{"id":699458,"date":"2026-07-19T04:47:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T04:47:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/699458\/"},"modified":"2026-07-19T04:47:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T04:47:12","slug":"st-helens-icon-remains-unconvinced-despite-catalans-dragons-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/699458\/","title":{"rendered":"St Helens icon remains unconvinced despite Catalans Dragons win"},"content":{"rendered":"

St Helens<\/a> legend Jon Wilkin insists he remains unconvinced by the club despite their win over Catalans on Friday: and believes talk of how much salary cap they have out injured is a \u2018red herring\u2019.<\/p>\n

The Saints were much improved following last weekend\u2019s shocking 46-0 loss at home to Toulouse in defeating the Dragons 34-18, with a number of senior players seemingly responding to criticism with strong individual displays: and gestures towards the home support<\/a> on occasions.<\/p>\n

However, Wilkin insisted on Sky Sports that he felt he was watching \u2018two average teams\u2019, describing the Saints\u2019 display as \u2018okay\u2019 before admitting many problems remain within their setup.<\/p>\n

Wilkin addresses Paul Rowley pressure<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cI thought it was two average teams. I was watching two average teams; a team decimated by injuries who have put young lads in, who were okay. And I saw an abject performance from Catalans Dragons, who were in with a shout, weren\u2019t they.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sky anchor Brian Carney then asked Wilkin whether he thought Rowley was under pressure after a dismal season to date \u2013 which has admittedly been punctured by a plethora of injury problems.<\/p>\n

Wilkin replied: \u201cCoaches get sacked not because the team loses, but because of the manner of which teams lose. Getting nilled at home by Toulouse and to the tune of how they got nilled landed more blows in Paul Rowley\u2019s direction than just a normal loss would have done.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s an unhealthy amount of vitriol on the terraces at the St Helens club that is then felt in the stadium. I sense the Toulouse game really started to pile that pressure on, and that comes with the territory, right?<\/p>\n

\u201cSaints have never missed the play-offs in Super League and they\u2019re on the cusp of missing the play-offs for the first time in their (Super League) history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Salary cap claim a \u2018red herring\u2019<\/p>\n

Rowley revealed this week he estimated the club had around \u00a32million of salary cap sat on the sidelines \u2013 a total which would have risen higher given Nene Macdonald\u2019s late withdrawal on Friday night.<\/p>\n

But Wilkin insisted that fans, particularly those at the Saints who he knows and understands well, are not interested in such talk: they merely want to see a particular set of traits as a bare minimum.<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cSt Helens have got the second-toughest run-in, there\u2019s only Wakefield with a tougher run-in. After the Toulouse loss, they\u2019re on the cusp of not making the play-offs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not good enough. You talk about salary cap spend: what do Catalans spend? You talk about cap spend but I actually think that\u2019s a bit of a red herring.<\/p>\n

\u201cFans buy into commitment, effort, desire and a desperation to win games. Quite often this year, I think St Helens haven\u2019t delivered in a style that was promised under Paul Rowley and delivered in the effort and intent in how you defend, which is part of the club\u2019s DNA.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Saints are back in action next week when they travel to local rivals Wigan Warriors in a mouthwatering clash.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"St Helens legend Jon Wilkin insists he remains unconvinced by the club despite their win over Catalans on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":699459,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-699458","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\/699458","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=699458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/699459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=699458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=699458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=699458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}