SAINTS coach Paul Wellens was asked about the challenge facing his injury-depleted squad that is in a tough spot after losing four in a row.

He also explained why they did not pursue loan players to plug the medium/long-term injuries that have afflicted the squad this year.

MC: I have to start with four losses in a row. Does the number of defeats add to the anxiety and the pressure on the team, or do you have analyse each defeat as it comes?

PW: It is uncharacteristic of us as a club and as a team to lose four on the run. We're disappointed with that for sure and I would expect everybody to be disappointed with that.

Obviously, we're in a tough spot at the moment and in some difficult circumstances.

However, that's a challenge for us and one that we need to rise to.

I could not be prouder of the playing group in terms of their efforts and how are they working to try and give ourselves a chance of winning games, particularly in the last two weeks against Wigan and Warrington.

And we're going to need to continue to replicate that. I haven't lost any faith in the playing group, and the team and I believe we still have a very good chance of being successful come the back end of the year.

MC: You will have experienced losing runs like this as a player under Ian Millward (2004) and under Nathan Brown (2013). From a players perspective, how how does it develop and do the players become more anxious with each loss?

PW: Potentially. There's pressure around this club and high expectations and high standards.

That comes with the territory. If you don't like that then you probably at the wrong club. What we have to do is embrace the position that we're in, but the playing group needs to just continue to focus on performances.

Let's not let results dictate our emotions and our mood. Work hard on what we've practised, default to the standards of your training.

So what we do week in week out on the training field should hold up on a game come the weekend and that's the challenge for us again this week.

MC: It's a very challenging league at the minute, isn't it? Because if you look at the other results of the weekend, there's not a week where you get some respite?

PW: No, absolutely not there are teams winning games and losing games as well. What people would have envisaged as shock results have been the nature of the competition this year.

It makes it very exciting for neutral Rugby League fan, there are a number of clubs all up there fighting it out.

The Play-off spots are becoming really congested and that makes for an exciting competition.

MC: You are going to be playing a team on Friday that will be fighting because they they're fighting to keep their season alive - given what they must win to make the play-offs. This is going to be huge game for both teams?

PW: Ever since Leigh came back into Super League, our games against them have always been really competitive and really intense games.

We expect no different at the weekend.

They were similar to ourselves at the start of the year and had a poor run of results when they were decimated with injuries and were missing all their front line forwards.

Since that has changed they have shown what a team they are and are picking up wins and looking very threatening.

MC: Leigh’s pack can be pretty ferocious – it is one that you must again ask a depleted pack to step up for?

PW: It is a great challenge for us and our pack, who I am asking a lot of them. Guys like Agnatius Paasi, coming back from long-term serious injury, Matty Lees playing 80 minutes in the middle and he’s been incredible and then young players like George Delaney and Noah Stephens coming to the fore, and James Bell and Curtis Sironen.

We are working hard as a middle unit to stay competitive and give ourselves a chance of winning games.

(Image: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)

MC: Sometimes you find positives in dark times and Noah Stephens has really put his hand up, hasn’t he?

PW: I don't think I envisaged at the start of the year - when everyone was fit and selection was a headache - Noah playing 2, 3, 4, 5 games, but obviously the situation we are in he has had a run of games.

It's been really pleasing for me to see that he can compete at this level.

He's a great lad, he's always willing to learn. He knows that there's a long way to go for him.

But George Delaney, who is only slightly older, he has got a good role model in terms of how he can progress his career.

They work well together, continue to help each other to improve along with more experienced players like Alex Walmsley, Agnatius Paasi so we'll continue to work hard on Noah’s game so he can fulfil his huge potential.

MC: What's the issue with George Delaney?

PW: George had a slight medial injury, so it's one that last week came a bit too soon for him.

He has trained with us today. (Tuesday) but we’ll give George the right amount of time to determine whether he's fit to play on the weekend. Like we do with all our players, it's not a case of ‘we're depleted so we push people into playing’.

If George feels like he can't play, then he won't play. If George feels that he's fit and he's good to go, then we'll have a discussion.

But we're very clear with our players that we don't let a certain situation force us into decisions which put players at risks.

MC: When you're naming a 17 with a scrum half and a wing on the bench - that shows you where the injuries have bit.

Did you ever go in and try and get somebody on loan to plug the gaps given the fact that you've got so many players out for what's turned into a long time?

PW: It's not quite as simple as that. Obviously with the salary cap where it is we are spent up on cap – and to get people in, you have to let people out.

We're not in a position of letting anybody out at the moment because they are either needed to play or are injured, so it's a difficult situation in terms of bringing people in.

I think what it does afford me is the opportunity to give a lot of these young players opportunity and as a club that's a route that we've quite often gone down in the past when we have found ourselves in these difficult situations and it's a route that's helped us develop good players.

So hopefully off the back of this experience players have got game time in a Saints shirt that they may not have got or may not have thought they would have got and it improves them and and further strengthens our squad.