What has gone wrong at St Helens?

On 18th February 2023, St Helens stood atop the Rugby League world. Four consecutive Super League titles secured. Unprecedented in the salary cap era. Three League Leaders' Shields in the previous five years. The one Challenge Cup by comparison was made to look a meagre return.

As Lewis Dodd kicked a drop goal against Penrith to defeat the NRL premiers in their own back yard, St Helens had done it all. Immortality had been achieved.

The 2023 Super League season was one week old and the question many were asking was how on earth are St Helens going to be stopped again this year?

I was one of those who asked that very question in this 2023 blog post. One line from that post that stands out to me was the open question of how you keep a squad hungry and motivated when there was nothing left to achieve?

That famous day on 18th February 2023 was the last time St Helens lifted a trophy. What has followed is a tale of gradual decline. 2023 saw a third placed finish in Super League and semi final exits in both competitions. 

In 2024, St Helens finished 6th in Super League; their worst ever Super League season. 2025 was notionally better, finishing 5th (but the evidence of your eyes and ears told you they were no better).

2026 has brought the nadir. Or at least St Helens fans will hope. They look almost certain to miss out on the Super League play offs for the first time.

Many other unflattering statistics will be thrown in the club's direction. The first time the club has missed out on any play off since 1962. Potentially the first time the club has finished with a negative points difference since 1945-46.

It is remarkable how a side has gone from a feared all-conquering outfit to one that now looks scared of its own shadow. How did this happen? How was this allowed to happen?

There are many theories but in sport if you stand still and admire your past glories, others will overtake you and you are soon going backwards before you can do anything about it. 

In sport, as in life, the most simple and likely explanations are often correct. So let's start with the most simple theory. The players in 2026 are nowhere near as good as the ones in Saints' golden era.

To expand on that, here is a selection list of St Helens' incomings and outgoing since 2023:

IN: Tee Ritson, Wesley Bruines, Moses Mbye, Daryl Clark, Matt Whitley, Waqa Blake, Tristan Sailor, Kyle Feldt, Lewis Murphy, Shane Wright, Jacob Host, Joe Shorrocks, Nene McDonald, Jackson Hastings, Daniel Suluka-Fifita

OUT: Regan Grace, Josh Simm, Aaron Smith, Kyle Amor, James Roby, Louie-McCarthy Scarsbrook, Will Hopoate, Matty Foster, Sione Mata'utai, Dayon Sambou, Jonny Vaughan, Morgan Knowles, Joe Batchelor, James Bell, Jon Bennison, Agnatius Paasi.

What do you notice of those lists?

Let's start with the players that St Helens have signed since 2023. How many of these would you say have made a significant, positive impact at St Helens? I'd say Daryl Clark. Perhaps you can make an argument for Tristan Sailor. Jackson Hastings helped steer St Helens through the early part of 2026 (and without him, they'd be in an even worse state). 

Kyle Feldt was a good player but was simultaneously one of the laziest players I can recall seeing in Super League. 

As for the others, they would rank anywhere between non-descript at best and poor at worst.

Meanwhile, the outgoings. St Helens have not had a winger as good as Regan Grace since he left. James Roby was irreplicable (but Daryl Clark was a solid replacement). Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook hasn't been replaced by anyone better. Nor Sione Mata'utai.

It borders on being an insult to the abilities of Morgan Knowles to suggest that he has been replaced at all.

Joe Batchelor and James Bell may not have been superstars. Today, they may not be the players they were and it was not necessarily an error to release them. However, prime Joe Batchelor and James Bell were far greater players than Matt Whitley and Shane Wright will ever be.

Whilst Agnatius Paasi struggled since an awful leg injury in 2023, prior to that he was a devastating, impact prop. Once more, St Helens have never found anyone to successfully replicate that role. 

When something goes wrong in sport, the finger of blame always gets pointed at the coach. And sometimes that isn't fair. Would Kristian Woolf be winning titles with the St Helens squad of 2026? I very much doubt it. Would they be doing better? I suspect so.

It is trite to suggest that a coach has no impact or why have them at all? Take Brad Arthur at Leeds or Willie Peters at Hull KR. I fail to be convinced that they have not been central to the revivals of those particular clubs.

To take it back to St Helens, you have another example in Justin Holbrook. When you think of his St Helens team, who is the first player that comes to mind? It probably isn't Dominque Peyroux. Perhaps it should be. Allow me to explain.

Dom Peyroux joined St Helens at the start of the 2016 season, with the intention of being deployed as a centre. Indeed, he played the majority of the 2016 season at centre and was largely unimpressive.

By the time Justin Holbrook took over, Peyroux had been shifted to second row before falling out of the starting 17 entirely due to poor form. He managed to regain his place and from 2018 onwards became a mainstay and important cog in the St Helens side. My point is, a good coach can get the best out of players.

To use a more modern example, Chris Hankinson at Leeds is in career best form as he enters his 30s. Under Brad Arthur, he has reached levels I did not know he could.

The best coaches are also ruthless. When Justin Holbrook arrived at St Helens, he struggled to land on a half back partnership for 2017. In 2018, he decided Danny Richardson was his scrum half and jettisoned Matty Smith. In 2019, when he thought Theo Fages would be better, Danny Richardson suffered the same fate. Each decision made St Helens better.

The ruthlessness that I talk about at St Helens did not just extend to squad selections. It included player recruitment and retention.

Ryan Morgan was a good centre. Yet when the opportunity arose for the superior Kevin Naiqama to join the club, the call was made. Morgan was gone. Naiqama was in.

Similarly, cult hero Lachlan Coote did not stay for the 2022 season as St Helens had decided it was time to make Jack Welsby the starting full back. Coote was still performing fantastically at this point but the call was the right one.

You cannot help but draw comparisons to now. Lewis Murphy signed a three year contract extension in May. Media reports emerged in August that St Helens are trying to offload him.

You may argue that this is ruthless. And it is. But it is also indicative of a poor recruitment decision. If you change your mind on a player so quickly, then something was going wrong in the first place.

Joe Shorrocks also signed a three year contract extension just months after joining St Helens. Shane Wright signed a two year contract at St Helens last year. Matt Whitley signed a three year contract extension recently. The decision to retain Mark Percival is looking increasingly like an error given his injury record and the fact St Helens do not have a reliable, first-rate centre at the club.

This piece serves nobody if it cannot be direct; so I will be that. If you have a squad where Matt Whitley, Shane Wright and Joe Shorrocks comprise your starting back row, then your squad is not one that can consider itself as serious challengers for major honours.

I am not saying that these players are without talent. However, when comparison is drawn to the sides that St Helens would like to compare themselves with, they are woefully inadequate.

A further problem St Helens have is the length of contracts many players are tied to. If you want to be ruthless and refresh or strengthen your squad, that becomes a lot harder when a lot of your salary cap space is tied up on players who will not win titles for you.

I certainly do not pretend to be 'in the know'. Though the churn of senior staff at St Helens is noticeable too. In the last year, CEO Mike Rush has left, James Roby has left, Derek Traynor has left, Nathan Mill is rumoured to be leaving. Eamon O'Carroll is leaving at the end of the season. Paul Rowley has joined and left in less than one year.

Now, some of these (like Traynor due to retirement) may be planned. It strikes me as unlikely that all of the other departures in such a short period of time were planned or wanted. It suggest a period of transition.

Transition is a phrase people use in Rugby League to suggest a period of lull before a rise. Almost like a comfort blanket. What does not seem to be accounted for is that transition can also refer to a team that was once successful, but no longer is (and no longer knows how to be).

So what is going to become of St Helens next? We can look at history to give us an idea.

We have seen former giants of the game like Bradford Bulls and Widnes Vikings start with a slow decline and then recede into shells of their former greatness. 

In 2021, Wigan looked a million miles of winning trophies but quite quickly arrested that halt and went on to win a litany of trophies and show no signs of slowing down to this day.

After their golden generation, Leeds spent quite a while hovering anywhere between mid table and the bottom half of the table but now are back to challenging for honours.

One thing we do not give ourselves enough of a pat on the back for in the sport is how quickly fortunes can change. Far more so than sports like football.

In 2020, Hull KR finished at the bottom of Super League. By 2021, they were in a Super League semi final. By 2023, they were in the Challenge Cup Final. By 2025, they won a quadruple.

In 2022, Leigh were a Championship side. A year later, they won the Challenge Cup. They are now a regular in the play offs and have made the last two Super League semi finals.

In 2024, Wakefield were a Championship side. In 2026, Wakefield are in a race to win the League Leaders' Shield in Super League.

To a lesser degree, Warrington were in a similar position to St Helens 12 months ago. Now, they are on course for a top four finish.

Just as you can go from being the top dog to an also-ran, we have seen many examples of how the reverse can be true too.

I have seen talk of how it is going to take St Helens years to recover to their past glories, if at all.

I do not necessarily agree with that. A smart coaching appointment, better fortune with injuries, smarter and more ruthless recruitment and young players like Harry Robertson and Noah Stephens gaining more experience - there is route back to the top and a quick one.

Yet you can easily see the opposite. Alex Walmsley is 37 (and still relied on greatly), Matty Lees is leaving in 2028 and nobody seems to know what the plan is for the half back situation going into next season. It may prove impossible to move substandard players on long term deals out, young prospects may not kick on as hoped - then the route back looks pretty arduous.

Chairman Eamonn McManus and newly-appointed CEO Abi Ekoku are facing an enormous amount of pressure to ensure that it is the former and not the latter future that faces St Helens.