IN part two of this week's Q&A, Kristian Woolf talks about match fitness for two key and the challenge he has set down for Jack Ashworth.

MC: The World Club Challenge was James Roby’s first game back - he will get even better with more games?

KW: It is always a tough thing when you come off surgery and Robes hasn’t done a lot of ball work or contact, he is back earlier than what we thought he may be.

St Helens Star:

He is only going to get better, the more match fit he gets, with his timing with and without the ball. He did a good job and it is a real positive that he came into our side that is playing well anyway and he really going to add to it.

MC: Is that similar with Morgan Knowles?

KW: You have to look at what you get out of a pre-season. It was no surprise to me that our first performance against Salford was a strong one and we got a lot of things right, because you spend so much time working on things and getting players mentally and physically prepared for round one.

St Helens Star:

All those things that you get through a pre-season, guys like James Roby and Morgan Knowles didn’t get so they are picking things up from scratch and are certainly going to get better with every game.

MC: The fixture planners did Saints no favour with it being a Sunday game ahead of the World Club?

KW: It would have been good to have a bit longer lead in and extra time to get over a tough game against Hull, but I don’t see that as having any bearing on the result or our performance.

The fact of the matter is in this comp you have to play off five, six or nine-day turnarounds sometimes.

You take them as they come and you figure out your best schedule to make sure you deal with it well and I felt we handled the week pretty well and the effort the boys put in showed that as well.

St Helens Star:

MC: Are you a rotation type of coach or is it if you’ve got the shirt it is yours to lose?

KW: We have played three comp games and the Roosters so it is early.

It needs to be very much an earned thing. If you are in the squad and playing well you deserve to stay in; a reward if you are getting your job done.

We play up to 32 games over the year and at some stage you have to look if certain players who have played a lot of footy need to have a game off for their own physical and mental well-being.

But that time is certainly not at this time of the year.

St Helens Star:

MC: How do you gauge Jack Ashworth’s and Kyle Amor’s performances and attitude playing the Reserves and what sort of response are you looking for?

KW: I am looking for them to be really dominant.

We have given Jack some things he can work in when he is back there. Essentially we want him to play the role when he is back here with us.

We want him to be physically dominant, play nice and aggressive and be the dominant front rower out there and play some minutes.

St Helens Star:

With Kyle, that reserve game was his first actual game of footy this year so he is in a different boat.

Read: The other part of Woolf's Q&A>

He needs to get some footy under his belt at this stage and we got a bit of a marker of where he is at from that Wigan game.

They will both get some opportunity at some stage.

St Helens Star:

Their attitude has been terrific – they both understand that we have a forward pack that is doing a really good job at the moment and that means that someone needs to give them an opportunity.

They will get one at some stage and when they do it is up to them to make sure they don’t give it back to anyone as well.