THERE is no ill-feeling from the Saints club towards scrum half Lewis Dodd, despite him turning down a contract extension in favour of a three-year deal with NRL club South Sydney Rabbitohs.

But with the 22-year-old Academy product now having made his big decision to switch, coach Paul Wellens wants the half back to play with freedom for his remaining six months in the red vee.

The former Halton Farnworth Hornets junior has played 76 times since being given his first team shot by Kristian Woolf, scoring 26 tries, 13 goals and two drop goals.

One of those drop goals sealed the World Club Challenge victory over Penrith Panthers in Australia last February.

Wellens said: “It's disappointing that he's chosen to go and play elsewhere, but that's his choice and we, and I as his coach, absolutely respect that decision.

“Lewis is a brilliant young man and we are very proud of him in and what he's done since he's come to the club and the way he's forced his way into the first team squad and been a been a key player in some very big games for us in recent years.

“In the future he's going to move on and we wish him absolutely all the best and hope that he goes to the NRL and makes a real success of it because that would be a great reflection for us as a club.

“There's no issues or simmering undertones with our disappointment or anything like that.

“He's a great lad, we love him and we are going to miss him when he's gone but he's determined to finish his time here in the right way.”

Dodd has not really found his form this year and recently sat out two games in April with rib and groin injuries.

He was one of a number of players who were well off the pace in the shellacking at Hull KR, but Wellens accepts that he has had plenty weighing on his mind.

“I think it's obviously been a tough few weeks for Lewis because he's had a lot to think about and a lot going on.

“As you can imagine, when you're a young man, it's not an easy decision to decide to leave somewhere that you love being a part of.

“What I want from Lewis from now until the end of his time at the club is the same Lewis that came through the doors when he first got his opportunity.

“That is a real bubbly character, excited, enthusiastic - very much free of pressure and playing the game like he would have done when he was at Halton Hornets as a kid.

“That's what I want to see in Lewis – for him to enjoy his time in his final few months with us here,” Wellens said.