DEPARTING coach Kristian Woolf has thanked the town of St Helens for the warmth and support the people have shown him and his family for the past three years.
Woolf, who joined the club at the end of 2019, signed off his duties last week with his third and Saints' fourth consecutive Super League title.
And although he is leaving and heading home to take on a role with Wayne Bennett at the Dolphins, he declared that the old saying "Once a Saint, always a Saint" applies.
Woolf, who departs with good wishes all round, said he understood the initial reservations towards him in the early days of 2020 as the fans came to terms with the changing of the guard from thehugely popular Justin Holbrook.
Saints' immediate post lockdown period and the march to the title in 2020 certainly helped win over those fans who were reserving judgement early doors.
Coming from the Queensland mining town of Mount Isa, that he says has similarities to St Helens, helped Woolf understand where Saints fans were coming from in weighing him up.
Woolf said: "I certainly understand that when someone new comes – particularly from Australia – it probably takes a little time for people in a town like St Helens.
"That is because people are passionate, it is because they care about the team, they care about the town and the players.
"They need to know that they can trust you and that you are here for the right reasons first.
"I get that. I am from a small town – a tough town that is very similar in that regard – and people need to earn their acceptance.
"That is what I felt here. I respect that and I can relate to that.
"Once people understood that I was here for the right reasons and I did want to play my part in trying to help the team be as successful as it can be, that acceptance came and I can’t thank the fans enough.
"They have made us feel so welcome, made us feel part of the community – and when I say 'us' I also mean my wife and four kids.
"The support the town has given the team first and foremost and then also myself has been special.
"The fans have just given me so many moments in the past six or so months, but in particular the past month, that I can’t thank them enough for and I will never forget.
"That is what I will take away and what I will remember about the fans and about my time here."
Woolf will still be in town for the autumn with him taking charge of Tonga's World Cup campaign.
After that he will head to the NRL with the new outfit Dolphins, who are from the Redcliffe club.
But he and his family will still be looking out for the Saints results from 12,000 miles away.
"I will be Saints for life, it would be impossible not to be," Woolf said.
"The memories I take from here and the way I look at this playing group and the respect I have for them, and the respect I have for the club and the people involved in the club makes that impossible to forget.
"And what St Helens as a town as given to me and my family we will always look back at this three years as such a positive period of our lives and we will certainly always be supporting Saints.
"I only hope that the club continues to have the same success and I am confident that they will.
"But I will certainly watch from afar to see the young players develop see them winning and putting themselves in positions to play in the big games and I will certainly get a lot of enjoyment from that.
"There's an old saying, once a Saint always a Saint and that is the way I feel."
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