New St Helens boss Paul Wellens has spoken to Keiron Cunningham about potential pitfalls of his dream job - to help make sure he doesn’t fall the same way as his big pal.
Wellens stepped up from assistant in October to replace NRL-bound Kristian Woolf at the four-peat Super League champions. The ex-Great Britain full-back played 495 games for his hometown club, winning every honour before retiring in 2015 and joining their staff, initially as one of Cunningham’s assistants. Saints legend Cunningham - who has his own statue at their ground - had been a club No2 himself before taking the top job in 2014 aged just 37.
But he was sacked two-and-a-half years later after a poor run of form saw fans who once idolised him calling for his head. It’s understandable why Saints icon Wellens, who won trophies galore alongside the irrepressible hooker, might have that linger in his own mind. But the 42-year-old revealed: “I’ve caught up with Keiron a few times recently.
“I had a coffee with him. He’s always great to talk to and lend you his experiences. It was important that I had that chat. But at the same time, although things didn’t end well for Keiron, it wasn’t just Keiron. We as a club - and (Saints CEO) Mike Rush has said this publicly - did a lot of things wrong.
“Ultimately it all boils down to the head coach and he bears the brunt of it. But we learned a lot of lessons as an organisation from those few years, things that we perhaps didn’t get quite right and we perhaps didn’t offer Keiron the opportunity to be successful. Off the back of those learnings we’ve developed as an organisation so it’s for us to not make the same misakes as a club and to continue to strive to be the best because that’s what our supporters expect and have become accustomed to.”
Wellens, whose first competitive game in charge will be the World Club Challenge at Penrith Panthers on February 18, added: “Keiron is someone who I hold in the highest regard. I spent a lot of time playing alongside him. I worked with him as a coach here, too, and when you talk about St Helens rugby league club and the success they’ve had in recent history, Keiron has been a huge part of that.
“Some of the great things the club has achieved in recent times have been off the back of the players playing alongside and working with the likes of Keiron.”
Wellens stood down as England assistant coach ahead of the World Cup to fully commit to Saints’ pre-season. But he was spotted enjoying a beer with his family in the stands at Wigan when England thrashed Papua New Guinea. The ex-Man of Steel said: “It was actually one of the reasons I did it because it was so refreshing to go to a rugby league game as a fan again.
“It’s something I don’t get to do a lot. If you’re going to watch other games sometimes it’s because you’re looking at other players or opposition teans and how they want to play. It was refreshing to go watch and cheer your team on. And obviously I’d worked a lot with the England programme in the last few years.
“I was bitterly disappointed at not being able to continue. It was one of the downsides. I had the opportunity to continue with England but I thought it was sensible not to try and spin too many plates when going into my first head coach role. But to watch the game as a fan and cheer them on, I enjoyed it.”
