WHEN crafty Kiwi Shane Cooper first joined Saints in October 1987 little did he know a short stint in England during Mangere East’s off-season would turn into 271 games.

On his recent visit to St Helens, Cooper reflected on his happy eight seasons in the red vee in which he skippered the side to three pieces of silverware - John Player Trophy, Lancashire Cup and the Premiership.

Nearly 30 years since he departed Knowsley Road, Cooper spoke with fondness of his time at a club that gamely battled to step out of the shadow of big-spending Wigan and counted his blessings about the career he enjoyed.

Cooper said: “I didn’t really realise what it was all about when I first came over and signed for the one year and for the couple of years after that before I eventually had a three-year contract.

“I wouldn’t have thought we’d have stayed eight years, but it was a big part of our lives and one we enjoyed.”

(Image: Brian Peers)

Ten games into his stay at Saints Cooper skippered the side to their first ever – and what would be their only - John Player Trophy Final win when they defied Leeds and the Central Park mud assisted by Paul Loughlin’s 14-point haul.

Cooper explained: “It was a great victory because winning any trophies so hard. We had a good team, but there were some very talented players in England at the time.

“It was just the icing on the cake for the first year.”

Saints bounced through that season, and were neck and neck with Widnes at the top of the table before Easter but fell apart on Cooper’s early return to his parent club in New Zealand with three consecutive losses.

Cooper explained: “I was signed up with my league club in New Zealand and I had to go back in the off seasons for my first two seasons here.

“But it was also good of my club side to let me come over here because having back-to-back seasons, as I did in the first couple of years, was quite tough because there was a lot of rugby league played.

“I don’t know how many how many games I played my first year here, but it seemed like quite a lot.

“It does affect the body a little bit, and like everyone has good form and bad form, but I’d like to think I had more good patches and bad patches.”

That year it was Widnes who pipped Saints to the title, but Cooper reflects that is was rivals Wigan who were the club’s nemesis during that era.

“Wigan had a good team, but so did we - even if there were a lot of games were second fiddle – but with Wigan the players they didn’t have, they would simply go out and buy them, wouldn’t they?” he said.

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That period included two Wembley defeats and a heart-breaking semi-final loss at Old Trafford, but nothing summed up the intensity of the rivalry – and how close Mike McClennan’s side came to toppling the Riversiders – than the 1992/93 season.

Saints and Wigan went at it hammer and tongs all year until the end but the title was more or less decided by the 8-8 draw at a packed house at Central Park on Good Friday with the Cherry and Whites going on to become Champions on points difference.

Cooper said: “It went down to that Wigan game – and unfortunately that’s when Kevin Ward broke his leg really badly.

“We were on top of them for most of that match too, but we just couldn’t get it over the line. The league title would have been ours and that would have been a great achievement.”

Earlier that year there was a Shane Cooper masterclass in the Boxing Day game which Coors-kit wearing Saints won 41-6 – a game that fans of that generation still talk about.

Wigan pipped Saints to the title, having already edged them in the last ever Lancashire Cup Final and knocking them out of the Challenge Cup.

Saints, however, had the last word by lifting the Premiership with a 10-4 victory over Wigan at Old Trafford.

“We had such a good season so to top it off with the Premiership made it one of the most memorable games just because of the fact that we’d won something because that is what we all had left to play for.

“It was absolutely tremendous to get one over Wigan.”

Cooper was captain under three very different coaches at Saints – starting with the legendary Alex Murphy and ending with Eric Hughes.

In the middle fellow Kiwi Mike McClennan was the man moulded the side around Cooper and the one he probably had that greater affinity with.

“I knew Mike back in the back in New Zealand and had always been tremendous for my career and coached me at my club side in in New Zealand,” Cooper said.

“Mike could try and out-think everyone and was one step ahead coaching-wise.

“Alex Murphy was a character and a half as we all know – a great guy who would do anything for you.

“Finally, Eric Hughes was nice and tough. You couldn't muck around and Eric said it like he's seen it and that's all you can ask.”

That mid-90s Saints side went on to great things – and Cooper reflects on some of the youngsters who were made their first steps in the red vee when he was skipper.

“You could tell early on that these were special players. Keiron (Cuningham) was great – and what a strong runner he was.

“Steve (Prescott) was so quick off the mark and Joynty had a lot of skills. They were great players and great people too,” he said.

Cooper left Saints for Widnes, aged 33, in 1995 – when the side was on the cusp of summer era greatness in the inaugural Super League.

But the quietly-spoken now 64-year-old Kiwi, who has spent the last 25 years working in the brake and engineering department of Air New Zealand, has no regrets about that timing.

“Age always catches up with you and you can’t do anything about that. Of course I’d like to have been 10 years younger, but I can’t complain about the career I had, and especially the time I spent over in St Helens. I wouldn’t change it for anything,” he said.