St Helens’ decline reaches breaking point with stench of failure lingering

The Guardian UK Monday 10 August 2026, 07:00 UTC By Aaron Bower 1 min read

Key Points

Record 10-time Super League champions are poised to miss out on playoffs for the first time but their problems run deeper than poor resultsPerhaps the biggest concern as the full-time hooter sounded on another miserable evening for St Helens on Thursday was that the anger, along with thousands of supporters, had long since disappeared and had been replaced with a sense of apathy. No club have been as consistent a force in the history of Super League quite like Saints. Wigan were...

Record 10-time Super League champions are poised to miss out on playoffs for the first time but their problems run deeper than poor results

Perhaps the biggest concern as the full-time hooter sounded on another miserable evening for St Helens on Thursday was that the anger, along with thousands of supporters, had long since disappeared and had been replaced with a sense of apathy.

No club have been as consistent a force in the history of Super League quite like Saints. Wigan were almost relegated 20 years ago, Leeds have finished in the bottom half on multiple occasions and the other two champions, Bradford and Hull KR, have spent extended spells outside of Super League. And that is why this is such a story.

St Helens’ (LOCATION) Super League (ORG) St Helens (LOCATION) No club (ORG) Saints (ORG) Wigan (PERSON) Leeds (LOCATION) Bradford (PERSON)

Originally published by The Guardian UK Read original →

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St Helens’ decline reaches breaking point with stench of failure lingering

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