{"id":247084,"date":"2025-11-06T10:05:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T10:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/247084\/"},"modified":"2025-11-06T10:05:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T10:05:10","slug":"st-helens-recruitment-needs-squad-depth-and-contracts-assessed-with-spine-question-lingering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/247084\/","title":{"rendered":"St Helens’ recruitment needs, squad depth and contracts assessed with spine question lingering"},"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 a new head coach for 2026 and Paul Rowley might have his work cut out to make something of the season given the current squad.<\/p>\n

There are lots of things to like about St Helens\u2019 squad but much of those things are individual players as opposed to position groups with arguments that most of those position groups need adding to.<\/p>\n

As well as the need to add players, Rowley<\/a> will also have the task of managing contracts with one player still off contract at the time of writing and up to nine players set to be off contract at the end of the 2026 season.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve gone through each position group with players placed in the group that they most typically represent i.e. Jack Welsby at full-back as opposed to the halves where he ended the 2026 campaign.<\/p>\n

Within each position group, the contract status, depth, and recruitment needs will all be assessed. For St Helens, one of the perks is that they have an impressive youth academy to call on so depth may not be quite as thin as it may seem in certain positions.<\/p>\n

Every St Helens player\u2019s contract status ahead of 2026<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve taken 24 senior players, all of whom have debuted for St Helens or recently signed new deals to indicate they\u2019re part of the club\u2019s plans. As referenced above, Saints have an impressive youth system so not all young players are accounted.<\/p>\n

Full-backs: Tristan Sailor (2026) and Jack Welsby (2027)<\/p>\n

This, along with the halves, is the position group where Paul Rowley will really earn his money as he has to solve the conundrum that his predecessor Paul Wellens couldn\u2019t<\/a> \u2013 what is St Helens\u2019 best spine? Sailor was shifted to the wing at times, used at hooker on another ocassions, whilst Jack Welsby was then shifted into the halves in the play-offs. With Sailor off contract at the end of 2026, Rowley needs to work out who his guy is and quick.<\/p>\n

Wingers: Kyle Feldt and Lewis Murphy (both 2026), Deon Cross (2027)<\/p>\n

Deon Cross may well play at centre and centre Owen Dagnall may well play on the wing but the issue remains for Saints in that Lewis Murphy is injury prone and Kyle Feldt showed signs of that too. It\u2019s expected that Feldt will be good to go but the veteran isn\u2019t getting any younger and with him and Murphy off contract in 2026, this is another position where recruits could be required.<\/p>\n

Centres: Mark Percival (2026), Harry Robertson and Owen Dagnall (both 2028)<\/p>\n

Robertson and Dagnall are massively exciting talents and it\u2019s good for Saints that they\u2019re tied down long-term but in truth, Robertson isn\u2019t a centre. There\u2019s debate about whether his best position is at one or six but if he was to move to one of those roles, then Saints are incredibly thin here. With Mark Percival aging, off contract, and struggling with knee injuries in 2025, this is another position where recruits may be needed.<\/p>\n

Halves: Jonny Lomax (2026), George Whitby (2028)<\/p>\n

Paul Rowley needs to build his team around George Whitby and you\u2019d expect that he has enough freedom having just been appointed to take that risk, a risk that Paul Wellens couldn\u2019t really afford in 2025. The question is who plays alongside George Whitby. Sailor and Welsby are options but 35-year-old captain Jonny Lomax is the only recognised half. Playing Lomax isn\u2019t the only decision either with a call needing to be made on his contract at the end of the year.<\/p>\n

Hookers: Daryl Clark and Jake Burns (both 2027)<\/p>\n

Daryl Clark and Jake Burns both recently extended their contracts<\/a> so the hooker position is relatively settled with Jake Wingfield another option if needed.<\/p>\n

Props: Agnatius Paasi (unsigned as of yet), Alex Walmsley (2026), David Klemmer (2027), George Delaney and Noah Stephens (both 2028), Matty Lees (2029)<\/p>\n

As yet, Agnatius Paasi hasn\u2019t been offered a new deal but he also wasn\u2019t named in those to be exiting the club. Alex Walmsley is another of the veterans but his deal expires at the end of 2026. Youngsters Delaney and Stephens are tied down long-term, as is star man Matty Lees, whilst NRL recruit David Klemmer<\/a> is signed up for two more years. If Paasi doesn\u2019t sign then Saints almost certainly need another body here, or they\u2019d need a big step up from the two young players.<\/p>\n

Second-rowers: Shane Wright, Jacob Host and Curtis Sironen (all 2027), Matt Whitley (2028)<\/p>\n

Arguably St Helens\u2019 best position group in terms of depth and contract status with all four men very capable, without being the best in their position across the league. NRL recruit Jacob Host is the man most likely to make himself that player and it will be exciting to see Shane Wright work with former coach Paul Rowley.<\/p>\n

Loose forwards: Leon Cowen (2026), Jake Wingfield (2026 with options for 2027 and 2028)<\/p>\n

Morgan Knowles is undoubtedly the biggest loss for St Helens and they\u2019re yet to replace him, instead opting with Jake Wingfield and Leon Cowen in the role. If Wingfield can put injuries behind him then he can be a real talent but with respect to him, he\u2019s no Morgan Knowles. His options for \u201927 and \u201928 are based on making a certain number of appearances as well, so it could be that Saints are in the market for a loose forward for 2027 anyway.<\/p>\n

Serious About Rugby League has launched a brand new podcast which can be watched in full on our YouTube 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 a new head coach for 2026 and Paul Rowley might have his work cut out…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":247085,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-247084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247084","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=247084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}