{"id":723713,"date":"2026-08-02T02:02:20","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T02:02:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/723713\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T02:02:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T02:02:20","slug":"how-super-leagues-greatest-empire-unravelled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/723713\/","title":{"rendered":"How Super League\u2019s greatest empire unravelled"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is February 2023 and St Helens RFC<\/a> have carved out a special slice of rugby league history.<\/p>\n

Lewis Dodd\u2019s golden point extra-time drop goal sealed a sensational 13-12 victory over the Penrith Panthers, arguably one of the greatest club sides of all time, in the NRL heavyweights\u2019 own backyard Down Under.<\/p>\n

After an unprecedented run of four successive Super League<\/a> titles between 2019 and 2022, and despite the departure of their coach Kristian Woolf, with club legend Paul Wellens in charge, the future looked bright for the Red Vee.<\/p>\n

Fast forward 41 months, and the situation and mood in this rugby league-obsessed town are far bleaker.<\/p>\n

After Wellens was dumped from his position last October, despite getting Saints one victory away from a place in the Grand Final, former Salford coach Paul Rowley was drafted in. The ex-England international was seen at the time as the man who could bring an attacking style of rugby back to St Helens as they looked to reclaim their place at the top.<\/p>\n

\"FilePaul Rowley lasted just 19 Super League games (Photo: PA)<\/p>\n

But Rowley lasted just nine months, and 19 Super League games, before he was ruthlessly axed. One of the shortest coaching tenures in Saints\u2019 153-year history ended stunningly less than 36 hours before a derby game against bitter rivals Wigan Warriors. Wigan went on to easily win that match 38-16.<\/p>\n

Bizarrely, St Helens tried to spin Rowley\u2019s exit by stating that he had \u201cstepped down\u201d. Chairman Eamonn McManus has made no further comment and Rowley did not respond when contacted by The i Paper, but according to numerous sources the 51-year-old was sacked.<\/p>\n

A combination of fan unhappiness, player unrest and a run of embarrassing defeats was enough to see him removed.<\/p>\n

However, the malaise doesn\u2019t end there. Most alarmingly perhaps, on 24 July, Saints published their 2025 annual report, revealing an operating loss of \u00a33,459,277 and net liabilities of almost \u00a32.9m, as it services \u00a32.6m of government loans secured following the Covid-19 pandemic while home attendances remain flat.<\/p>\n

With a horrendous injury count to contend with, the club in serious threat of missing the play-offs for the first time, a clutch of long-serving staff departing and their player recruitment and retention also under scrutiny, the question is how did it go so wrong in less than four years?<\/p>\n

St Helens \u2018unbothered about maximising success\u2019<\/p>\n

\"MANCHESTER,St Helens won four straight Super League titles from 2019 to 2022 (Photo: Getty)<\/p>\n

To former Great Britain international Brian Carney, St Helens rested on their laurels during their golden run and have failed to adapt to the demands of modern professional sport away from the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cSt Helens\u2019 four titles in a row was the greatest run by any club in the Super League era,\u201d Carney says.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo they deserve enormous credit for what they achieved. A lot of planning must go into that on the field. But off the field they seemed completely unprepared and unbothered about maximising success if it came.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuccess came, and as far I\u2019m aware, there has been no significant lift in the profile of St Helens, particularly nationally. You hear clubs talk about being culturally relevant, about being \u2018cool\u2019 \u2013 there appears, from my perspective, either an ambivalence or a steadfast refusal to move in that direction.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou win four titles in a row and you\u2019d think you become the highest profile club in the country. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s happened. It\u2019s been and gone for Saints, and they don\u2019t appear to have maximised that in any meaningful way.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so disappointing on so many levels, because what they did on the field was so remarkable. It\u2019s difficult to understand why more wasn\u2019t made of such an extraordinary period.\u201d<\/p>\n

A loss of identity<\/p>\n

\"STThe disconnect is growing at St Helens (Photo: Getty)<\/p>\n

Many St Helens supporters agree and believe the club has taken its eye off the ball. They are concerned, and with good reason.<\/p>\n

A significant number point to an academy that has missed out on some of the best young talent around, poor decisions in the transfer market, \u201cterrible\u201d merchandise and an overall lack of transparency.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe club has lost its way relationship-wise with its fans,\u201d a supporter of three decades, who declined to be named, told The i Paper.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe general theme is we\u2019ve been slow to act, reactive rather than proactive and this season could be the same. When the new coach is appointed, what\u2019s left player-wise? How long is there for a new coach to assess who goes, moving contracted lads on and targeting attainable players in the NRL?\u201d<\/p>\n

Other clubs have also smelled weakness at the BrewDog Stadium this year and exploited it. After Wigan battered St Helens 32-0 in the Challenge Cup semi-final in May, Warriors boss Matty Peet claimed the club had \u201clost its identity\u201d \u2013 as damning an assessment of Saints\u2019 fall from grace as you will find.<\/p>\n

Then, in June, Wakefield Trinity confirmed publicly that they had a bid for Saints\u2019 supremely talented youngster Harry Robertson turned down. But St Helens went public with their fury over this news, claiming they had received no contact from Wakefield on Robertson and reported the matter to the Rugby Football League.<\/p>\n

It was another bad look for the club and Carney adds: \u201cThis is a sticky period they\u2019re going through; there\u2019s no doubt about that. There\u2019s a vulnerability now about St Helens we never thought possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Issues beyond the dugout<\/p>\n

The club is now searching in Australia for a new coach, but the issues are more widespread than just in the dugout.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the problems stem from the top,\u201d Saints supporter Gary Lucas says. \u201cStandards have massively dropped off on all levels. There seems to be a separation between club and fans again.<\/p>\n

\u201cJustin Holbrook brought everything together and that now seems lost. Recruitment has been lazy\u2026 Wellens was and is a club legend, but he was drastically let down in recruitment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more<\/p>\n

Exclusive: Super League club asks for \u00a350,000 bailout<\/a><\/p>\n

John Davidson: Rugby league in Wales is on the brink of extinction<\/a><\/p>\n

Critics and advocates alike would describe St Helens as a club behind the times, insular and merely content with its place in its local area. While its rivals are playing in Paris, Las Vegas and Dublin, and pushing for new audiences, Saints have twice knocked back the opportunity to play in \u201cSin City\u201d as part of the NRL\u2019s global charge.<\/p>\n

As one long-timer watcher of the club put it to The i Paper this week: \u201cIt is apt that St Helens\u2019 boardroom has no windows.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It is February 2023 and St Helens RFC have carved out a special slice of rugby league history.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":723714,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,2685,20373,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-723713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-st-helens","tag-super-league","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723713","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=723713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/723714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=723713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=723713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=723713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}