Kristian Woolf's final Saints Q&A: Why he is so proud of 2022 success

We caught up with him for one final Q&A. The conversation was a long, in depth one and covered so much ground that we will split it into three parts and publish over the next three days.

MC: One week on after Old Trafford, has what the side has achieved sunk in yet?

KW: It has been a little bit whirlwind, trying to catch up with people and say goodbyes and thank you. We are all really aware of what we have achieved,and you can’t get past that, but the reality of it hasn’t sunk in yet.

That is something I will think about more when things settle down.

MC: The collective buy-in from the off – the key to win last week – is something that has been there all year. How important was that ethos?

Matty Lees (Image: Bernard Platt)

KW: I felt really comfortable throughout the whole game, not that there was a cockiness that we were going to win.

But I felt really confident with the way we started and the attitude that you could see across the board was that we were going to be hard to beat and give ourselves the best opportunity to win.

The intensity we started with and without the ball I just saw a real intent straight away.

When I see that in us – and I love that in the group and that is what they do – again you know we are going to going to give ourselves every chance.

Louie McCarthy Scarsbrook. Picture: Bernard Platt (Image: Bernard Platt)

MC: The middles and the pack as whole were immense – Iggy, Matty Lees and even Louie off the bench gave you plenty of hard yards. How important was the pack in that win?

KW: I thought Iggy and Matty Lees really laid the platform with the ball. At times Morgan Knowles and James Roby sometimes don’t get as much credit as they deserve – they were the two who led that defensive intensity.

I thought the whole forward pack – if you look at the way Joe Batch has played and what Curtis Sironen did in the biggest game of all – they were really good and really dominant.

When you get that in a big game then your outside backs and halves get to show what they are capable of.

Curtis Sironen (Image: Bernard Platt)

MC: Curtis Sironen had an often frustrating in-and-out start with the suspensions – but he has brought some real steel and no little skill this back end?

KW: He has been great and the last 7-8 weeks have been his best and he has become really dominant in that period.

I thought he started the season quite well but I am really proud of the way he has been able to turn it up a notch at the end of the year – in particular the big games when it counted.

Lewis Dodd (Image: SWpix.com)

MC: I can recall seasons where the year has fallen apart with the loss of the scrum half – 2001, 2004 and very late in 2005. How did losing Lewis Dodd in April impact on this group?

KW: While I am proud of what this group what this group has done this past three years, and the success speaks for itself, this year is the one that makes me most proud.

What they have been able to get through and the adversity they have faced and to still stay top one or two all season and then go on to win the biggest game of the season with the hurdles that they have had sets them apart a little.

I don’t think we could have done that with the same adversity in 2020 or 2021.

Lewis Dodd was a big part of that adversity, you lose your scrum half and they are a big part of your attack and a big part of your team.

We didn’t lose just him. We had the injury to Jonny, the injuries to Will Hopoate, Regan Grace, Mark Percival, Sione Mata’utia, Tommy Makinson, Alex Walmsley, Matty Lees and Jon Bennison.

There have been endless injuries to key players but what has complicated that is the guys that sit in the background and are your back up players have been out as well – Dan Hill, Jumah Sambou, Josh Simm.

That makes it even tougher. I don’t think any other group could have handled what they have gone through and still get the results they have.

Jack Welsby and Jon Bennison (Image: Bernard Platt)

MC: You did not make that big a deal of injuries at the height of the season – it was only maybe after top 2 was secured that you raised them in press conferences. Was that deliberate to avoid maybe giving the players an excuse or alibi for dropping off?

KW: I don’t injuries are an excuse – we back our squad and said that right at the start.

We back our young blokes and the culture we have got at the club.

What that means is that when you get adversity is you find a way to overcome it.

When players cop injuries the young blokes step into that void and bring their own attributes to the team.

What the team is based on the most is the effort they put in and the desire they show every week and how hungry they are to compete and scramble and back each other up.

You don’t have to be an elite player or an overly talented player to come in and do that role, you just want them to come in and fit in to what the rest of the group are doing.

That’s why we don’t talk about it. There’s no excuses if we can’t go and get wins because of injuries. We expect to keep going and that we can overcome those obstacles.

Matty Lees and Big Al (Image: Bernard Platt)

MC: I hear that, but did you think it would ever end – especially after losing Alex Walmsley at the back end. These are key elements of the team missing – people have said Saints can’t win without Al. You have done it now – but did you have to reinforce that belief that you could do it?

KW: We are always reinforcing that belief and that is an important message that we are always giving, Certainly, as the year went on and things did become more complicated, that was a message that we kept on giving.

We have heard those comments about what we can and can’t do without Al and other players.

We did have to reinforce that – but when you look at your key leaders; James Roby, Jonny Lomax and younger leaders like Jack Welsby they reinforce that too – and the confidence they have in the group shines through as well.

Part two of the three part Woolf Q&A will be online tomorrow - discussing Jack Welsby's contribution, players' instict and what the World Cup selection could do for Matty Lees and Joe Batchelor.