{"id":290662,"date":"2025-11-30T01:49:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-30T01:49:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/290662\/"},"modified":"2025-11-30T01:49:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T01:49:13","slug":"st-helens-boss-teases-signing-update-as-spine-questions-answered-and-jackson-hastings-point-made","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/290662\/","title":{"rendered":"St Helens boss teases signing update as spine questions answered and Jackson Hastings point made"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Salford\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 head coach Paul Rowley has teased a new signing whilst also addressing the biggest question at the club \u2013 what will the spine look like in 2026?<\/p>\n

Rowley was appointed following the club\u2019s decision not to renew the contract of club legend Paul Wellens, who has since taken up a role in the NRL.<\/p>\n

Speaking at a fan event, the full two hours of which can be viewed here on SaintsTV<\/a>, Rowley, among other prominent St Helens faces including Eamonn McManus, Tristan Sailor and representatives from both the women\u2019s and academy team set-ups, spoke about what can be expected for 2026.<\/p>\n

He told fans to expect a similar style of play<\/a> that he became renowned for at Salford, promising plenty of shape and movement but to do that he\u2019ll need to work out what his best spine is, something that former boss Paul Wellens never seemed quite sure of.<\/p>\n

When asked if his spine is sorted, the St Helens boss answered:\u00a0\u201cThat\u2019s the big question isn\u2019t it and every time I\u2019ve seen somebody, whether it\u2019s been from within or outside the club, the big question is \u2018what\u2019s the spine going to be?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody has got an opinion so I think the important thing for me is to make sure whoever that spine is, they get clarity and honesty right from the bat.\u201d<\/p>\n

St Helens boss gives spine verdict at fan event<\/p>\n

Arguably, there is less clarity on the situation following the arrival of former Man of Steel Jackson Hastings as he joins to offer another combination<\/a> alongside the likes of Jack Welsby, Tristan Sailor, Jonny Lomax and George Whitby.<\/p>\n

Whilst not confirming what his first choice spine will be, Rowley did give a major hint around Jackson Hastings<\/a> role but insisted that the ex-Salford and Wigan man \u201chas to perform\u201d.<\/p>\n

Rowley explained: \u201cWhat I\u2019ll say is that clearly I and the club signed Jackson Hastings so Jackson is coming over here to play, but like anybody else, he\u2019s got to perform.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is pressure on all the positions and I would expect standards to be high but I\u2019ve certainly got a preferred choice but you\u2019ll have to wait and see.\u201d<\/p>\n

One thing he also noted was: \u201cI think one obvious thing is to pick something and pick with it and hopefully the three that I go with are consistent and we don\u2019t need to tinker with it too much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul Rowley makes signing hint<\/p>\n

Another key talking point out of St Helens is the fact that the number 25 shirt remains open<\/a>, possibly signifying an incoming signing, and Rowley admitted as such but confirmed no negotiations are currently taking place.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell the 25 number, I think a squad is always fluid and recruitment is always a fluid thing,\u201d he admitted.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve left that open but it\u2019s not a guess who game or anything like that so you can relax but we\u2019re always looking obviously.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere might be some movement there if someone might drop out and then we\u2019re in a position to strike, so it\u2019s just conveniently left just in case.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if talks were ongoing, he confirmed: \u201cNo, no conversations are happening at the minute but who knows?\u201d<\/p>\n

Also across the two-hour-plus fan meeting, a fan asked what the back up plan at centre was behind Mark Percival, Harry Robertson and Owen Dagnall, to which Rowley joked: \u201cNumber 25.\u201d<\/p>\n

Check out the latest episode of The Serious About Rugby League Show 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 head coach Paul Rowley has teased a new signing whilst also addressing the biggest question at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":290663,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-290662","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\/290662","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=290662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290662\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/290663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}