St Helens 2024 season review
Overview
2024 was Saints’ joint-worst of the Super League era, as they just about scraped into the play-offs on the final weekend.
That’s the long and short of it, but it doesn’t tell the full story by any means. Five wins from their opening six games, including a Good Friday win over biggest rivals, Wigan, had Saints sitting on top of the table heading into April.
They’d still only suffered two more defeats in Super League when late June came around, and that’s when the wheels started to fall off.
Five straight defeats, culminating in a 46-4 hammering at Leigh, had them clinging onto their top six spot.
They briefly turned things around with back-to-back wins over Hull and Salford, but a 20-0 loss to Wigan at Magic Weekend was followed up by a very disappointing 6-42 defeat at home to Hull KR.
Two wins from the next three games were enough to see them into the top six on points difference, which meant their final day loss at Leigh was insignificant.
Then, when the play-offs came around, Saints were like a brand-new team again. They pushed Warrington all the way in their elimination final, but a George Williams drop goal in Golden Point knocked them out at the first hurdle, but they at least finished the campaign with their heads held high.
Highs
St Helens’ start to the year was not a sign of the struggles to come. They conceded just eight points across the opening three rounds, and their 12-4 win over Wigan on Good Friday had the feel of a Grand Final preview about it.
On paper, there were a fair few positives to take from the year. They finished fourth in the league for both points scored and points conceded, Matty Lees was named in the Super League Dream Team, and a host of youngsters began to establish themselves in trying circumstances.
Full-back Harry Robertson was arguably the standout. His debut came in the derby against Wigan, and he put in a superb performance as the Saints were narrowly beaten late on.
Lows
A sixth-placed finish isn’t good enough for a club with St Helens’ history, and head coach Paul Wellens will be well aware of that.
Five straight losses in the summer derailed their top two hopes and some players were rarely at the races all year.
Waqa Blake will go down as one of the worst overseas signings in Super League in recent years, and his off-field exploits earned him more headlines than his on-field ones.
There were injuries too, of course, with Alex Walmsley just making it to double figures for appearances in 2024, and Konrad Hurrell and Morgan Knowles not much ahead of him on that count.
Still, injuries are part and parcel in rugby league, and you’d expect Saints to do better at coping with them than they did.
Reasons to be positive in 2025
Like a lot of sides, Saints have some exciting additions coming in. Tristan Sailor and Kyle Feldt will bring plenty of NRL experience with them, while Lewis Murphy was one of Super League’s most promising wingers before his year Down Under. Murphy didn’t quite crack the Sydney Roosters first grade side, but a year in Australia won’t have done him any harm.
In the coaches box, meanwhile, Lee Briers is on his way back to Super League as an assistant to Paul Wellens. During his short stint at Wigan, he helped the Warriors to a Challenge Cup Final victory, before spending the past two years at Brisbane Broncos. His first year at the club saw them come within a whisker of winning the NRL Premiership, so he’s arguably as exciting an addition as the players coming in.
Our 2024 prediction – 2nd
Final 2024 position – 6th (-4)
Very few people would have predicted St Helens to finish as low as they did, so I’m not too upset with this one. When they beat Wigan on Good Friday I was convinced they would be the top two and we were watching a Grand Final preview, but a spell of uncharacteristic bad from across the second half of the year cost Saints dearly. That being said, they still came mightily close to a play-off semi-final.
