Incoming head coach Kevin Walters has continued his clearout at St Helens after the club’s worst season in 30 years.
Australia national team boss Walters will take the reins at the Saints in November after leading the Kangaroos at the 2026 Rugby League World Cup. But the former Warrington halfback has already made some big calls on the underperforming squad, with Jackson Hastings released.
Canterbury Bulldogs playmaker Sean O’Sullivan has been secured as Hastings’ replacement, but The i Paper understands St Helens are also targeting a new hooker from the NRL. Gold Coast forward Sam Verrills has been linked to the Red Vee, but it is believed Canberra Raiders’ dynamic No 9 Tommy Starling is their number one target and will join the club instead.
Starling is out of favour at the Green Machine, and had been in talks about joining the Manly Sea Eagles for next year. But with limited salary cap space available at Manly, The i Paper understands Starling has opted to move to Super League instead and is close to finalising a deal with Saints.
At 28 years old and with more than 150 NRL appearances under his belt, the speedy Starling would be a coup for Walters’ rebuild.
St Helens are also still in the market for another centre, with veteran outside back Nene Macdonald expected to depart.
The Papua New Guinean international is contracted to Saints for 2027, but the club has been trying to offload him for some time.
Saints have already picked up Solomona Faatape on a two-year deal from Catalans Dragons, and signed Christian Tuipulotu on a three-year contract from St George Illawarra.
Kiwi prop goes on the market
Another NRL player seeking a spot in Super League is former North Queensland Cowboys and Parramatta Eels front-rower Wiremu Greig.
Greig is a free agent after being released by the Cowboys. The 26-year-old broke into the NRL in 2021 at Parramatta under now Leeds boss Brad Arthur, but played just three first-grade games for North Queensland this season.
Greig passed up a move to the UK at the end of 2025, to join the Cowboys on a one-year deal, but is now back on the market.
Hull FC and St Helens have shown some interest in the Kiwi enforcer.
Cas coach hunt down to four
A shortlist of four coaches has been made for the vacant Castleford Tigers job.
Castleford have been looking for a new coach since Ryan Carr left in August. The Super League club has received a number of applications from around the world, but four individuals have now made the final cut.
Smith is currently the defence coach at Canberra after successful spells with several clubs in the Queensland Cup and a stint in the development set-up at the Melbourne Storm.
Morris was most recently an assistant coach at the Wests Tigers, but was axed from his post this month after a revamp of head coach Benji Marshall’s coaching staff. After a stellar 14-year NRL playing career, Morris retired in 2014 and worked his way up the coaching ranks at Cronulla Sharks. The highly rated 46-year-old spent two and a half years as head coach of the Sharks, and has since had spells as an assistant at South Sydney and the Tigers.