SAINTS boss Justin Holbrook believes the club’s new faces will help them get over the semi final stumbling block that afflicted them since 2014.

They have bolstered the squad with a trio of experienced NRL players, plus League 1’s star man Joe Batchelor with a view to getting back to winning pots.

Full back Lachlan Coote will bring something more solid at the back, Fiji skipper Kevin Naiqama adds a dash of excitement to the three-quarter line with Joseph Paulo adding skill and toughness to the middle unit.

Holbrook said: “I am confident with our squad.

“Although I am disappointed to lose guys like Jon Wilkin and Ben Barba, I think you need new faces if you keep hitting the same stumbling block in competitions.”

Although he accepts that Coote brings something different to Barba, those qualities will benefit the team.

He added: “Lachlan is a great addition, although he may not be as exciting as Ben Barba but he will be more solid overall and he has a good left-foot kicking game that can be useful.

“He is a Grand Final winner in the NRL, winning with the Cowboys in 2015 and helped get them there again from eighth spot in 2017.

“We want players that can get us past semi-finals and he can do that and will be a great addition.”

The 15-times capped Fijian skipper Naiqama, who has joined from Wests Tigers, is another exciting addition.

And he will be a useful strike weapon in helping carve open the opposition.

“It is well known at Saints that we want to be a team that plays rugby and throws the ball about – and it gets harder as teams try to nullify that, as we saw this year as teams worked that out,” Holbrook said.

“They played a certain way to try and try and stop us.

“Kevin adds to that – he is exciting, agile and is also a leader.

“He is the captain of Fiji and we want to bring in those players to win those trophies. He will do all of those things.

“In the pack Joseph Paulo has all the ball skills of a stand off, but he is tough.

“When we play certain oppositions that won’t let us play, he can cart it up as good as anyone.

“I like his skill levels and he is going to be that link between forwards and backs like Jon Wilkin.

“But when it is a tough night he can just cart it in.”

Saints have also enlisted second row Joe Batchelor from York, who along with James Bentley, will be eyeing the spots of Zeb Taia and Dom Peyroux going forward beyond this year.

Holbrook said: “The great thing with Joe is that he is like Alex Walmsley in some respects in being a late bloomer in his career.

“I like where he has come from – York – a side that has won pretty much every game this year.

“He had options when he signed and chose us, but on signing he asked if he could come over training for one session a week and drove to training off his own bat.

“It is exciting to have someone like him prepared to work hard before he has even started.”

Although not a new addition, Holbrook believes that prop Alex Walmsley, who missed the bulk of last season with a broken neck bone, will feel like one.

“Having Big Al back will be important.

“Everyone forgot about him while we were winning but as soon as we got hammered in the Challenge Cup semi the questions began being asked when Al was coming back.

“When you think that we have the season that we have had with the best front rower in the comp not playing since round 5.

“Add to that captain James Roby was not able to do any weights on his shoulder at the back end and we were trying to get it over the line.

“You need everything to go your way to win these comps and we fell just short,” he said.

It will not just be personnel changes on the field that will hopefully make a difference.

The coach has been reviewing what happened last year and has vowed to come up with ways to improve when it matters.

“It is hard because you want to change so many things because you lose and then you calm down and reflect that you have 26 games out of 30 in the year, but the ones that counted we lost.

“That is where we have to improve – winning those big games obviously and we have to come up with ways between now and the end of next year to change that,” he said.