St Helens boss Kristian Woolf makes Regan Grace admission amid rugby union and NRL interest

Defending Super League champions St Helens will do everything in their power to retain the services of Regan Grace, whose current contract concludes at the end of the 2022 season.

Head coach Kristian Woolf has admitted that other Super League clubs and their NRL counterparts, as well as the 15-a-side code, would sign the 25-year-old winger at the drop of a hat if he was available, but insisted the Welshman was a quality player Saints desperately wanted to retain at the Totally Wicked Stadium.

“We will have to come up with something which is attractive to Regan and I will make no bones about it we want him to stay and we are working hard to sort everything out.’’

Woolf added: “A player like Regan is going to have a choice to make and that’s what he faces at the moment, but he is a really popular member of the squad and highly thought of by the rest of the boys and coaching staff.

“He is an intrical part of our set-up and we don’t want to lose him.”

Grace, who joined Saints as a rookie in 2016, will be named in the 21-strong squad which will be released at noon on Thursday ahead of Saturday’s trip to the south of France to face Toulouse Olympique.

The winger has only played one game this season but the Aussie head coach declared: “He will give us absolutely everything he’s got this weekend and regardless of whether he will be with us or not next season, he will do the same for the rest of the year.”

Like Grace, Will Hopoate has also been plagued by a hamstring problem but he, too, will be pencilled-in for the trip to France.

Their return will also give the squad more versatility and balance and allow one or two players to return to their regular positions.