SAINTS prop Agnatius Paasi will continue to train with the Tongan World Cup squad despite not making the cut for the final 24 - and remains on standby should injuries strike.

Coach Kristian Woolf explained that it was a tough call to leave out Paasi, who has just enjoyed an outstanding 2022 season with Saints.

The powerhouse front rower wanted to remain part of the group to help his own fitness ahead of Saints’ pre-season.

Woolf said: “Iggy did not quite make it. It was a tough call actually – I have been extremely happy and extremely proud with how Agnatius has played this year and he has been one of, if not the best front rower in the competition.

“We kept that fairly open for a reason and had to make sure we had to make sure we got the mix right in terms of the number of front rowers, and the number of guys with a bit of utility value.

St Helens Star: Agnatius PaasiAgnatius Paasi (Image: SWPix.com)

“Basically, it came down to the fact that there were a couple of guys ahead of him when we played against France.

“He played exceptionally well, but there were a couple of guys just ahead of him and that is a position where we are quite strong and there was a couple of guys who also had a bit of versatility about them in terms of being able to play some front row and back row.

“And in the case of Sifa Talakai he can play front row, back row, centre or wing – anywhere. We had to get that balance right in a 24-man squad.

“That was an unfortunate and hard decision to have to make.”

Paasi, however, remains a popular member of the Tongan World Cup group, who are based in town and play two of their group games at Saints’ Totally Wicked Stadium.

Woolf said: “Iggy has made a decision that he want to keep doing a bit of training and he sees that as helping him be prepared for a pre-season when he goes back to Saints next year.

“That will help him have another really big year and build on what he did this year.

“He is Tongan born-and-bred and is really proud of that. You could see how comfortable he was and how it brought him out of his shell to be in the Tongan group.

“We love having him around and he is welcome to be around as much as he wants. He has made it clear that he wants to train.

“There are injuries in rugby league – and we saw that the other night with Samoa – if that happens there is scope to bring players in and Iggy would be the first bloke that we would pull in.”