page_title: St Helens R.F.C.
section_title: The Potter years (2009–2010)
hierarchical_section_title: St Helens R.F.C. / History / Summer era / 2000s / The Potter years (2009–2010)
caption_attribution_description: English: Widnes Vikings vs St Helens Karalius Cup 2010. Taken from the North Stand at the Stobart Stadium (Halton Stadium)
context_page_description: St Helens R.F.C. is a professional rugby league club in St Helens, Merseyside who compete in the Super League, the top tier of competition for rugby league in Europe.
  Formed in 1873, St Helens are one of the 22 original members of the Northern Rugby Football Union and have been league champions on 14 occasions. St Helens are also the third most successful side in the Challenge Cup with 12 wins in 21 Final appearances. St Helens are founding members of the Super League and are one of only four teams to have appeared in every season since its creation in 1996.
  Since 1961 the club's home colours have been white, with a red "V" on the jersey. St Helens play their home games at the Totally Wicked Stadium in St Helens, having moved from their previous home, Knowsley Road, in 2012.
context_section_description: Mick Potter was announced as the successor to Anderson, which received many plaudits from the St. Helens fans and the European game as a whole, as the year previous he had led the Catalans Dragons to a record—high third—placed finish in the league. On 9 August 2009, St Helens reached a record 9th consecutive Challenge Cup semi—final, where they were beaten by 24 points to 14 by the Huddersfield Giants. This prevented Saints from reaching the final at the new Wembley Stadium for a third successive time and from winning the cup for a fourth time running. This defeat naturally came as a shock to the St Helens faithful, after so often in the last 15 years seeing the team reach the pinnacle of this competition and go on to win the cup. It was from here that the criticism began, and questions were raised particularly of his tactics and his activity (or lack of) in the transfer market.
  On 3 October 2009, Saints defeated fierce rivals the Wigan Warriors to book their place at a fourth consecutive Super League Grand Final,
  only to lose out to the Leeds Rhinos in the final, 18–10, making the Leeds Rhinos the only team to win the Grand Final three times consecutively. A 20-year-old Kyle Eastmond scored all of Saints' points. A trophyless year for the first time since 2003 was another catalyst to Potter's critics abusing and slating his appointment, with even rumours of rifts within the changing rooms.
caption: St Helens against Widnes Vikings in the pre—season 2010 Karalius Cup
exif: {"Image Make": "Sony Ericsson", "Image Model": "C905", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "R1BA042     prg1205-9079_GENERIC_SI 00.00", "Image DateTime": "2010:01:19 21:01:47", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "134", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "11386", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4063", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/20", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "64", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2010:01:19 21:01:45", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2010:01:19 21:01:47", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "-13/10", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "591/100", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3264", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2448", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "416", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "6", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}