SAINTS are wary of the Wire.

This is what Paul Wellens said of Friday’s Super League opponents who are now two places above Saints in the table and in second spot.

The Saints boss highlighted the guile of England captain George Williams in particular as a key man.

He said: “They have got s lot of strike within their team, George Williams is obviously the most notable and Matt Duffy is having a fantastic season.

“They are very dangerous in the middle of the field, with Danny Walker out at 9 and Matty Ashton on the flanks – there is a lot of speed there.

“We obviously found out earlier on this year (in the Challenge Cup) how dangerous they can be. So we are going to have to perform well on the weekend and in particular defend well.

“Luke Yates is a very workmanlike - probably one of those players that a lot of his teammates love to play alongside.

“It seems to be one of those players that does a lot of the unfancied work, but all the unfancied work that it does do makes players around him much better.”

Wire counterpart Sam Burgess has already come out on top in the previous encounter at TWS in the Challenge Cup.

He said: "Saints are a great side and we know what they’re going to bring. I thought they were great against Wigan on Friday.

"It’s going to be a good challenge – going back to their stadium it should be a good atmosphere and we’re looking forward to it.

"You have to move on from games quickly – it’s the same when you lose as well. We take lessons out of everything and move forward and it will be the same for them – they will have moved on from that (Challenge Cup) game.

"It’s our first time meeting them in the league and there’s a bit to play for. Facing St Helens at St Helens is a tough task.

"For however many decades, it’s been a tough place to go but we’re excited for that.

"We embrace the challenges the year throws at us and this is another one. The results haven’t been going their way but they’ve been in tight games.

"We’ve been building our game since the start. We’ve not been at our best of late, but we’ve got a couple of wins which is nice.

"We’re in that sort of phase where we’re getting our game back on track, but there’s still a long way to go in the season. We’re pretty aware of getting our timing right.

"We’re still fine-tuning a couple of things that we can nail down, but we’ll look for an improved performance again this week.

"We’ll certainly need it, so I’m looking forward to seeing how we turn up."