YESTERDAY we brought the first part of our final Q&A with departing Saints coach Kristian Woolf.

Part two includes the responsibility Jack Welsby has taken this year, rehearsing gameday scenarios plus the way the side overcame adversity in 2022.

MC: Lachlan Coote was a key element of Saints’ attack for the previous three years – adjusting to that was always going to be a challenge, but to do it with the level of disruption in the 1, 6 and 7 must have complicated it?

KW: It made it really hard, but if you look at the start of the year we were very dominant in the first nine rounds when we had our 9, 6, 7 and 1 all together.

Obviously, when you lose players that becomes a leveller and what complicated Lewis Dodd’s loss more was that Will Hopoate did not just suffer one injury but a series of them and was out for such an extensive period.

We had terrific depth at 9, 6, 7, and 1 to start the year – but when you lose two crucial players there, that is not something you plan for.

St Helens Star: Will HopoateWill Hopoate (Image: Bernard Platt)

That puts you under a fair bit of stress – and don’t forget in Round 10 we also lost Jon Bennison for an extensive period with a fractured cheekbone.

If you do that to any team it really hurts you and we had a tough period getting through that period when we tried to figure out what our best combinations were and trying to figure out how to adjust.

But we got through it and got through it well.

As we started to get Will and Jon Bennison back it made us stronger.

MC: The Challenge Cup semi came at the height of those injuries. That is history now but does it make you think it could have been different?

KW: It is history and that is part of the game. I certainly don’t want to take anything away from Wigan – they rightfully won the game.

And going back to your previous question (in part 1) about not making a big deal of injuries it is because they are not an excuse and nobody else feels sorry for us.

There’s no point feeling sorry for ourselves – we just have to crack on.

READ: Part 1 of Kristian Woolf's Saints Q&A>

MC: Jack Welsby is no longer just your wildcard to play when you need to do something special – he has had to step up and take on responsibility?

KW: He took on a lot of responsibility this year. We really had a plan for him to be our number one and that is how we started.

And with that 9, 6, 7 and 1 we were really dominant, beating the biggest teams in the comp and beating them quite well. I still think that is where Jack is most comfortable.

What I can’t give him enough credit for is the way that when we lost Lewis Dodd he stepped into the six role and did it without complaint and made that one work as well.

He is still a wildcard for us, but not in terms of us being able to bring him off the bench and have an impact and change the game that way, but he’s a wildcard in the sense that he reads the game as well and if not better than anyone I have ever dealt with.

St Helens Star: Jack WelsbyJack Welsby (Image: Bernard Platt)

He has the ability to back that up with his skillset and his athleticism.

That makes him a really elite and outstanding player.

And what everyone forgets is that he’s 21-years old – but has a massive influence on every game now.

He is only going to improve. His work ethic, his humble nature and his character is what says he’s going to carry on improving the most.

MC: Regarding Jack’s play for Mark Percival’s try in the Grand Final. Percy was so alert to what Jack had started – even before he had kicked it – is that a sort of scenario you drill for or is it down to players’ instincts?

KW: We try and practice for as many different scenarios as possible in training – that is a big part of our training when we are doing game simulation.

But one thing we can’t teach the players to be is instinctive footballers and that try for me is Jack being instinctive and Mark Percival being instinctive to be able to, at that moment in time, be able to read what was going on and go and make the play happen.

St Helens Star: Mark PercivalMark Percival (Image: Bernard Platt)

That is what your good players can do. When you miss those players we have this year – Dodd, Grace, Hopoate, Percival, Walmsley, Makinson Mata’utia – when you miss those players you miss that real instinct to make something out of nothing.

That is why it was important to get back the blokes that we did for such a big game and they make a difference.