St Helens headed into the international break with a loss as Paul Rowley’s Salford Red Devils defeated the Red Vee 20-18 in a thrilling game at the Salford Stadium, however, the defeat hasn’t been well-received by Saints fans with plenty calling for Paul Wellens to be sacked.
Paul Wellens has been under pressure in the job for much of his tenure, such is the nature of coaching a team that had won four Grand Finals in a row, but recently that pressure had eased with a series of impressive wins.
That doesn’t change the fact that the St Helens’ head coach is out of contract at the end of the season, something that is surely adding more pressure onto him due to his lack of security. It has meant that after any sub-par performance a faction of fans have questioned if he’s the right man for the job and that faction was very vocal after yesterday’s defeat.
Despite taking the lead through James Bell, Saints were pegged by by a Deon Cross double and went into the break trailing 10-6. It could have been 16-6 if Chris Atkin’s try hadn’t been ruled out for Marc Sneyd’s deliberate missed kick.
St Helens got back in front courtesy of Curtis Sironen but the teams then traded scores with Kallum Watkins’ try cancelled out by Mark Percivals before Chris Hankinson’s late winner. The defeat means St Helens won’t return top of the table and incredibly for some fans, second place and a poor performance have seen them demand a change at the top.
Much of the vitriol towards the team and Wellens came on the official St Helens Twitter (formerly X) page with fans responding to the full-time post with plenty of disgust.
“Utter garbage” were the sentiments of one whilst another labelled the performance “gutless”. Another argued that it was “hard to find any positives”.
Despite taking the lead early on, one fan claimed the performance was “absolutely pathetic” and added: “Sloppy from start to finish. Looked completely out of ideas.”
Before the loss to Salford, St Helens had won four straight games, and one fan said that those wins were only a way to hide weaknesses.
“S***e…” they exclaimed. returning to reality following a few deceptive victories over underperforming teams Under Wellens, this team is not winning anything.
The suggestion of removing Paul Wellens was hinted at by another who claimed: “There are a couple decent out of work NRL coaches waiting. We need to consider moving for one.”
st Helen’s”Winning nothing under Wellens” – fans of St Helens furiously react to their team’s loss to Salford by Sam Cook26.06.2024 Paul Wellens Saint Helens
Paul Rowley’s Salford Red Devils overcame the Red Vee 20–18 in an exciting encounter at the Salford Stadium, sending St Helens into the international break down. Despite the exhilarating game, many Saints supporters demanded Paul Wellens’ dismissal.
Because of the demands of leading a team that has won four straight Grand Finals, Paul Wellens has faced pressure throughout the most of his time in the position. However, pressure has recently decreased after a string of strong victories.
Paul Wellens will now get two weeks with his St Helens side before they return to action and take on Castleford Tigers before two tough tests against Wigan Warriors and Warrington Wolves, games that will be a true litmus test of this side.
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