Paul Wellens will take over as head coach at his hometown club in 2023 in a two-year deal, with the option of a further year; France national team boss Laurent Frayssinous will join him as an assistant, while Ian Talbot retains role as assistant coach
Wednesday 5 October 2022 14:46, UK
St Helens have announced that club legend Paul Wellens will take over as their new head coach for 2023, with France head coach Laurent Frayssinous one of his assistants.
Wellens, who retired in 2015 after playing for his boyhood club for 18 years, has worked as an assistant at both St Helens and England for eight years under coaches such as Wayne Bennett, Steve McNamara and Shaun Wane.
The 42-year-old takes up the role in a two-year year deal - with the club having an option to extend his contract by a further year - and replaces Kristian Woolf, who leaves the club after winning three Grand Finals in a row.
Joining Wellens as his No 2 will be former Catalans Dragons boss Frayssinous, who will join up with the Saints after leading the French national team in the Rugby League World Cup, while Ian Talbot retains his role as an assistant coach.
"I am immensely proud to be named head coach of a club like this," Wellens said. "Given the fact it is a club that I hold very close to my heart and one that I have been involved with all my life, it is a huge privilege and a huge honour for me.
"I have worked with some great coaches who have been hugely successful and I have had some wonderful experiences along the way too. I have learnt a lot I will lean on those experiences as I take the reins as head coach.
"I will take knowledge from all those coaches, but I also have my own ideas and philosophies and I will want the team to play my way. I know the fans and the town like an attractive style of rugby and I want to expand on that a little bit. Having said that, we also need to maintain the desire, the hard work and that defensive steel as that is what gets you over the lines in big games.
"What success has given this group over the last few years is a thirst for more and I also have that as a coach. I want to continue that. The challenge year on year does get tougher and it is one that we are going to have to rise to again."
On the appointment of Wellens and Frayssinous, St Helens chairman Eamonn McManus, said: "It's truly wonderful that Paul Wellens has been appointed head coach of his hometown club. He was the stand-out candidate in every regard and will make a great head coach.
"It's fitting that we have true club legends as coach and as captain in the 150th anniversary of our great club. I wish Paul every success, as I'm sure every Saints fan does.
"The appointment of Laurent Frayssinous as assistant coach is also a critical as well as a complementary appointment. He brings extensive senior experience at both club and international level and will provide great support to Paul and to the coaching team."
Earlier this year, former St Helens coach Woolf was asked about Wellens' credentials for the top job and backed his assistant to take over, insisting that the club "won't find anything better than what's sitting in front of them".
"100% I'd back Paul Wellens," Woolf said. "At the end of the day the club has to make a decision there. That's not my decision to make. But what I can do is talk about what I see in Paul Wellens as a coach.
"First and foremost, he's a terrific person. He's an honest person and a trustworthy person. That's strengths that you need in a coach and a good coach because that's the kind of people players want to trust and play for because they know they can do exactly that, and that's trust.
"As a football coach, he's very knowledgeable. He's had great experience and he's worked under some really good coaches here. I'm not talking about myself here, I'm talking about people he's worked with before I arrived."
