St Helens coach Paul Wellens hasn’t ruled out making any more signings ahead of 2025 following the club’s recent recruitment activity: and has provided the latest regarding the future of Sione Mata’utia.
The Saints have announced three new recruits so far ahead of next season in the shape of NRL trio Tristan Sailor, Kyle Feldt and Lewis Murphy, with the latter being officially announced earlier this week.
Former Wakefield Trinity winger Murphy has signed a two-year contract with St Helens from 2025, having spent this season in the NRL with Sydney Roosters: and Wellens is finally glad to secure the services of Murphy, having tried to sign him as Regan Grace’s replacement a couple of years ago.
“Lewis is is someone who, when we lost Regan Grace a couple of years ago, we thought about whether there’d be an opportunity to get him and obviously he chose to take an opportunity in the NRL,” Wellens told Love Rugby League.
“But now he’s decided that he’s going to come back and we’re delighted that we’re the team he’s chosen to come and join.
“He’s an outstanding young man first and foremost, but also a great and hugely talented player as well and he’s got speed which any team would want in their outside backs: but it’s not just that, he’s a great kick target, I think he’s a really competent defender, a really competitive kid and he is really hungry to be successful.
“We’re obviously hugely motivated here as a club to get back to winning and his ambition shared ours.”
Saints’ recent flurry of transfer activity has delighted their supporters: and Wellens is pleased with how his backline is shaping up for 2025 with the additions of Sailor, Feldt and Murphy.
“Yeah absolutely,” Wellens continued. “Obviously we’ve still got players here, the likes of Jon Bennison, Owen Dagnall, Harry Robertson, Tee (Ritson) as well who are doing a good job so there’s going to be real competition within our backs for next year so I’m happy with the way things are shaping up.”
And when asked about how many more signings he envisages making ahead of next season, Wellens kept his cards close to his chest: but didn’t rule out making further additions.
“Just taking it as they come,” Wellens said. “Obviously I’ve already spoken about Sione Mata’utia and him maybe needing to make a decision around his future.
“When that decision is made, that may dictate whether we need to bring somebody in or not, so there’s little things like that at play which may force us into the market again but we’ll have to wait and see. Obviously our preferred option at this moment in time would be for Sione to stay but, again, we’ll wait and see how that pans out.
We are not afraid that we will be taken off guard since Sione recognizes that we must search for possible successors in the event that he decides to move on. “Those conversations that we’re having are honest and open,” the spokesperson said.
“As a club and as players, we are fully aware that there comes a time when things must be decided upon and that both sides must move forward with the decision that has been made.”
The Saints’ next game is a Saturday afternoon matchup against Warrington Wolves, where Wellens’ team will try to boost their play-off chances.
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