SAINTS coach Kristian Woolf was proud with the way his squad has overcome to significant challenges thrown at his side this year to earn the League Leaders Shield for the first time since 2019.

Although Woolf has guided Saints to two Grand Final wins and a Challenge Cup in his time here, this is the first time they have topped the table with him at the helm.

Although the young side they fielded lost to Wakefield today, Wigan’s defeat at Hull means that the shield will be presented next week at the Toulouse game.

Woolf said: “It is a great achievement for this group of men.

“Obviously, they have had a lot of success this past three years, going on four, and earned every bit of that.

“But what we can be proudest of is that to get to this point and win the League Leaders with the amount of disruption we have had it has been a really challenging year.

“If you look at how many of our experienced blokes and salary cap is sitting in the grandstand and still finish the season on top is a real credit to the whole group, a credit to our senior group and the way they take that extra load and find a way to compete every week and give ourselves a chance of winning every week.

“It is a credit to the young blokes who have stepped in there and shown the same attributes of wanting to compete and win and put us in a good position at the end of the year.

“I am proud of the group for that.”