St Helens coach ‘really disappointed’ by play-off failure as 2027 hope offered

St Helens’ interim head coach Eamon O’Carroll admits it ‘doesn’t sit well’ that he’s been involved with the club’s first-ever team to miss out on the Super League play-offs.

Friday night’s clash away against Leigh Leopards in the penultimate round of the regular season was do or die for Saints – who had to win both of their last two games and hope others elsewhere went their way to stand any chance of finishing in the top six.

A 48-10 defeat though came at the Leopards’ Den against a Leigh side who in turn cemented their own spot in the play-offs for the fourth season on the spin.

And Saints’ top six chances are now officially over: with the club missing out on a play-off competition for the first time since the 1961/62 season.

‘It doesn’t sit well with me that I’ve been a part of that, I won’t shy away from it’

Interim boss O’Caroll stepped up from the role of assistant to head coach following the mid-season axing of Paul Rowley, but will depart himself following next weekend’s final game against Hull KR.

Post-match at Leigh, he said: “I’ve just mentioned it (missing out on the play-offs for the first time in Super League) to the group – it’s obviously really disappointing.

“It doesn’t sit well with me that I’ve been a part of that, I won’t shy away from it.

“This group has had a lot of success, consistent success, so to experience a bit of adversity is good in some respects.

“I think moving on now, I feel the conversations with Eamon (McManus, Chairman) and Abi (Ekoku, CEO), they have absolute clarity in terms of what needs to be done and I’ve every confidence they’ll do that.

“For Kevin Walters to come in, it’s probably a great time to come in now and for the club to accelerate forward.”

‘I’m unbelievably proud of the players’

Saints’ failures this term have come amid a wide scale injury crisis, with the number of first-team players unavailable still in double figures.

Friday night saw a bench entirely made up of youngsters, and it was only in the second half that the scoreline blew out.

O’Carroll said: “I think the scoreline probably doesn’t reflect (the effort).

“I’m unbelievably proud of the players.

“I think I’ve been in this role now six weeks maybe, and if there’s one thing I wanted to get out of it, was a team that turned up for each other and got back to that Saints standard, regardless of who was playing and who wasn’t and I thought we did that tonight.

“It’s great to give young lads a chance, ideally you’d like to do it with a few more senior players around them so they’re not exposed as much, as it’s a huge jump for them.

“But I feel they can hold their head high, and will be better for this experience.”