2:51 Relive the thrilling finish to last year’s Super League Grand Final as Jack Welsby’s try snatched victory for St Helens
In the Australian’s mind, the level of competition in Super League from 2020 to 2021 has already gone up on the recruitment done by the other 11 teams alone, although St Helens have made moves in the transfer market this year as well.
Aside from the now-retired James Graham returning to the club he began his glittering career with following Luke Thompson’s early switch to Canterbury Bulldogs and gradually bringing through some of Saints’ homegrown prospects, Woolf’s squad last year was not too dissimilar to the one left by predecessor Justin Holbrook.
This year has seen him add firepower to the pack though, with promising prop Dan Norman joining from London Broncos plus the trio of Sione Mata’utia, Joel Thompson and Agnatius Paasi from the NRL following the retirements of Graham and Zeb Taia, and the departure of Dom Peyroux and Joseph Paolo.
Norman has shown plenty of raw talent so far, while Woolf is particularly impressed with how his three recruits from down under have adapted both to the new environment at St Helens and life in the UK with heavy anti-Covid-19 restrictions still in place.
“They came over at a really difficult time, they all came exactly when we asked them to and they came without hesitation, and it has been difficult for them,” Woolf said. “Australia doesn’t have many restrictions at all, and they came over and they’re in the middle of a lockdown.
“While the players get the opportunity to jump in their cars, come to training and do a pre-season, all the players we’ve brought in from Australia have wives and young kids which does make it a bit tough.
“But they’ve done that exceptionally, they’ve fitted into the group exceptionally and they’ve all brought their own personalities and added to the group in that way.”
So far, Leeds Rhinos are the only team in the Super League era to win the Grand Final three years running from 2007 to 2009, while no team aside from the great Wigan side which won seven titles on the trot from 1990 to 1996 ever won more than two in a row during rugby league’s winter era.
Woolf is acutely aware of the challenge facing St Helens if they are to buck that historical trend and make it three in a row, although whether they are crowned champions again or not at Old Trafford on October 9 it will not be for lack of trying.
“To win a competition is a really tough thing to do, and you’ve got to pour a lot of hard work in, a lot of emotion, and go through a lot of ups and downs to do that once,” Woolf said.
“Then to get yourself back up and find the hunger and drive, as well as opposition teams who are getting better every year and recruiting to get better every year, and working with a real hunger and drive to take that away from them is why it’s so hard to do it twice in a row. To do it three times in a row becomes even more difficult again.
“Once we get into the season you obviously need a little bit of luck in some elements, you need your best players playing more games than not, and you try to make sure you’ve done the hard work and show the hunger so you can stay ahead of that pack.”
Sourse: skysports.com
