St Helens coach Paul Wellens makes emotional admission about departing stars

Paul Wellens has paid tribute to St Helens’ departing players, saying the club will celebrate their Red V careers in the coming days and weeks.

The 2024 campaign is now over for Saints following their golden point defeat to Warrington Wolves on Saturday, meaning a number of players have played their final game in the Red V.

Wellens’ side will bid farewell to long-serving winger Tommy Makinson, who will join Catalans Dragons on a two-year deal from next season, whilst halfback Lewis Dodd will try to crack the NRL after agreeing a three-year contract with South Sydney Rabbitohs from 2025.

Meanwhile, Sione Mata’utia will return to Australia with his family after serving Saints with distinction over the past four seasons. Academy product Sam Royle will also depart his hometown club.

“We’ll definitely catch up and it’s important that those guys spend some time together,” Wellens told Love Rugby League post-match on Saturday when asked about sending off their departing players.

“Tommy Makinson made his debut in 2011, he’s been here such a long time and I obviously had the pleasure of playing alongside him as well. Sione and Lewis, two guys in the team who we absolutely love and we’re going to miss.

“We’ll miss having them around, so it’s important we have a couple of days to celebrate their careers with this club because all of them have been an integral part of a lot of the good success this club has had in recent years.

“We also have an awards evening which is now going to be on Wednesday evening which will give us another opportunity to do exactly that.”

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Wellens delivered an open and honest assessment on the club’s 2024 campaign, which can be read here: but he also thinks the young players in his squad will be more equipped in 2025 on the back of this challenging period.

“The young players have been great and I like the fact they were all in the stands tonight (at Warrington) watching that because if they watch that, they know that’s the level they’ve got to get to if they want to play in this team,” Wellens said.

“That might be a sobering thought but that’s the reality, you’ve got to be able to compete like that in those games so it’s great for those young lads to witness it and what they need to do is have a mindset around pre-season and how they can find those improvements because they are all brilliant lads who are willing to work very hard.”

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