PAUL WELLENS has sent an ominous message to the rest of Super League with St Helens discipline statement

[josie andrews]

PAUL WELLENS has sent an ominous message to the rest of Super League, insisting that his St Helens side are a much more disciplined outfit in 2024 than in 2023.

On a number of occasions during last season, Saints were cut down to size by the Disciplinary Match Review Panel with the likes of Morgan Knowles, Sione Mata’utia and Matty Lees receiving multiple suspensions throughout the year.

However, Saints are one of very few clubs to have had no player charged in the opening two rounds of Super League this year and Wellens has highlighted the hard work put into the attempts to improve his side’s discipline.


“There are small areas of improvement we could find. What we had was a team that were being successful at doing things a certain way,” Wellens said.

“We have had to change our discipline in defence, we have had to curb our aggression levels because not only did we need to change so more players would stay on the field but because of the new tackle height as well.

“We needed to do things differently so we had to redefine a few things around our standards and what is and isn’t acceptable. The players have worked hard to find their adjustments.”

Though his side have had no blemishes so far, Wellens knows that the challenge to be disciplined comes up every week and has called on his players to continue their focus.


“Every single week you are faced with that challenge so it will never go away. We’ve sat down with the players and discussed our tackle technique.

“Our players are good defenders but they have to be better tacklers – that is a message we have been pushing hard.

“Naturally we have got players who want to play aggressive and physical and we don’t want to take that away but there has to be a discipline that comes with it.”

https://www.totalrl.com/paul-wellens-se ... statement/