11 January 2024 , 17:00
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St Helens have completed a deal for Fiji centre Waqa Blake.
Blake, who played for Parramatta Eels in the NRL last season, has joined on a one-year contract. After Will Hopoate's retirement, Saints boss Paul Wellens had been in the market for another three-quarter ahead of the new Super League season which kicks off next month. Ex-Penrith star Blake, 29, has scored 62 tries in 165 NRL appearances and played in the 2022 Grand Final with Parramatta.
He said: “I can’t wait to get started for a great club like Saints. Just looking at all the players that they have there - all the strike - I'm keen to get to work. They won four-in-a-row [Grand Finals up to 2022] and hopefully I can settle in and help them win another one.
“I saw St Helens beat Penrith last year in the World Club Challenge. No one would have thought it. The quality of football is getting better [in Super League] and you can see that in the England side that played Tonga.”
Blake earned the first of his five Fiji caps against Tonga in 2017 and scored three tries in the recent Pacific Championships. He hopes to emulate Fiji team-mate Kevin Naiqama who thrived at centre for Saints from 2019 to 2021. Blake explained: “I’ve played with Kevin Naiqama and he killed it at Saints.
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"I watched the [2021] Grand Final where he won man of the match. He told me a lot about Super League when we were in Fiji camp, how special it is over there, and that Saints are a great bunch of boys, so I’m looking forward to it.”
Parramatta Eels' Waqa Blake takes on North Queensland Cowboys (Getty Images)Blake scored 34 tries in 88 NRL games for Penrith between 2015 and 2019. After being in and out of the Panthers side, he moved to rivals Parramatta. Blake crossed 28 times in 77 for them but struggled for game-time last year and wasn’t offered a new deal.
Wellens said: “We are so pleased to bring in a player of Waqa’s quality into the squad. He is making a big commitment in coming over to the other side of the world and we’re confident he will settle in well and like it over here. We have great success in terms of our overseas players doing that and going out on the field to perform well. From our end, he’s going to come highly motivated and come to prove a point which will only help him and his performances, as well as our group.”
Meanwhile, St Helens captain Jodie Cunningham has joined the club in a full-time capacity taking on a new role as head of women’s pathways and performance. The England skipper, who has worked as the RFL’s national women’s and girls’ development manager for the last three years, will continue playing for Saints while working more closely with head coach Matty Smith. Cunningham said: “It’s an exciting new role. I think it just shows the growth of the women's game but also how seriously St Helens as a club are taking the women's game.”