{"id":313827,"date":"2025-12-13T12:14:05","date_gmt":"2025-12-13T12:14:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/313827\/"},"modified":"2025-12-13T12:14:05","modified_gmt":"2025-12-13T12:14:05","slug":"st-helens-to-let-shackles-off-in-2026-as-forward-talks-paul-rowley-and-touts-signing-for-big-impact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/313827\/","title":{"rendered":"St Helens to let \u2018shackles off\u2019 in 2026 as forward talks Paul Rowley and touts signing for big impact"},"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 will play with the \u2018shackles off\u2019 in 2026 with forward Curtis Sironen assessing the \u2018big change\u2019 already seen under new coach Paul Rowley.<\/p>\n

The fact that St Helens have been \u2018shackled\u2019 in attack has been one of their big flaws in recent years with the Red Vee\u2019s defence up there among the best, and whilst they\u2019ve often hammered weaker teams, they\u2019ve struggled to score in the big games.<\/p>\n

As such, a decision was made to let Paul Wellens go and go after attacking mastermind Paul Rowley<\/a> and it seems the rewards are already being reaped, at least in training.<\/p>\n

Second-rower Curtis Sironen has spoken to club media<\/a> about the 2026 pre-season, stating: \u201cIt\u2019s been a big change from the last few years, not only with the new staff and new players, but we\u2019ve got a different daily schedule too, which has been really good.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone\u2019s had to prove themselves again, the boys are training hard, and a lot of the young lads have really impressed. It feels like a fresh start.\u201d<\/p>\n

St Helens tipped to be \u201cstrong\u201d in 2026 with Rowley impact already noted<\/p>\n

That fresh start is perhaps what St Helens need given the fact they\u2019re without silverware since the very start of the 2023 season when they won the World Club Challenge in Paul Wellens\u2019 first game in charge.<\/p>\n

More change has come this pre-season with a number of big name signings arriving from Australia, with Jackson Hastings, David Klemmer and Jacob Host all signing for Saints<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Host is someone who Sironen knows with the pair playing together previously and Sironen has backed his former teammate for big things, particularly under Paul Rowley.<\/p>\n

On Host, he said: \u201cHe\u2019s a big body but also a very skilful player. I think under Rowls [Paul Rowley] and the way we\u2019re going to play, he\u2019s going to be a great addition. He\u2019s already been a really good pick-up for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking more on that playstyle, Sironen said: \u201cRowls [Paul Rowley] wants the shackles off. He wants us to back ourselves, play what we see, and trust our ability. It\u2019s been great in terms of giving us players strong direction and clarity, and I think once we all get reps together and nail it I think it\u2019s going to be really exciting.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve still got the international boys, Jackson [Hastings] and David [Klemmer], to step back in. Mix that with our young boys, I think we\u2019ll be strong.\u201d<\/p>\n

St Helens made it to the Super League semi-finals last year, losing to eventual winners Hull KR, but they may well be fancied far more in 2026 given the addition of Paul Rowley as head coach, so long as he can solve the club\u2019s spine problems.<\/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 will play with the \u2018shackles off\u2019 in 2026 with forward Curtis Sironen assessing the \u2018big change\u2019…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":313828,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-313827","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\/313827","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=313827"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313827\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/313828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=313827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=313827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=313827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}