St Helens boss calls on players to accept responsibility following recent disciplinary struggles

St Helens head coach Paul Wellens has called on his players to take responsibility moving forward following the side’s ill discipline so far in 2023. 

The ex-player-turned-coach accepted responsibility himself for his side’s recent record, but has sat down with his playing group following the latest announced of bans.

Morgan Knowles received his fifth suspension since last year’s Grand Final, having had a two-match ban overturned to feature in the showdown with Leeds at Old Trafford. 

The England forward was making his first appearance since serving a five-game suspension against Halifax in the Challenge Cup last week, and was sent off in the final minute of the game for a high tackle on opposition hooker Tom Inman.

Likewise, St Helens back-rower Curtis Sironen has been suspended on multiple occasions this year, with the likes of Matty Lees, Konrad Hurrell and Sione Mata’utia also receiving respective bans in 2023. 

Head coach Wellens admits that he may have needed to have done more to nail down disciplinary, but now wants his players to take their own responsibility.

“We’ve put ourselves in difficult situations too many times already this year.” – Paul Wellens

“Obviously it’s frustrating because like every other team, you want your best players out on the field as often as possible,” Wellens said.

“We’ve put ourselves in difficult situations too many times already this year.

“What I have to do as the coach of this team is accept responsibility for that and maybe I haven’t been strong enough with the group of players or haven’t got the message across clearly enough in terms of what is and isn’t expected from a Saints player.

“I take responsibility for that. But having had some strong conversations with the playing group this week, I sit here more confident that the group now do firmly understand what is expected of them and know that moving forward, we need to clean certain aspects of our game up.

“What I have got here is a very honest group of players and I don’t think you achieve what they have achieved if you don’t have a certain level of honesty and accountability.

“What I’ve had to do is really nail down the detail of what is expected of players in certain situations and how to handle certain situations both collectively and individually. 

“I feel that I’ve got that message across this week and what I want from here on in is for them to take responsibility and perform consistently at a level that we expect of a champion team.”

St Helens coach reacts to Morgan Knowles suspension

Knowles, 26, will miss Friday’s televised clash with Leeds, as well as Magic Weekend due to his recent two-match ban.

The star loose forward received a Grade C high tackle charge following the 26-6 victory in the sixth round of the Challenge Cup at the Shay.

It’s a bleak record for the player, one head coach Wellens knows the international needs to improve on.

“Obviously Morgan is disappointed and he’s frustrated,” Wellens explained.

“He’s not on his own in that respect in terms of players who have probably let themselves down at certain points throughout the course of the year.

“I spoke to him individually, but I spoke a number of players and I told the group what we need to do moving forward.

“I can sit here confidently and say that Morgan Knowles is one of, if not the, best middle forwards in the competition and I wouldn’t want to swap him for anybody.

“But at the same time, there’s certain aspects of his game that he does need to improve on and we’ll start working hard at those.”

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