Hungry Woolf racks up victories

THE call of the Woolf keeps getting louder.

Former Townsville Blackhawks coach Kristian Woolf is leading his Super League outfit St Helens through a purple patch of form following the competition’s COVID-19 hiatus, which was capped by last week’s 48-0 thumping of Leeds. In the previous round Woolf’s men put Catalans to the sword 34-6, hauling St Helens into the top two.

A spectacular hat-trick to St Helens winger Regan Grace was the big talking point out last weekend’s big win, but behind the scenes it’s Woolf who is pulling the strings of a St Helens outfit featuring former Cowboys fullback Lachlan Coote and long-time NRL hardman James Graham.

Woolf arrived at St Helens earlier this year and while his new outfit endured a mixed start to the year, the COVID-19 pandemic derailed any immediate plans Woolf had up his sleeves.

But Woolf embraced the hiatus as a chance to consolidate his move from North Queensland to the north of England, and get his outfit in order.

“The lockdown period had lots of little challenges for everybody,” Woolf said.

“The real positive thing from me is I’ve got four kids at home and to be able to spend that time at home with them. We’ll never be able to get that time again, spending time with your kids and being able to do just all sorts of things with them. From a personal point of view there, I’ve had some good enjoyment through it.

“There have been some challenges – trying to motivate kids for home schooling and for those kinds of things are obviously a challenge.

“But overall it has a been a real positive and something we’ve certainly got through really well.”

Woolf coached the Blackhawks from 2015 to 2018 and then in 2019 took up as assistant coach role at the Newcastle Knights, where he was interim coach for the rest of that season following the departure of head coach Nathan Brown.

He took up the coaching post at St Helens in place of his premiership-winning predecessor Justin Holbrook, and Woolf is well aware of the pressure that comes from filling the boots of a successful coach.

But if last week’s performance is anything to go by, Woolf is firmly on the path to success, with his stocks soaring to the point he was being talked up as a contender for the vacant Cowboys coaching role.

But with a year left on his deal at St Helens it is understood Woolf is committed to staying in the northern hemisphere next season.

And again, he credits the COVID-19 break for laying the groundwork for St Helen’s purple patch.

“Once we got the OK to come back there was genuine excitement among the group.”