Paul Wellens hits back at Tristan Sailor critics as defiant message sent
There have been calls for Tristan Sailor to be dropped.
Paul Wellens has insisted that criticism of Tristan Sailor’s performances are harsh – but accepts that he and St Helens’ key players do need to find consistency in their games.
Sailor was the Saints’ major signing going into the 2025 season, arriving on a three-year deal from NRL side Brisbane Broncos amidst a wave of publicity and hype.
But he has struggled to produce his best displays on a weekly basis thus far, and has now been switched to fullback having started the season at half-back amidst a reshuffle of Wellens’ spine to try and solve the Saints’ early-season woes.
Sky Sports’ Jon Wilkin called for Sailor to be dropped in the aftermath of last weekend’s defeat to Warrington – and fellow Saints icon Paul Sculthorpe said in his weekly column in the St Helens Star that at present, Sailor is ‘adding nothing’.
But Wellens responded on Wednesday with a stern message insisting that criticism is over the top, and the priority should be to support Sailor as he settles into life in Super League.
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He said: “I think it’s slightly harsh. At the weekend he had a hand in some of our good moments in scoring tries. We brought him in to add tries and there’s signs he can do that.
“He’s marrying up with a number of players within our team that we need to get consistent and that’s key to any team that wants to be successful. We’ll continue to support him and help him there. It’s still very early days.”
However, Wellens has admitted there needs to be a marked improvement from the Saints as a collective, not just from one particular area of the team, ahead of the Magic Weekend clash against Leeds Rhinos.
He said: “We do need a little bit more quality. The way we’ve started both games has put us under pressure but we’re very much a collective in that respect. It’s not the halves’ fault or the forwards’ fault.”
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