Kristian Woolf admits St Helens finding it difficult to keep off-contract players
St Helens coach Kristian Woolf says the Super League champions are being out-bid for their own players as they prepare to lose several members of their Grand Final-winning squad.
“On top of that, we have a lot of young guys coming through who deserve upgrades and that causes us some difficulties.
“I know we can’t match financial offers, in some cases it’s almost a third or double what we can offer.
“I know all our players off-contract would prefer to play at Saints, but at the end of day it’s a professional sport and sometimes we have to wish them all the best.”
Coote, who is in his third season with Saints, demonstrated his value to Woolf’s team by producing a 16-point haul in their 24-6 win over Wigan on Sunday night with one of their three tries and six goals from seven attempts.
St Helens looked refreshed after a 17-day break while Wigan were playing a second top-five clash in five days and the rigours are clearly taking a toll on Adrian Lam’s injury-hit team, who are experiencing their worst run since 2006.
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Wolf said: “We spoke about making a positive start and I thought we were terrific in the first 40 minutes.
“I really liked the way we started the game. We had a strong defensive set and backed it up with the ball.
“Wigan had a real energy about them in the second half but we defended really well.”
Woolf was delighted with the return of England centre Mark Percival, who missed the whole of June with hamstring issues but produced a man-of-the-match display against Wigan.
“I thought he was the best on the field,” Woolf said. “Every time he got the ball, he looked like he was going to create something and he was very good defensively as well.
“I’m really happy to have him back. He felt really comfortable out there.”
