{"id":633804,"date":"2026-06-11T21:55:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T21:55:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/633804\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T21:55:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T21:55:15","slug":"not-a-hot-topic-for-us-st-helens-boss-silences-spine-talk-amid-discipline-admission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/633804\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Not a hot topic for us\u2018 – St Helens boss silences spine talk amid discipline admission"},"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 head coach Paul Rowley has insisted that the debate around what the club\u2019s best spine looks like is \u2018not a hot topic\u2019 internally but simply something that is being speculated among in the media.<\/p>\n

Since Jack Welsby\u2019s return from injury in round 10 of Super League, St Helens have played three different spine combinations in five games with the England full-back only once playing in his natural position, something that happened as a result of Tristan Sailor moving to the wing to replace the ill Owen Dagnall.<\/p>\n

Paul Rowley spoke to the media on Wednesday<\/a> to preview tonight\u2019s game against Warrington Wolves, where star man Jackson Hastings remains suspended and questions remain over what the St Helens spine will look like.<\/p>\n

When asked about the \u2018hot topic\u2019 that was the club\u2019s spine and if youngster George Whitby would retain his starting spot, Rowley responded: \u201cIt\u2019s not a hot topic for us, it\u2019s you guys.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll just do what we feel fit and what best serves this team.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Owen Dagnall now confirmed to be fit, Sailor may well revert to full-back with Jack Welsby possibly competing with Jonny Lomax and George Whitby in the halves, the starting pair from last week\u2019s loss to Leeds Rhinos.<\/p>\n

Brad Arthur commits to Leeds Rhinos, Hull KR lose back-to-back and Captain\u2019s Challenge rule debated \u2013 Click here to listen to this week\u2019s episode of the Serious About Rugby League Show<\/a><\/p>\n

St Helens urged to clean up discipline ahead of crunch clash<\/p>\n

Rowley also addressed that defeat to the Rhinos and notably his side\u2019s ill discipline<\/a> within the game, something he believed to be costly and urged the need for improvement.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefinitely, we conceded too many penalties,\u201d he admitted.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe stopped playing in the second half, I felt. That\u2019s the learnings that we\u2019ll get from it. I thought we did a lot of things very good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having played tonight\u2019s opponents Warrington<\/a> in round one, a narrow defeat, Rowley was asked how he felt his side had progressed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve certainly progressed in terms of mentality and how we go about our business, but it\u2019s like always, I think a season feels so long and things change so dramatically throughout the course of a season.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll best plans and all that, we\u2019ve had a lot of changes in terms of personnel due to injuries, long injuries. I would say it\u2019s evolved more than progressed and there\u2019s still a lot of room for progression.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the second half of the season, he added: \u201cI think there\u2019s some blue sky ahead if we\u2019re willing to work hard and I think we\u2019ve got a group that are.\u201d<\/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 insisted that the debate around what the club\u2019s best spine looks…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":580137,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-633804","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\/633804","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=633804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633804\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/580137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=633804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=633804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=633804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}