England And The Idea Of Jake Connor

Sorry Wakefield fans but the news cycle stops for nobody. There's a World Cup to be won. 

Former military man Brian McDermott is the man tasked with leading that mission after taking over from Shaun Wane. The former Wigan coach seemed willing to continue in the role but the underwhelming performances in last autumn's Ashes whitewash signalled it was time for change.

McDermott has named a 23-man squad for the tournament but it was the omission of Jake Connor that caused a lot of the debate around the selection. Though he didn't hang on to his Steve Prescott Man Of Steel award - that honour going to Wigan hooker Brad O'Neill, Connor had another eye catching campaign as Leeds Rhinos fell one stop short of Old Trafford. 

But his form is only part of the argument. Leaving him out is a mistake. Not because he's the world's greatest player. He's not. He's quite maddening at times and has a temperament to justify caution. But what he does offer is the 'point of difference' which McDermott has already stated England will need to be successful in this company. And he arguably offers it in a bigger way than any of those who do have a seat on the plane.

Where Wane and many others before him fell short is in trying to beat the Australians and others at their own game. It is now perceived wisdom in rugby league that you can only win by minimising risk. Set completion. Five drives and a kick. Defend well. Avoid errors. For that you need a game manager at halfback. Harry Smith will no doubt be the man. The Wigan star has a great kicking game, makes good, safe decisions and rarely leaves his team compromised positionally. 

The trouble is, as good as he and England are at that Australia and other teams do it better. We need something else. Something different. Something other. Not to play recklessly on every tackle, but to reserve the right to do something that the impossibly well drilled defences we will face are not expecting and don't want to see. Connor provides that. 

To not even have him in the squad as an option feels like the rugby league equivalent of Thomas Tuchel leaving Trent Alexander-Arnold out of his World Cup party. It's the safe option, but if and when you need something nobody else can imagine let alone execute your tank is empty.

I am fully aware that Connor is someone whose risk taking could cost you at a crucial moment. Even the greatest mavericks have been guilty of believing they have seen something is 'on' only to spend the next few minutes behind their own posts, hands on head, waiting for the conversion that will finally kill their hopes. But frankly I would rather lose that way than be out-processed by a machine in green and gold. 

We could lose a big knockout game 8-6 and have the players return home with their respect and dignity fully intact. But what if we'd turned over that wild card in the last 10 minutes? Thrown a few long balls, launched a couple of 40-20 attempts. This is the only conceivable route I can see to achieving more than just a heroic exit after a gruelling defensive duel. And it could have happened with Connor available.

It appears that when McDermott said he wanted a point of difference he meant Mikey Lewis rather than Connor. He's going to be the one charged with making the opposition uncomfortable if the likely starting pairing of Smith and George Williams can't. Lewis is far more likely to run at the line and provoke disruption than Smith but he lacks the vision and the naked audacity of Connor. He's Connor-lite in this regard. But he still takes risks that could be costly and he has the same temperament issue. He has the potential to be McDermott's point of difference but he's less likely to pull it off than Connor. He hasn't quite demonstrated the same passing range as the Leeds man.

I guess I'm not really arguing for Connor as much as for the idea of Connor. Someone with the passing skills to upset some almost bulletproof defences who isn't afraid of consequence. McDermott has acknowledged that England didn't ask enough questions of Australia in attack in the Ashes. He clearly feels that Lewis is enough to address that. But I don't think that solution goes far enough. 

This isn't me claiming to have found a magic formula. Risk is risk for a reason. Unpredictability can blow up in your face and then everyone tells you what a fool you've been. But in not embracing something more than the 'arm-wrestle' we are almost performing an exercise in damage limitation. 

Why not give yourself a chance to avoid what seems inevitable?

Saints 36 Hull KR 12 - The Rebuild Is On As Heroes Depart

With playoff aspirations finally, mathematically absent, Saints were able to focus on beating a scratch Hull KR side and saying goodbye to two modern giants on Friday night.

For too long now the faint hope of maintaining our ever-present record in Super League playoff series has provided a false media narrative. It was somehow liberating to forget about that and instead shine the spotlight on the retiring Jonny Lomax and Mark Percival.

Perhaps because Saints were the only club to qualify for the playoffs in every Super League season since its inception in 1996, the media had rather more faith in that run continuing than we did. Strained mathematics kept hopes alive, but anyone who watched this admittedly injury-ravaged mob perform every week knew that the run was ending some time ago. Probably after back-to-back defeats at York and at home to Hull in late July and early August. Playoff teams don't lose 46-0 at home to Toulouse.

Given how poor we have been, a visit from the Super League and world champions threatened to be a punishing way to bid farewell to Lomax and Percival. Rovers haven't found quite the same form so far this year but still have the weapons to brutally take down one of the weakest Saints teams in a generation. Yet that all changed 48 hours before the game when Robins coach Willie Peters decided to leave the vast majority of his title-winning squad at home.

Unlike Saints, Peters' side have managed to sneak into the playoffs, albeit in the sixth and final slot. At the end of a season which has involved that World Club Challenge epic against Brisbane, a trip to Las Vegas and a run to the Challenge Cup final, he was taking the opportunity to rest his stars for what was - pride notwithstanding - a dead rubber. 

I'm not a fan of that strategy. I have screamed when Saints coaches of the past have done it. This season it ruined both league meetings between the Grand Finalists of the last two years as Wigan fielded their supporting cast when they met Rovers a week before the Wembley cup final. Rovers did likewise when they met Wigan again two weeks ago. 

In truth, any format which decides the champions with a one-off game at the end of a playoff series is vulnerable to tactical squad tinkering. Super League needs to look at its scheduling to at least ensure that marquee fixtures like Grand Final repeats are not scheduled one week out from a cup final that will very likely feature at least one of those teams. 

Lomax and Percival haven't always been in the Saints side during their final season. Injuries have limited Percival to just nine appearances while Lomax has played only 13 of his 391 games in the Red Vee in 2026. Five of those have been off the bench, as both Paul Rowley and interim coach Eamon O'Carroll have grappled with the question of how best to use Jack Welsby, Tristan Sailor and Harry Robertson as well as Jackson Hastings. But with the latter's Saints career ended by suspension and Nene Macdonald and Owen Dagnall injured, both Lomax and Percival featured from the start here.

It all ended in emotional celebration of the careers of both, but not before Saints endured a characteristic wobble just after half-time. O'Carroll's side had been electric late in the first half, racing into an 18-0 lead. Lomax and Percival combined well for two of those three tries. 

First Lomax provided the pass from which Percival squirmed over, before the centre gifted his long-time colleague a try by passing on the try line when he could so easily have scored himself. Lomax added another before the break, leaving Saints with not only a handsome lead but one engineered almost entirely by their two departing heroes. 

And so to the wobble.  Bill Leyland has previous on this ground. He is possibly the only Saints player to achieve legendary status in just two appearances following his Good Friday heroics against Wigan. Getting a rare opportunity for his parent club in this one he went over from dummy-half to get Rovers on the board. With the playoffs gone and a 12-point lead still intact it was tempting to applaud him as enthusiastically as the Rovers fans did.

Rovers' next trick was not so acceptable from a Saints perspective. Warrington product Flynn Holden was making his debut for Rovers, capping it with a sensational individual try. He beat several Saints defenders on his way to the line and suddenly the visitors were in striking distance of an unlikely win, only six points down at 18-12.

At that point something in Saints seemed to awaken. They couldn't risk losing to Rovers' reserves and academy squad in the final game of two of their greatest servants. Deon Cross, Jacob Host and Harry Robertson all crossed to restore a bit of order to the party. The last two tries were converted by Lomax and Percival respectively, which was a nice touch. Yet given that they have kicked 516 goals between them for the club it wasn't quite like memories of Paul Anderson at home to Leeds in 2006.

And so it was a fitting send-off of sorts. We'd all prefer them to have bowed out on the winning side in the October 3 Grand Final but that has never felt like a serious possibility in a trying 2026. The club has already moved to ensure a level of improvement in 2027 and beyond with the appointment of current Australian Kangaroos coach Kevin Walters on a three-year deal. But even he will need better luck with injuries.

He's made his first significant contribution with the signing of St George-Illawarra Dragons winger Christian Tuipolutu. He will strengthen the backs with Percival gone and if, as expected, Nene Macdonald also leaves. Hastings is on the list of those departing also with Canterbury Bulldogs' Sean O'Sullivan set to replace him. Like Hastings last year, O'Sullivan is likely to sign a one-year deal as the club waits on the recovery of George Whitby from his recent ACL injury. At hooker, Tom Humphreys' ability to build on what for him has been a breakthrough year could be compromised if Sam Verrells arrives from Gold Coast Titans. He already has according to his Wikipedia, as has O'Sullivan, yet the club has so far kept quiet about both.

The much needed rebuild has seemingly begun.

Leigh 48 Saints 10 - If It's The Hope That Kills You, We're Safe Now

Any lingering doubt about whether Saints could still make the playoffs was extinguished as they were were smashed 48-10 at Leigh.

The pessimists among us have been quite certain that Saints would miss out on knockout football since the loss at York at the end of July. Maybe earlier. But the media narrative has continued to centre around keeping hopes alive. The writers and pundits will have to focus on something else during the final week of the regular season now that the identity of the top six is locked in. 

This column has been as guilty as they have of reminding everyone that Saints had never missed out in the Super League era. Now that it's happened many of you might feel a sense of relief that we can go into our final game at home to Hull KR without having to deal with it. 

Others will be massively disappointed despite the apparent writing on the wall some time ago. Constant presence in the playoffs over a 30-year period is some achievement. It's both a wrench to let it go and a relief to not have to fear another pummelling in a meaningful game.

Interim Head Coach Eamon O'Carroll went into this one with yet more injury problems to deal with in his banged up, inherited squad. Alex Walmsley passed an HIA at the end of last week's loss to Leeds but suffered further concussion symptoms in the week which ruled him out. Nene MacDonald missed out because...well he had played the last three and he is after all...Nene Macdonald. Jake Davies also missed out and is not expected back for the final game due to a shin problem. 

In the days leading up to the game Mark Percival followed Jonny Lomax in announcing his retirement from the game at the end of the season. The former England centre made his Saints debut 13 years ago and has appeared 274 times, scoring 130 tries. A reluctant stand-in, he has also kicked 383 goals for a total points tally of 1,286. He's won four Super League Grand Finals, a Challenge Cup and a World Club Challenge. He's another of the locally produced players - like Lomax - who have been at the forefront of the club's success. 

Percival is only 32 but is bowing out largely because the injuries have destroyed his level. His inclusion in the starting lineup for this one gave him only his ninth appearance of the season and his first since the home win over Huddersfield in June. Saints' glory era under Justin Holbrook and Kristian Woolf saw Percival used as a battering ram early in sets to get the team away from its own line. He played one game - a defeat at Hull KR in April 2023 - in the second row. 

This has all added up to a blunting of his effectiveness as a creative runner at centre. For too long fans have clung to the idea of Percival at his best which has not been the reality for some time. It was a surprise to me that he was originally offered a contract to the end of 2027 given the decline in his form and fitness. But while many have been quick to point to the courage shown by Lomax since his announcement the same can be said of Percival. Like Lomax, he was raising his hand for duty here partly because of the enormous need.

As has often been the case in this troubled season Saints were in the fight early on. The first half an hour was a bit of an offensive shootout. Josh Charnley - whose every try now carries a legal obligation to keep you updated on how many he has in his Super League leading career, crossed first while Innes Senior's try rang alarm bells. But a great diving finish by Jacob Douglas brought Saints back into it. Tristan Sailor had created that one and scored the second himself after an outrageous break by Harry Robertson. 

Even though Umyla Hanley's controversial try stretched the Leopards' lead to 18-10 it looked like Saints might get in at half time not only close but unlucky not to be within one score. There seemed to be an obvious obstruction by Adam Cook which allowed Hanley to cut through to score. 

Yet it was Cook's ugly touchdown just before the break which punctured Saints' resilience. He grounded after kicking through a loose ball which probably should have been covered. The difference between going in at half time 18-10 down and 24-10 down always seemed likely to be huge for a team which has been through as much turmoil as Saints have this year.

And it proved too much. Saints all but disintegrated after the break. They let in 24 unanswered points as tries from Edwin Ipape, Hanley, Jacob Allick-Wienke and Rob Mulhern blew the score out to somewhere approaching an embarrassment. In amongst all that Percival - who could be forgiven for tiring by this stage given his lack of game time, was sin-binned for a high shot on Leopards fullback David Armstrong. 

It was telling that not a single Saints forward broke the 100-metre barrier. With Walmsley, George Delaney, Noah Stephens and Matty Lees injured and Daniel Suluka-Fifita suspended there just wasn't the available personnel for the job of gaining field position. When Saints marched downfield they did so on the back of breaks from Robertson, Sailor and Jack Welsby. But even players of that caliber need a pack to play behind.

Just about the only bright spot in that second half was the debut of 19 year-old Oscar Knox. The second rower joins Billy Keeley, Matty Evans, Tom Humphreys and Davies in gaining valuable experience this year. How many of them will be part of Kevin Walters' plans going forward is hard to say, but the Australian Kangaroos coach would be well advised to ensure his squad contains at least a chunk of home grown talent.

We still have one more obligation to fulfill before we can close the book on a desperately disappointing campaign. Hull KR visit on Friday night in what is now a dead rubber after the Robins secured their playoff berth with victory over Huddersfield Giants. 

O'Carroll will be selecting his final lineup before he goes to rugby union and Walters clocks on in his new job. The main decision for O'Carroll - and probably for outgoing Rovers coach Willie Peters is whether to give youth more experience or stick with the principle of fielding the strongest team possible.  With Saints' injury issues they might be almost the same thing. 

You're probably ready for the season to end. But in having one more game to endure, at least you can look forward to getting through it without Jon Wells - or the bloke next to you in the BrewDog - telling you we might still have playoff hope.

Saints 4 Leeds Rhinos 36 - Bruised, Battered, But The Ordeal Still Isn't Over

Friday night's 34-6 home defeat by Leeds Rhinos was an unpleasant reminder of Saints' place in Super League's pecking order in 2026. 

It took time for the tries to come. Saints were in the game on the scoreboard when they trailed only 6-0 after half an hour. Yet even then it was evident that they were losing the ruck. The Leeds ball carriers were making metres much more easily than those of Saints. That allowed the Rhinos to win better field position and eventually capitalise. This was no hard luck story.

Two days before the game interim Head Coach Eamon O'Carroll surprised us with inclusion of Jonny Lomax in his 21-man squad. Lomax - who announced this week that he will retire from the game at the end of the season - had previously been ruled out for the remainder of the campaign after suffering a broken jaw in June. Courage has characterised his career but this seemed bold even by his standards. 

With Jackson Hastings out of the rest of the regular season through suspension and George Whitby beginning his recovery from an ACL injury Saints would have had no specialist halfback available had Lomax not put his hand up. But it was still a surprise and a slight concern to see him named in the starting lineup come game day.

Despite hanging on a little after Chris Hankinson's opening try there was evidence of the sort of grit Lomax is revered for in the early going. Even a 10-minute spell in the sin-bin for Daniel Suluka-Fifita didn't force Saints to concede again. The prop was sat down by referee Marcus Griffiths for a late hit on Presley Cassell. In fact it was Saints who went closest when Deon Cross made a sensational catch to go over in the corner but Tristan Sailor's pass was ruled forward.

If there is a moment where Leeds assumed total control it is probably Jake Connor's 20/40 kick. The stats section of the Super League website doesn't have a separate column for these rare events but what it does tell you is that Connor leads the way in 40/20 kicks with five. Nobody else in Super League has more than three. 

It was part of a pretty masterful performance from Connor whose high risk approach and on-field spikiness have routinely led to accusations that he is overrated. On this evidence he is very much in the conversation for a starting berth in the England side for the World Cup in the autumn. 

He ended with three assists - taking his league leading tally to 42 - and landed five of his seven attempts on goal. All but one of which were from difficult angles. One was a penalty from a long way out which he should probably have done better with than hitting the post. It was a rare blemish. Two of his assists were with the boot as he placed perfect kicks towards the Saints in-goal to allow Ash Handley and Brodie Croft to score. 

As good as Leeds were once they got into their stride Saints started to crumble. The defence offered for Cameron Smith's solo try which stretched the lead to 12-0 was barely worthy of the term. Suluka-Fifita was the first to miss the Wakefield-bound forward, before Jake Davies did so twice either side of the sort of Sailor effort which convinces many that he should not play at fullback. 

As an attacking strategy it works as it gives Sailor space to use his speed and skill. That's in keeping with the modern idea of a fullback. Yet they are still expected to be able to make a tackle when the line is broken. The question of what to do with the former Brisbane Broncos man is a conundrum that will be among the priorities for Kevin Walters when he takes over in 2027. The pair have worked together before when Walters was in charge at Brisbane so familiarity may help.

You have to credit Smith with a piece of inspiration, but it was an embarrassment from a Saints point of view. They made Smith look like prime Rob Burrow running away from us in the 2011 Grand Final. All three defenders have to be stronger there. Davies maybe gets a pass. A lot of smoke has been blown up his posterior since he broke into the first team but his efforts here were reserve grade stuff. It's a reminder that he is a player still in development, and of how heavily Saints have been forced to rely on players in that category amid the injury crisis.

It wasn't just that one play where defensive mishaps occurred. Saints right edge was particularly vulnerable all night. Nene Macdonald - an ex-Leeds man who appears to be unpopular with both sets of fans - was guilty of leaving his defensive post to try to stop Leeds all by himself on more than one occasion. He got close once, getting his fingers to a Croft pass but failing to reel it in. It cost him and the team as Connor and Handley exploited the space to put Harry Newman over. 

The biggest problem with Macdonald has been his lack of availability. He's never had a run in the team due to what appears to be a failing body. But he hardly endears himself to the fans when he tries to take short cuts defensively, especially when they don't pay off. He might have earned better reviews if he had secured the interception and taken it down the field. But even then it's doubtful he still possesses the pace to have gone the distance. 

He's already reportedly been offered to other clubs so it is unlikely he will be Walters' problem. Yet he's the latest in a chain of centres in recent years who hang around without doing very much of anything. Konrad Hurrell and Mark Percival are other recent examples of the genre. 

For a time there was a very real possibility that Saints could be held scoreless at home in the league again. That hadn't happened for 46 years until Toulouse came to town in July. Another occurrence would have been a catastrophe even allowing for the greater quality of the opposition this time. It was avoided when Jack Welsby - a rare positive at centre because the lad can play anywhere - ran around and away from Lachie Miller for a stunning long range try. It was helped by Lomax's magical inside ball. 

That got Saints off the mark to much relief. But if you're looking for other Saints highlights you're probably limited to Shane Wright's try saver on Tom Holroyd in the opening moments of the second half. It was given by Griffiths but overturned on review when it was evident that Wright had got underneath the Leeds man. 

But you know what? Your ordeal is not over. Despite this fiasco of a performance Saints are not yet completely out of the playoff race. Eleven defeats from 25 league outings signifies quite strongly that they aren't good enough, but the league is very accommodating to the mediocre. Leigh's loss to Huddersfield means that should Saints win their last two and the Giants beat Hull KR or Leigh lose to Wakefield, Saints could still sneak in. 

The other complication is that Saints' final pair of league fixtures are at Leigh this weekend and at home to Hull KR. They need to win both to have any chance. That seems vanishingly unlikely if the standard served up in this one is repeated. But then you think of the way Saints demolished Wakefield recently, or that first half pummelling of Castleford before Hastings' red card and the hope returns. 

Except that Hastings won't be involved and the evidence of the Castleford game after his exit and of this one against Brad Arthur's men suggests he's more pivotal than fans are comfortable giving him credit for. 

So we may well have been put in our place by one of the title favourites here, but it's still not impossible that our place may yet be good enough to rescue that record of having played in every Super League playoff series. 

It's not that we believe. Not really. We just refuse to turn the life support off.

Humble, Granite, Brilliant - Jonny Lomax Announces His Retirement

Seventeen years ago a knee injury to Paul Wellens introduced us to another local lad who would turn out to be one of the greats. The then 18 year-old Jonny Lomax stepped into the fullback role in a 42-18 win over Wakefield Trinity. 

It was the first of 388 appearances in the red vee for Lomax who on Tuesday announced he would be retiring at the end of this season. 

That appearance total may yet grow. Having been initially ruled out of this campaign after breaking his jaw in June Lomax - who had already overcome several knee injuries and a serious head injury before stepping on to the field with Saints for the first time - has raised his hand for inclusion in the 21-man squad to face Leeds Rhinos on Friday night.

This sort of toughness has come to characterise Lomax who had endured 19 operations by the time he was 26. Saints Chairman Eamonn McManus called him 'the bravest of the brave in the bravest of sports'. It's hard to think of anyone in rugby league who has been through more - including that serious head injury at just 14 years of age - and still achieved so much. 

We should not let the bravery stories detract from the fact that Lomax has had a stellar career. He has won four Super League Grand Finals, a Challenge Cup and a World Club Challenge. Throw in four League Leaders Shields too. And 15 international appearances. Eleven for England and four for Great Britain. He also won the Harry Sunderland Trophy for the man of the match in Saints' Grand Final victory over Leeds in 2022. 

For a chunk of time during Saints' four in a row period between 2019-22 he had a serious claim to the title of best player in Super League. Not that he would ever say so himself. All this has been achieved with great humility.

Following the retirement of James Roby at the end of 2023 Lomax was named captain of Saints. He had always led by example to others whether by directing operations in the halves or setting the defensive tone. He was never the biggest player but pound for pound he was always among the best defenders in some incredible Saints teams. He was adaptable too, debuting at fullback but playing every position except prop and second row during his magnificent career.

He held the role for only two seasons before erstwhile Head Coach and possible fever dream Paul Rowley appointed Matty Lees to the role. By that time injuries and age were finally catching up to Lomax who was no longer an automatic starter. But safe to say if it hadn't been for the consistency of Roby it might have been Lomax hoisting all of those trophies aloft.

Those injuries have ensured that Lomax won't quite reach the milestone of 400 Saints appearances even if he is restored to the lineup for the last three weeks of the regular season. That's entirely possible with Jackson Hastings suspended for the games against Leeds, Leigh and Hull KR following his brainless swipe at Tyler Dupree last weekend. But whatever figure he has achieved by the time he takes the boots off for the last time his legacy is assured.

In announcing his retirement Lomax said that he was 'grateful for the life the game has given me' and that despite all of the gruelling rehabilitations he has endured he still feels lucky. I am sure there is some luck involved in making it to the top of professional sport but talent, skill, toughness, sheer bloody mindedness and humility have also had a lot to do with Lomax's success. 

'For those that have supported me throughout it all… I hope I have been able to do you proud.' he commented finally. St Helens is proud. Not just the rugby league club or the fans but the whole community. Even rival fans revere and respect Jonny. 

He has inspired and delighted us all in equal measure for nearly two decades. And don't rule out the possibility of him conjuring up some more special moments if he does fill the void left by Hastings in the coming weeks. 

Many fans have expressed a desire to see him stay with the club in some capacity. Yeah. About that. Our record of employing great players of the recent past isn't brilliant. There is definitely scope for him to contribute on the medical side as he is qualified to do so. But if he does that he'll be busier than he was as a player with the state of our casualty list. 

Whatever he does next he will do it brilliantly, but quietly...