St Helens boss Paul Wellens claims that he is “fine” with being under pressure after his side lost their fifth game in a row last night against Leigh Leopards with Adrian Lam’s side winning 46-4.
It marks the first time since 1986 that St Helens have lost five games in a row and the resounding nature of the defeat only serves to heighten the pressure on Wellens. Despite that, he’s claimed that’s not a concern of his amidst growing calls from fans for him to depart.
Speaking to Sky Sports immediately after the eight-try defeat, Wellens was asked about the pressure that he is under by commentator Stuart Pyke with the 44-year-old accepting that he is ‘fine’ with it.
“That’s okay with me. I was aware when I started working here that there were standards and expectations, and we’re not meeting them right now.
“I’ve been here since I was 16 years old, when I first joined the academy. I’ve been through difficult times before, and with the team we have here, I think we can overcome them if we band together and put in the necessary effort.”As a player or coach, it’s very easy to start blaming others, but it serves no useful purpose.”
The five-game slide that St Helens are on is obviously demoralising but it’s also threatening to derail their season with the club now just two points inside the playoffs despite sitting in fourth place in Super League.
Victories for Salford and Catalans today would see each team leapfrog the Saints meaning that they could end the round sat in sixth and just two points clear of Leeds Rhinos. It’s been a steep decline considering Saints had been joint top at the start of this run of form.
Even worse, with the club’s injury crisis still ongoing, Wellens lost their top full-back Jack Welsby to a hamstring injury last night, which could cause him to miss months instead of weeks.
“There’s a group in there hurting,” Wellens said, reflecting on his players and the performance. They’re struggling mightily. We are unhappy and there are many areas where we need to improve, but I’m not the kind of person that goes in there screaming and hurling water bottles.
“We gave Leigh’s back field too much time and room to break loose with the ball, which made it harder for us to scramble and go after it. We simply set ourselves up for way too much.
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