St Helens coach drops major hint on fullback dilemma as challenge made to Tristan Sailor

St Helens head coach Paul Wellens feels there could be a perfect solution to the Tristan Sailor and Jack Welsby headache, but will also want both players to do what’s best for the team. 

New recruit Sailor has made the full-back jersey his own since replacing Welsby after his injury concern, but with the England international back fully fit, it gives Wellens a tricky selection call to make.

The pair have played together in the spine at various points this season, with one deployed in the halves while the other remains at full-back. Sailor has also been used on the wings three times this season, scoring three tries in the process.

‘What you need are players who are prepared to do what’s best for the team’

While having two of the best attacking players in the competition would be seen as a good thing for many clubs, both players’ desire to play in the backfield throws up a less-than-ideal selection decision ahead of their clash with Hull FC this weekend.

Wellens has previously hinted at a revolutionary tactic to operate with two full-backs in his system to accommodate both players, but in the interim, the head coach admitted he wants his players to accept they might not get exactly what they want, and to put the needs of the team before their own.

“There may be a solution, but naturally, you can’t give every single player what they want all the time. What you need are players who are prepared to do what’s best for the team, even if that doesn’t suit them. We’ve had really good examples of that; you look at Tristan Sailor at the weekend, he’s not a nine, but he went in there because we needed to get Jack Welsby back out on the field.

“It’s really good for me to know we have players within our squad who are prepared to do those types of things.”

Regular full-back Welsby is an automatic starter in this St Helens side when fit, but it’s the form of Sailor in the past few months which has added a spanner into the works. The former Brisbane Broncos ace scooped the Man of the Match gong in their most recent win over Huddersfield Giants, notched an extraordinary 258 metres from his 23 carries ball-in-hand, and added two tries and an assist for good measure.

This performance comes off the back of some strong individual performances of late, with the back scoring four tries in the nine matches previous, and Wellens feels this run can be put on two distinct things.

“There are two things, one is he’s playing with a smile on his face and enjoying his rugby and the second thing is he’s confident in himself, his ability and what he’s capable of,” the head coach said. “That makes for a dangerous combination with players like Tristan.

“You saw at the weekend, when he sees an opportunity, he backs himself and in doing that has the ability to come up with some special players.

“When he does that, he gets fans off their seats and it’s wonderful to watch, so the more he can continue to stay confident and enjoying his rugby the better it’ll be for us as a team.”

‘It’s a huge positive but also a huge headache’

The battle for full-back might be the headline-grabbing selection headaches coming out of the St Helens camp ahead of their home tie against the Airlie Birds, but elsewhere Wellens is some tough calls with Curtis Sironen returning to the wider 21-man squad after passing his return-to-play protocols following a head knock.

“It’s a huge positive but also a huge headache,” Wellens said of his squad selection. If you look at the 21-man squad we’ve announced, we’re in a healthy position and, quite naturally, there will be some disappointed players who miss out and players who are worth a jersey, but I can only pick 17 players. There are some tough calls I need to make.

“What I do know is that if we are to reach our ambitions for this year, and we have quite high ambitions, it’s going to take a collective effort and the 17 that play this week have a job to do. ”

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