Young St Helens duo sign new deals

St Helens duo Matty Foster and Sam Royle have signed new one-year deals with the club for 2022.

Foster became part of the club’s first team for 2020 and made his debut off the bench against Salford and this season has impressed on loan at Leigh.

Injuries haven’t been kind to the promising back-rower, having suffered a broken jaw on the opening weekend of the season this year and most recently being ruled out for a lengthy period after suffering an ACL injury whilst in action for Leigh.

Back-rower Royle has been a member of the first team squad this year and will be hoping to make his debut in the near future.

St Helens coach Kristian Woolf said: “Matty has been with the first team for the past two years and has had a real tough time recently with injuries, but he has handled that adversity really well and it shows what a positive mindset he has. Sam has been with us for the past 18 months and is very intelligent.

“They are both terrific people who carry themselves extremely well. They have had a tough few years having not being able to play much footy but have both shown great discipline in how they train. They have really impressed me with their positive attitude and how they have carried themselves and handled that.

“Their work ethic and what they have shown me is they have the ability to handle Super League and can develop into first-grade players. We hope to give them some more time to develop over the coming seasons.”

Foster said: “Signing this new deal gives me a big boost of confidence. The club has my back and it gives me another opportunity next year to kick on and play for another contract. The goal is to get back, get fit and get some games under my belt, push on and see where it takes me.”