{"id":450549,"date":"2026-02-28T16:20:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T16:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/450549\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T16:20:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T16:20:10","slug":"paul-wellens-new-lease-of-life-as-he-opens-up-on-his-st-helens-exit-and-nrl-switch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/450549\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul Wellens’ ‘new lease of life’ as he opens up on his St Helens exit and NRL switch"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"St\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

Former St Helens boss Paul Wellens has opened up on how his switch to North Queensland Cowboys came about as he prepares for the start of a new season.<\/p>\n

Wellens spent three years at the Saints<\/a> helm before he was let go by the club at the end of the 2025 season. That was a decision that brought an end to his career-long association with the Merseyside outfit, with Wellens making almost 500 appearances for the Saints before his retirement as a player in 2015.<\/p>\n

However, just a month after leaving the Brewdog Stadium, it was confirmed that he had joined the Cowboys in the NRL as an assistant coach. It was a move that caught plenty of people by surprise and even Wellens admits he didn\u2019t see it coming, but the 46-year-old insists the switch to Townsville has given him a new lease of life.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a bit different from what I\u2019ve been used to but it was a wonderful opportunity that came up for me in North Queensland and I\u2019ve really settled into the place well,\u201d Wellens told Sky Sports. \u201cThe staff, the players, everybody at the club has been so welcoming and I\u2019m relishing the opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t a move that I saw coming to be quite truthful. Obviously my time came to a close at St Helens and thankfully the phone rang, I had a couple of conversations with Todd and then the CEO Michael Luck discussing the possibility of me moving out to Australia.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously when you\u2019re doing that with a young family you have a lot of things to consider, but after careful consideration we thought that in five years\u2019 time if we didn\u2019t take this opportunity it would be something that we\u2019d regret, so I\u2019m thankful I have and I\u2019m looking forward to what the future holds.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen my circumstances changed at St Helens, I was thinking about what\u2019s next and this opportunity came along. I didn\u2019t want to be out of the game or our of coaching for too long. I\u2019m reinvigorated and refreshed after a short break and the new opportunity has given me a new lease of life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to lie, it\u2019s been a challenging few years but I think the change in circumstances, while it was disappointing at the time, it could be a positive in the long run.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wellens was speaking while out in Las Vegas, as the Cowboys prepare to get their NRL season underway at the Allegiant Stadium in the early hours of Sunday morning. Todd Payten\u2019s side have trained against Hull KR in Nevada and they\u2019ll follow the Robins\u2019 clash with Leeds Rhinos when they take on Newcastle Knights.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great opportunity for us as a club to show what we\u2019re about and the same could be said for the other five clubs taking part,\u201d Wellens added. \u201cIt\u2019s a wonderful opportunity and you\u2019re very privileged in the game of rugby league to have life experiences like this that don\u2019t come around that often. It\u2019s one we\u2019re looking forward to but the weekend will be defined by a win and a loss and that\u2019s what we\u2019re focusing on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Where Hull KR rank among Super League\u2019s greats, referee controversy and Las Vegas predictions \u2013 Click here to watch the latest episode of the Serious About Rugby League Show<\/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":"Former St Helens boss Paul Wellens has opened up on how his switch to North Queensland Cowboys came…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":450550,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-450549","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\/450549","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=450549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450549\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/450550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=450549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=450549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=450549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}