Andre Savelio has refused to draw a line under his time at St Helens but admits he is not sure what the future holds for him at his hometown club once his loan spell at Castleford has concluded.
Savelio was widely regarded as one of Super League’s brightest talents last year, after a breakthrough season which saw him make almost 30 appearances to become a pivotal part of Keiron Cunningham’s side in 2015. Yet this year the 21-year-old has been forced to look elsewhere for regular action, eventually joining the Tigers on loan last month.
Savelio made his debut in their victory against Wakefield a fortnight ago and will again feature on Friday night as they travel to the league leaders Hull FC looking to keep their top-four hopes alive – but Savelio, still under contract at the Saints next season, is non-committal over where he will be playing in 2017.
“I’m refusing to think about next year,” he said. “I’m sure at the end of the year when it comes to having a sit-down we’ll come to some form of agreement regarding how we go about next year. I need to be playing to be happy because I get a bit down when I’m not playing, so if I get my chance back at Saints great, or whether it’s somewhere else, we’ll just see.”
Savelio insists he was in the best shape of his career heading into this season but a lack of opportunities in his preferred position of second-row hindered his progression at Saints to the point where he began to look elsewhere. However, the chance to play under a man well regarded by many within rugby league, the Castleford coach Daryl Powell, has now given him the opportunity he craved.
“I desperately need game-time,” he added. “Unfortunately, for whatever reason, that just wasn’t happening at St Helens. I spoke a couple of times to Mike Rush [the St Helens chief executive] who was really good and he didn’t want me to leave, but I couldn’t see a chance cropping up where I wanted to play.
“I was being utilised as a prop and I just wasn’t confident playing there: I wanted a chance out wide. I know I’ve trained harder than last year and I’m in better shape than I’ve ever been, but things just didn’t click at Saints.
“Keiron was covered for back-rowers and I felt if I looked around I’d get a chance somewhere. I actually mentioned to my management that I’d like to play under Daryl Powell; my old man played against him and he said that if he coaches like he played he’d be great for me.”
Savelio marked his debut under Powell with a try as Castleford remained in the hunt for the play-off semi-finals with victory against Wakefield. Seven points adrift of the fourth-placed Saints heading into the Super 8s, Castleford’s top-four hopes have been written off by many, but the 21-year-old insists it is still an achievable goal.
He said: “It’s nowhere near over in terms of making the semis. If we can go six from seven, who knows? It’s going to take results falling our way but there’s always a chance as long as it’s mathematically possible. Hull are playing well but if we can get the win it would really give our season a boost.” Powell will welcome back Denny Solomona, the competition’s top try-scorer, as well as Rangi Chase and Lee Jewitt for the trip to the KCOM Stadium.
