Kristian Woolf: Saints have not spoken about Super League four-peat

Having troubled the grammar police enough with the three-peat portmanteau, if there is talk of the four-peat anywhere it is not coming from the lips of Woolf or his players.

Saints’ trio of Super Grand Final triumphs was the first time in the club’s history that they have been champions for three consecutive years, equalling the feat of the Leeds 2007-09 crop.

But talk of becoming the first team to win four in a row has not been the starting point of the players in pre-season training.

Woolf explained: "It hasn't been spoken about at all – and that is an honest answer.

“Everyone is aware what this group of men have achieved and continue to do. Once you get into pre-season, everything is pretty quickly forgotten. There's a lot of hard work to do.

“If we keep finding ways to be a better team, then we are going to be hard to beat.

"If we drop our standards and get comfortable with where we sit and start worrying about what we have achieved rather than what is in front of us that is going to be our own downfall.

“But the way they are working in pre-season there is no sign of that whatsoever – it is the opposite, a real hunger to drive those high standards that we have always had.

"We want to back that up and have the same sort of success – and if you are looking at outcomes that would include the League Leaders as well.

“When I talk about improvement that is finding ways where we can be a stronger team, and a better team and the competition is going to ask that of us because it is going to be stronger with a sprinkling of new and improved players across a lot of the teams.

“Essentially, teams want to be where we have sat for the last three years, they want to be in those big games and winning those big games.

“For us to be in that position again we are going to have to be better because that is what the competition is going to ask.”

There has been a significant turnaround of playing staff, with 10 new boys in the 30 man-squad from external recruits or promotions through the ranks.

Lachlan Coote, Kevin Naiqama and Theo Fages have departed, as and so has the dogged James Bentley.

In their stead Saints have enticed Curtis Sironen and Will Hopoate from the NRL, but there is continuity of sorts with Jack Welsby and Lewis Dodd replacing Coote and Fages, with the 20-year-old Widnesian already comfortable in the number role.

Rather than splurging the rest of the cap on another big name, Saints have added depth to their roster with the signings of James Bell (Leigh), Konrad Hurrell (Leeds), Joey Lussick (Parramatta) and Danny Hill (Widnes).

Junior products Jon Bennison, Lewis Baxter, Jumah Sambou and Taylor Pemberton are the latest to drop in off the prolific Academy production line to leave the class of 2022 in a good place to deal with what another challenging season will throw at them.

"We've changed 10 of our squad of 30 but almost half of those have come up through the academy so they know what our culture is, what our habits and expectations are. Most have done a little bit of training with us last year.

“They are aware of what is required," he said.

"The guys we've brought in have all come from very different systems, but they've come in wanting to work really hard and make sure they fit in.

“They have come in wanting to earn the trust of the group that's been here.

"Obviously we lost some guys in crucial positions, but we've replaced them with players who were already a big part of our success last year and have been in the system for a little while.

“Lewis Dodd finished the year as our half back last year and is going to be our half back this year.

“He is getting comfortable enough to add his own little bits to the team and had a tremendous impact last year and we are only going to see a better, more confident Lewis Dodd this year as he will be a little bit better and more comfortable again.

“And Jack Welsby fitting into the number one position, which I think is his best position.

"He looks extremely comfortable there in training. He is a terrific football player – but wherever you play him he makes it work.”

Woolf expects neighbours Wigan and Warrington, both with new head coaches, to challenge but beyond that he cited improvement across the league naming Wakefield and Salford as surprise packages.

"If you have a look through the competition, fans should be really excited about what's coming up this year," he said.

"Some really exciting players are being introduced and that's going to make a stronger competition as a whole. I expect it to be extremely tight as well.

"We've got to keep ahead of that and I think our new players will help us improve."

Saints blast off the closed-season ring-rust on Friday when they entertain Leigh in Alex Walmsley's testimonial.

Quite deliberately, to continue a trend of recent years, this will be Saints' only warm-up match.

"To be honest, I'd be happy to go without any pre-season games," he said.

"One thing we need to look at some stage is how many games we play and how many we play with short turnarounds.

"It's certainly going to be a challenging year if teams have the success they want to have. If you play every game in the Challenge Cup and play through to the Grand Final, you're playing 33 or 34 games and you can throw in internationals.

"If England were to have success in the World Cup, you've got players looking at playing up to 42 games in a year, which is realistically way too many.

"We think by giving our players a little bit less at the start of the year and looking after them a bit more, when those big games come around, we're going to have them fresh and healthy."

Pictures: Bernard Platt.