After progressing through the Saints' youth system, Owen Dagnall is in the middle of his first full-time First Team Pre-Season, and he has his sights on making his senior debut.
Owen Dagnall is proudly sponsored by D.Hoult Joinery.
Like much of our team, Owen joined the Saints around the age of fourteen from a community club (Halton Farnworth Hornets) and has progressed through our Scholarship and Academy teams after showing his potential as a player.
This past year was a memorable one for Dagnall. The now 19-year-old had ten tries to his name in the Academy Championship, a further two in the Reserves ranks, played for England Academy against France and was called up during the summer to begin training with the St.Helens First Team.
Now, as we come to the turn into 2025, he is fully focused on working hard in his first elite Pre-Season and is relishing every moment.
“It’s been going really good, there’s a fair few new faces and I’m one of the newer or younger boys so that’s been helpful as well,” Dagnall told saintsrlfc.com.
“We have two new wingers who have come in [Feldt & Murphy] who I can learn off. Tristan’s new too and he’s been a major help in getting everyone settled well too, so it has been going really well.”
His call-up to join our First Team environment in the summer allowed Owen to start learning from some highly experienced Saints, including the now departed Tommy Makinson. In Pre-Season, Owen and our young men have even more opportunities to work with and learn from their older teammates. They can also get to grips with different systems or even different positions, as Dagnall can play at both centre or wing, as he has done for both the Academy and Reserves.
“I think playing on the wing might suit me best, but if the opportunity came to play in the centres I would take it with both hands.
“Being able to draw on people with a lot of experience, Tommy last year and Kyle this year, I try to absorb everything when they have been talking to me. Feldty has done so much in the NRL, any opportunity I get to speak to him or ask a question, I will do, because it will make me a better player.”
As one of our younger contingent of Saints, Owen feels very much at home training alongside so many people he grew up with. All of them hold high ambitions for their personal careers in the famous Red V strip.
“It helps when you have that familiarity coming into the First Team, we have maybe ten or eleven players I’ve played with over the years. It means you can settle in easily and express yourself more as a player, knowing you’re comfortable with the people around you off the field and on it with how they play too. It makes for better chemistry when you’ve played with them already so much.”
Four of our Academy talents made their senior debuts last year (Stephens, Vaughan, Robertson and Whitby), and Jake Burns after initially joining our Reserves side progressed to make his elite bow too. Dagnall’s aim for 2025 is clear; make his first St.Helens official appearance, but he knows opportunities for experience can come through other routes.
“I know I’m at the start of my journey for what I want to do because I’ve yet to make my debut – but that’s something I’m aiming to achieve this season. I think if I keep my head down and work as hard as I can then I’ll be able to hopefully get that this year.
“Being realistic; I think it will be good to experience dual-reg or loans because that will give me another level of experience under my belt. Ultimately though, my main goal is to make my debut and challenge the players on the edges all season long. That’s my year ahead and I’m excited for it.”
Speaking about working under Head Coach Paul Wellens with his two new assistants, Dagnall has been excited to come in to work every day.
“They’ve been a breath of fresh air [Lee Briers & Eamon O’Carroll], and anything they have to say I’m all ears and willing to learn. Lee’s detail that he goes into in the attack is something I’ve not really experienced with a coach before. Eamon’s passionate about what he does and when he speaks you take it on board. Wello [Paul Wellens] managing the whole thing takes a personal approach with the players, helping us even more. It all feels like a great mix.”
