{"id":173998,"date":"2025-10-02T00:20:16","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T00:20:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/173998\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T00:20:16","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T00:20:16","slug":"st-helens-sign-former-nrl-grand-finalist-as-silverware-statement-made","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/173998\/","title":{"rendered":"St Helens sign former NRL Grand Finalist as silverware statement made"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

St Helens have confirmed the signing of a former NRL Grand Finalist as the club sets about building their squad for 2026.<\/p>\n

Despite being linked to numerous players, St Helens have only actually signed Shane Wright for 2026 with the Salford loanee turning his short-term deal to a permanent signing<\/a>, inking a new contract in the aftermath of his incredible try last week.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a try that has kept St Helens\u2019 hopes of silverware alive and their newest recruit has highlighted a desire to win silverware as one of the key reasons he has joined.<\/p>\n

Saints have confirmed the signing of South Sydney Rabbitohs forward Jacob Host with the second-rower penning a two-year deal with the club.<\/p>\n

With both James Bell and Joe Batchelor leaving at the end of the season<\/a>, Saints have seemingly replaced them in kind with the additions of Wright and Host but head coach Paul Wellens has argued that Host brings a lot more versatility to the table.<\/p>\n

Asked at his presser if Host was a direct replacement, Paul Wellens responded: \u201cNot necessarily, he\u2019s a player that has playing back row but he can play middle as well. You\u2019ve got someone like Shane Wright in that sense as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great that when you\u2019re assembling a squad now, you can give yourself options, but we\u2019re confident he\u2019s going to bring a lot to the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

RFL release fresh statement and apology after discussions following Leeds Rhinos-St Helens video referee error<\/a><\/p>\n

St Helens sign silverware-hungry forward Jacob Host<\/p>\n

The 29-year-old has spent ten seasons in the NRL, making 119 appearances and scoring 11 tries in that time and he\u2019ll now add plenty of power and size to a Saints pack losing the likes of Bell, Batchelor and star man Morgan Knowles<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Asked what Host will bring, Paul Wellens explained: \u201cHe\u2019s a big body and hard-working middle who can play on an edge so he brings some versatility there as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had a couple of conversations with him already and he\u2019s a great guy, a really good character. He\u2019s going to add a lot to us, not just on the field but off it as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Host, speaking to saintsrflc.com<\/a> in their press release, said: \u201cI\u2019m over the moon! When Saints came knocking, the biggest club in England, it was an opportunity I couldn\u2019t turn down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Claiming he wants to reach a Grand Final again, something he did in 2021 with the Rabbitohs, Host said: \u201cI don\u2019t want to wait around \u2013 I want to be challenging for trophies straight away. It\u2019s an exciting time for the Club, and I think that my energy can help us achieve that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul Wellens had underlined his desire to win when speaking in his presser, explaining:\u00a0\u201cHaving spoken with him, he\u2019s got a real appetite to want to win. He comes here really motivated to help the team be successful and you can never have too many of those types of characters in your team.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously he brings his qualities as a player, but literally nearly every single person we\u2019ve spoken to in and around the game have only spoken positively about him as a player and him as a person.\u201d<\/p>\n

Serious About Rugby League has launched a brand new podcast which can be watched in full on our\u00a0YouTube channel here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"St Helens have confirmed the signing of a former NRL Grand Finalist as the club sets about building…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":173999,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-173998","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173998\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}