Royce Simmons keen to succeed at St Helens

Royce Simmons coached down under at Penrith Panthers and West Tigers

St Helens' new Australian coach Royce Simmons is focused only on success in this country after finally returning to England to take over from Mick Potter.

Simmons, the fourth successive Aussie in the Saints hot seat, arrives on the back of a seven-year stint as assistant coach at Sydney side Wests Tigers.

But he insisted: "I came here as Saints are one of the greatest clubs in the game's history. I'm excited to be here.

"Before anyone asks, I did not come here to get back into the NRL."

Simmons, 50, first cut his coaching teeth in England during two seasons with Hull in the mid-1990s before returning home to take charge of his former club Penrith Panthers, after which he became assistant coach to Tim Sheens in Sydney.

But, after having his name linked to several Super League vacancies over the years, now that Simmons has returned to England, it is not as a means to securing another head coaching job back in Australia.

Instead, he faces the challenge of turning Saints, Grand Final runners-up for each of the last four years under Daniel Anderson and Mick Potter, back into title winners.

"We've been the bridesmaid over the past few seasons," said chairman Eamon McManus. "And, to a certain degree, the club is entering into a new era with the new stadium, new training facilities and a number of new players.

"But we believe the squad is well balanced and able to compete for honours and we firmly believe Royce is the best man to get the best out of us."

After following in the footsteps of fellow Aussies Ian Millward (two title wins/two Challenge Cup victories), Anderson (one World Club Challenge/one title win/three Challenge Cup victories) and the empty-handed Potter, Simmons' first job is to fill the massive dressing room hole left by the retirement of on-field leader Keiron Cunningham.

Long-serving full-back Paul Wellens is favourite to take over as captain, but Simmons will also consider the claims of James Graham, who was handed the honour of being made England captain down under last month in the absence through injury first of Jamie Peacock then Adrian Morley.

"I'll sit down with the management when all the players are back," said Simmons.

"But you don't have to be to smart to work out it's between a couple of people."

Simmons is also confident that he has the players to help fill the void created by Cunningham, who has joined the backroom staff.

James Roby, England's hooker at the Four Nations, has been handed Cunningham's number nine jersey and back-up will come from another international, Scott Moore.

The big thing about losing Keiron Cunningham will probably be the amount of talk he does on the field

New Saints coach Royce Simmons

"When a player leaves who has played 500 games, it's a big loss," admitted Simmons. "But there are not many sides that can pull in the current national hooker to take over.

"The big thing about losing Keiron will probably be the amount of talk he does on the field.

"For the first few games the other players will probably miss him a little bit.

"But James and Scott are both tremendous hookers so we're very strong in that area."

After taking up official duties at Saints, Simmons confirmed in his first press conference that their new stadium is not due to be completed until next October.

That means Saints will spend the entire season ground-sharing the Stobart Stadium with Widnes.

But Simmons revealed that, despite having swapped the 17,500-capacity Knowsley Road for Widnes, where the maximum is 13,500, season-ticket sales have already outstripped those for 2010.