SAINTS have always been able to grow their own players – and if needed scour the world for rugby league’s best.

However, the club has also been able to identify and snap up some real quality talent from the XV-man code.

They have scoured the world for those, too, from Moss Lane to Transvaal and Samoa.

Here is 13 based on some of the best talent Saints have bought....but there are plenty more to choose from.

St Helens Star:

1. Geoff Pimblett 

Signed from St Helens RUFC in 1971, Pimmer would go on to amass 1388 points, comprising 48 tries, 608 goals and 28 drop goals from 365 in the red vee.

He captained the club, became the first player to have won the Lance Todd and Harry Sunderland and played for Lancashire and England.

St Helens Star:

2. Tom van Vollenhoven.

Signed from Northern Transvaal RU, South Africa in October 1957, Voll’s finishing prowess, pace and swerve earned him a place in St Helens folklore.

The Flying Springbok’s record speaks for itself with 392 tries from 409 appearances between October 1957 and April 1968.

St Helens Star:

3. Scott Gibbs

Saints signed the Welsh rugby union international from Swansea in ahead of the 1994-95 season. Powerful and as strong as an ox, Gibbs could blast his way through defences – but also had that ability to set up his wingman up – as Danny Arnold would testify in 1996.

A member of the 1996 double-winning team, Gibbs returned to 15-man where he made a devastating impact on the British Lions tour to South Africa. Gibbs scored 23 tries in 48 appearances.

4 Don Gullick.

A bone-crunching tackler who joined Saints from Pontypool in 1950, the Welshman was part of the 1953 Championship winning team. Gullick scored 42 tries from 140 appearances between 1950-55.

St Helens Star:

5 Roy Mathias

 There is plenty of competition for the wing spot, with Steve Llewellyn and Len Killeen making strong claims, but ex-Llanelli wing Roy Mathias’ longevity in the red vee seals it. Slasher scored 218 tries in 412 appearances between 1972-83.

St Helens Star:

6 Peter Harvey

Signed from Liverpool RU, Harvey was stand off in the Four Cups winning team of 1966 – including the Wembley win over Wigan. He scored 48 tries from 120 appearances between 1963-66.

St Helens Star:

7. Jonathan Griffiths

The nippy half back joined from Llanelli ahead of the 1989/90 campaign after catching the eye playing for Wales against the mighty All Blacks. Griffiths would score 39 tries from 140 appearances at 6 and 7 until returning to Llanelli when union went open in 1995.

St Helens Star:

8 Apollo Perelini

– Competing with Wigan in the mid-90s was tough, so Saints had to think out of the box with recruitment. The man dubbed the Terminator had impressed playing for Western Samoa during the Rugby Union World Cup.

He was a new breed of athletic, mobile prop – scoring 44 tries from 193 appearances for Saints. They included important ones at Wembley and against London in the 1996 double-winning season. A Grand Final winner in 1999 and 2000, Perelini left for Sale in 200 but returned to lead the Strength and Conditioning team.

9 Reg Blakemore

Signed from Newport, Blakemore was a Welsh international when he signed in 1947. A fine winner of the ball in the era of contested scrums, the flame-haired rake was a key part of the 1953 Championship winning team.

He scored 20 tries in a career that spanned 187 games until April 1954.

St Helens Star:

10 Cliff Watson.

Signed from Dudley Kingswinford RU in 1960 after answering an advert placed by Saints that said, “Come and join us if you are big and fast!” Watson would become an all-time great respected and feared by the Australians.

A cup winner in 1961 and 1966, “Cockney Cliff” Watson scored 57 tries in 373 appearances before departing from Cronulla in 1971.

11 Ray French.

A hometown switch, French was an England Rugby Union international when he turned professional from St Helens RU in 1961. A member of the Four Cups team of 1966, French played 204 before being sold to Widnes in 1967 – but his influence on the Saints has lasted several decades since.

St Helens Star:

12 John Mantle

Another Welsh international signed from Newport, Mantle was a big and powerful packman who played in all the pack positions (bar hooker) during his spell spanning 1964-1976. He had the distinction of playing in the Wembley winning sides of 1966, 1972 and 1976 – the last one in the team dubbed Dad’s Army.

He scored 69 tries in 435 appearances and was a hugely popular figure in his adopted town, one in which he taught at Grange Park and Rivington.

St Helens Star:

13 Kel Coslett

Coslett was a Welsh union international when he signed from Aberavon in 1962.

Brought in as a full back, Coslett would switch to the pack with great effect and was loose forward and skipper in the 1972 Wembley win over Leeds.

He skippered the side to the First Division Championship, and then signed off as prop in the 1976 Challenge Cup Final win over Widnes.

He amassed a remarkable 3,413 points from 1,639 goals and 45 tries in 531 appearances in the red vee.

A club legend – who returned as coach in 1980 and then as gameday manager in the Super League era.