Morgan Knowles plans happy ending at St Helens before winging his way Down Under

A fifth Grand Final ring and a basket of chicken wings are top of Morgan Knowles’ menu as the St Helens loose forward prepares to sign off from Super League at the culmination of this season’s post-season play-offs and start a new rugby league life in Australia’s NRL.

The 28-year-old Knowles has been a one-club man since he made his Saints debut in 2015 and having proved a lynchpin during their four-year title reign from 2019, he knew it was time to give up his home comforts and test himself by signing a two-year deal with Queensland-based Dolphins.

Knowles, who is determined to finish on a high by guiding Saints past Leeds on Friday and towards another Grand Final appearance next month, told the PA news agency: “I could definitely have seen myself finishing my career at Saints but I can walk out with my head held high because I know I’ve given my all for the club.

“I’ve been at the club since I was 13 or 14 and the opportunity came up for a new challenge and a new experience for my family as well. I just think I was ready to give something new a try.

“Lots of the Aussie players in our team have been sending me videos of all sorts of things like shark attacks and spiders and snakes, trying to wind me up a little bit, but I don’t really have any phobias so I think I’ll manage.

“Obviously I’ll miss the people and the fans at Saints and one of the things I’ll really miss is the team feed we have at the end of every captain’s run. The chef always puts on some really good chicken wings so they are one of the things I’ll miss the most.”

Knowles has been a reassuring presence in a much-changing Saints squad since their dominance was ended in 2023, and plenty of questions have been asked of head coach Paul Wellens after another relatively torrid campaign that saw them book their place in the play-offs in an underwhelming fifth slot.

It means Saints will start as underdogs when they go to Headingley on Friday looking for the win that will set them up for a daunting trip to either Hull KR or Wigan in the semi-finals – but Saints’ evolution from favourites to outsiders is one Knowles is eager to exploit.

“With how we’ve been perceived from the outside this year, being written off and having a bit of an up and down season, if we were to go and win it this year we’d be doing it from a different position to previously, and signing off like that would be really special,” added Knowles.

“There’s less pressure than when we did the four in a row, when every week we were the ones who were being hunted. Where we are now, we’re no longer seen as the best team, and that means we can adopt that underdog title and run with it. We’ve still got the belief and the players who have played in big games.”

Despite an underwhelming season from the club’s point of view, Knowles did enough to seal his place in the Super League Dream Team for the fifth time and Wellens admitted he will miss a man with whom he barely overlapped as a player, retiring one month after Knowles made his Saints debut in a Challenge Cup game against York.

“For the 10 years he’s been at the club, Morgan has been a model professional, and his performance levels have very rarely dipped below excellent,” said Wellens.

“Every year we get on the starting blocks with lofty ambitions but obviously Morgan has been a hugely influential player for us for a long period of time. When you add to that how well liked and well respected he is, we’d love to be able to send him off in the right way.”