Agnatius Paasi revels in St Helens Super League reset after messy Warriors exit

He was one of the club’s best in 2019, starting in 22 of his 23 appearances and playing in his 100th first grade game. He was shortlisted for the Ken Stephens Medal for his work helping disadvantaged kids in Auckland, fundraising for the Leukaemia and Blood Foundation and helping grassroots footy clubs in New Zealand.

A year earlier he was a force as the Warriors made the finals for the first time in eight years, and was named in the Kiwis squad at the end of the season.

Then it all went wrong. Fast.

No other club was hit harder during the Covid turmoil of 2020, and Paasi’s pain was compounded by an ankle injury that limited him to just six matches off the bench as the team relocated to Australia.

By June, the Warriors were struggling, coach Stephen Kearney had been suddenly axed and a homesick Paasi was struggling for game time.

“It was pretty tough,” the father of four remembers. “To go over to Terrigal and not see my family for a couple of months. Waking up every morning and not seeing them was pretty tough.”

Paasi says Kearney’s sacking took more of a toll than many people realised at the time.

“Losing him two months into staying in Terrigal, it hurt,” he says. “No one knew what we were going through at that time.

“Leaving our families in New Zealand … it’s our job, but we can’t do our jobs if we aren’t happy.”

Kearney was told of the Warriors’ decision the morning after a 40-12 round six loss to South Sydney.

It fell on the axed coach to tell the team what had just happened.

“The circumstances around it were pretty hectic, some of us players were even shocked he got sacked,” Paasi says.

“No one knew what we had to go through – even some of the Warriors staff that weren’t there, because they had to stay in New Zealand.

“We saw (the news) in the media but we didn’t know if it was true. He came and told us. That’s how we found out.”

Barely a month later, Paasi was also on his way out, returning to New Zealand with David Fusitu’a and Ken Maumalo to be with his family.

He didn’t know what the future held then, but he was granted an early release from his contract to join Super League giants St Helens in 2021.

In an ironic twist, Paasi says the way St Helens bonded during the Super League’s Covid shutdowns made his decision to head north easier.

“I didn’t know much about Super League until watching their grand final against Wigan (in 2020). No one was there, but it was a special time,” he says of the miraculous 80th minute try centre Jack Welsby scored.

“For me watching it, it gave me the sense that they were really playing for each other. I could see myself in that team.”

Two years after moving his family to England, where his kids saw snow for the first time, Paasi has won two premierships and is finally enjoying his footy again.

In his first trip back to Australia since departing the Warriors, the 31-year-old came off the bench in St Helens’ 30-18 win over the Dragons last weekend, running for 142 metres, throwing an offload and making 21 tackles.

He will likely resume the same role against a Panthers outfit featuring Nathan Cleary and Isaah Yeo after they were rested for the Eels trial last week.

His move to England coincided with an evolution from starting front-rower to hard-hitting impact player, and in November he re-committed to the club until the end of 2025.

“It’s been like a reset, going over there,” he says. “This team, they’ve been playing together for years, they have that trust within the team and the coaching staff.

“Looking back now, I don’t have any regrets … if I didn’t come over, I wouldn’t be a champion.”