Hard work still to do, but Percival hails 'breath of fresh air' at Saints (2025)

SAINTS centre Mark Percival is about to embark on his 13th season in the red vee – a year in which he strides into re-invigorated after describing the “breath of air” that has swept through the camp since November.

The 30-year-old England centre has credited the newcomers – on and off the field – for being a big part of the freshening up process after a disappointing 2024.

Although Percival was among the casualties of a massively injury-impacted campaign that affected every part of the team, he does not want to use that as an excuse for last term’s failings.

The facts show that 2024 was the club’s first year without silverware since 2017 – and the first time they had failed to reach a semi final of either competition in the Super League era.

Percival does not duck away from those disappointments but explains: “Last year was so frustrating with all the injuries that we had and I think everyone was trying to pull to the right direction, but in a way, we were all pulling away from that right direction.

“Nobody likes talking about injuries, and I especially don't because it's not an excuse at all as I remember us winning the competition in 2014, when we had hardly any players playing.

“So it’s definitely not an excuse, but there were a lot of casualties last year that stopped us from stringing any form together and that did bite us at the back end of the year.

“We have taken that on the chin now that we were not up to scratch last year and I think this pre-season, everyone is ripping in.

“We all know what we need to do in attack and we know what we need to do in defence and we're all striving to get better in those areas and hopefully hit the ground running but again nothing's perfect.

“There will be ups and downs for the year, but it's how you keep coming back and we need to come back strong.”

Hard work still to do, but Percival hails 'breath of fresh air' at Saints (1)(Image: Bernard Platt)

Saints have made significant personnel changes this year with Matty Smith and Laurent Frayssinous departing and replaced by attack coach Lee Briers and former Bradford Bulls head coach Eamon O’Carroll as predominantly a defence coach.

Those two, working under head coach Paul Wellens, has added to the positivity breezing through the camp after a degree of some tough soul searching at the end of last year.

Percival explained: “With having Briersy and Freddy (Eamon O’Carroll) coming in it has a proper new fresh feel to the place.

“It sounds silly, but we've had the place (at the training ground) done up with a coffee shop put in the place. Everyone's really enjoying each other’s company after training.

“But we are all working hard and we all now know exactly what we need to do going forward for the season, which is again been a breath of fresh air.

“We all know what our roles are.

“There's a long way to go – and there is nothing that says that just because we're enjoying training we are going to be unbelievable on the pitch.”

In his 13 years at the club, Percival has endured the ups and downs – kicking the crucial goals in Saints’ 2014 Grand Final win over Wigan at Old Trafford.

Hard work still to do, but Percival hails 'breath of fresh air' at Saints (2)(Image: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)

He soldiered on through four often difficult campaigns before the glory years returned with the first of the four-in-a-row Super League titles.

That experience leaves the strong-running, big-hitting but silky-skilled centre well placed to know where the benchmark is at Saints – and what needs to be done to reach that.

“We just want to get back to being that Saints team that no one wants to play and we do that by working hard and making sure we're bringing that every single week.

“When you're at club like Saints, you can't just bring it for one week and not the next.

“You've got to be at a consistent level every week and that's what we have got to get back to when we start this season,” he said.

Much has already been noted about the impact that Lee Briers has had on pre-season sessions since returning from his hometown club from his attacking coach role at Brisbane Broncos.

Percival said: “Briersy coming in has been a breath of fresh air. We're all learning roles that he wants us to achieve in attack and that is something a little bit different from what we've been used to over the last year.

“But he wants us to be in the right positions consistently and that's the key. If we listen to Briersy then I have no doubt that what he's bringing to us will put us in with a chance to win games.”

Percival is not getting carried away – not in early January before even a friendly game has been played and the only games have been the in-house 13 on 13s.

But he is re-assured by the structures that have been put in place through long days on thetraining pitch and in the classroom – and he feels will embolden the side when the going gets tough and when Plan A has been nullified.

“Nothing is ever going to be perfect,” he said.

“We're not going to get things right all the time but by having a structure and something that we know that we can fall back to is something that's going to be massive for us going forward.

“I think last year we when we were put under pressure we lacked any consistency in what we were wanting to do.

“I feel what Briersy has come in and done, along with Freddy on the defensive side of things, and under Wello as head coach, will benefit us.

“It is all running as smoothly as possible. We are nowhere near the season started yet, but for the minute everyone is very happy and working hard and we're just getting ready for the season.”

Hard work still to do, but Percival hails 'breath of fresh air' at Saints (2025)
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