SAINTS boss Kristian Woolf believes Super League’s gruelling fixture schedule is having a negative impact on the fitness and welfare of players and the quality of product being served up.

He was echoing what Lee Radford – the coach of opponents Castleford – said after last Sunday’s often disjointed encounter which saw both sides shorn of half a dozen members of their top 17.

Although Woolf has always backed his squad to deliver – and has never played the injury card to excuse performances or defeat – the relentless nature of the long competition, its resultant injuries and the burden that has placed on the youngest and most senior members of the squad is taking a toll.

St Helens Star:

Super League sides play 27 regular rounds – playing each other home and away, plus Magic and then four additional loop fixtures – ahead of the play offs. On top of that they play up to four Challenge Cup ties – obviously dependant on how far they progress – and then no sooner is the condensed season over, then the World Cup will be upon us.

Woolf, who is in his third season of Super League, will have seen the effects more this year given that the impact of Covid limited Saints to just 17 regular round games in 2020 and 21 last term.

He said: “We play too many games, there is no doubt about that.

“We are trying to play too many games in a normal season and then there is Challenge Cup, mid season (International) trial games and then the World Cup coming up at the end of the year.

“We are playing too many games and you are starting to see the effect of that both in terms of what players you can put out on the field – and both Saints and Cas had players missing from our top line up (we are at least 6) - and that is not including injuries to your younger guys underneath who would fill the gaps.

“There is no doubt it is affecting quality.”

The make up of the Super League fixture list has altered over the years since its formation in 1996. 

In the first two years of first past the post, teams played just 22 rounds.

In subsequent years, whether through the introduction of loop fixtures or the short-lived experiment of the Super 8s, more games have been played.

Saints played 29 regular rounds in 2019.

That was one fewer than the years between 2015-18 when 23 regular games, including Magic, was followed by seven Super 8s games and then a top-four play-off.