to have such depth in the squad and allows us to do that.

"Jake Spedding on debut was solid on the wing and for me Jack Ashworth was phenomenal, especially in the first half with the try he got and the way he put himself about. And Morgan Knowles as well, they're babies.

"For them to go up against the form side and put in such a great performance shows how bright our future is."

Walmsley accepted there is still room for improvement as the focus switches to a visit on Thursday from Catalans Dragons, the second-placed team who won 40-0 at Hull Kingston Rovers on Thursday.

"It wasn't a perfect performance by us, it never is, there's always lots of places to improve on," said the 26-year-old, who was signed from Batley Bulldogs ahead of the 2013 season.

"We'll dust ourselves down and go again on Thursday against probably the other form team in the competition in Catalans, who have just come off the back of a great win.

"So we've got a lot to crack on with but the important thing is the mood in the camp is high despite what's been said in the press and elsewhere. The mood in the camp has always been good. For us to keep the mood and belief in there, and to believe in our principles we'll go ok and coming off a good result hopefully we'll kick on and get some momentum."

Catalans have added skill levels, size and physicality to their squad this year with a further influx of former Australian internationals.

"You look at Dave Taylor and Willie Mason as the starting front row, there's about 400kilo there," said Walmsley as he looks ahead to the battle of the packs.

"It's a tough task, but we haven't got a shabby pack either. We went to Warrington as a middle unit and did well against a very physical Warrington side. We'll take positives out of that and go into Catalans full of confidence.

"The danger with Catalans is they have big boys who can play a bit of footy but the main thing is for us is that we go into the game on the back of a performance against Warrington and the win was a bonus."