St Helens Women’s coach Matty Smith was full of admiration for his players despite their Grand Final defeat to York Valkyrie at the Totally Wicked Stadium on Sunday night.
Smith’s side failed to complete a historic treble, but the coach reflected on a successful season in which they won the League Leaders Shield and the Women’s Challenge Cup.
“At the beginning of the year, no one had us down for anything, no one has us down for winning one trophy, let alone having the chance to win three tonight. So, I’m immensely proud of the group,” he said.
He discussed the commitment the Saints have shown all season and described the game as one with “too many errors” from his side.
“I think we probably didn’t do ourselves justice a little bit. We didn’t play our best game, that’s that, that’s finals, and that’s how the cookie crumbles at times, and we didn’t quite get it right tonight,” he said.
“It’s something to work harder on in preseason. It’s something to fix up and we’ll be hungrier next year. We’ve not quite done the treble, but hopefully we can respond and have a good preseason and come back stronger,” he continued.
When asked about his opponents, Smith gave credit to the winning side who showed resilience defensively and took advantage of the St Helens errors.
He explained: “They are the back-to-back champions. And we knew that, we respect that, like I said that before the game. We knew there was going to be nothing in it tonight, there wasn’t, York are a tough side to beat.”
The coach showed gratitude towards Faye Gaskin, a crucial member to his side who played a major role in her final game, scoring half the Merseyside team’s goals and leading them, and credited her as one of the main reasons they succeed in attack.
💔 Saints suffer defeat in the 2024 Betfred Women's @SuperLeague Grand Final…#COYS pic.twitter.com/Ur1LiDS8QT
— St.Helens Women (@saints1890women) October 6, 2024
“We’ll have a conversation around trying to get her to play again. But If that’s it, then that’s it. We respect that, because she’s such a good player and person,” Smith said.
He continued to praise the half back and said she was “by far the best player in the league” and deserving of the Woman of Steel award.
Smith also revealed the surprise retirement of star player Tara Jones who is ending her playing career to become a full-time match official.
“She’s played at the highest level,” Smith said. “She’s, heritage number one at the club. She got the first try at Wembley last year. She’s done amazing things in the game, amazing things for the club, and she’ll be massively missed.”
