Wigan And The Bigger Picture

At the end of a turbulent week - and with an injury list that reads more like the closing credits of an episode of Game of Thrones - it was always going to be a big ask to win at in-form Wigan.

Paul Rowley's reign as Saints head coach came to an abrupt conclusion less than 48 hours before kickoff. Assistant Eamon O'Carroll stepped into the void and oversaw a performance which was dotted with positives despite a 38-16 loss.

Given the absence of 15 first team players there weren't that many selection decisions for O'Carroll to make. He opted to restore Lewis Murphy to the starting lineup despite Jack Campbell's two-try debut in the win over Catalans Dragons last week. Nene Macdonald seems to have at least a week off after every appearance and so he missed out along with back rower Curtis Sironen. 

A centre pairing of Jake Davies and Tristan Sailor would not have been envisaged at the start of the season. It was Rowley who shifted Sailor last time out when he could also call on Macdonald. It has largely helped to make Saints' attack look more balanced as it has allowed Harry Robertson to move to stand-off. It lets one of our brightest talents get his hands on the ball more often. It has done similar for fullback Jack Welsby. The two showed enough here to suggest that they and the Saints attack can both prosper in this system.

Murphy endured a difficult evening. He did score one of Saints' three tries but it was telling that his reaction was more of an apology for earlier errors than a show of celebration. The game had gone by then so I wasn't expecting LMS levels of fist pumping histrionics. But there was definitely an air of 'sorry, I let you down' most likely as a result of some earlier dawdling in pursuit of a Bevan French kick which allowed Adam Keighran to get to the ball first and touch down.

He wasn't the only one who struggled defensively. Even in a tight first half it was evident that the pack was taking a bit of a pummelling. It wasn't so much missed tackles or even the sleepiness of Murphy which gave most cause for concern. It was the amount of territory given up because of poor contact. When a textbook pudding like Patrick Mago is rolling you down the field you can be fairly certain there's an issue there. 

Mago took us for 108 metres and that tally was bettered by Ethan Havard who managed 138. Kaide Ellis and Sam Walters were only a couple of metres shy of the century mark while some splitter named Thompson had 86. Contrast that with the best effort from the Saints pack which was the 73 mustered by Jacob Host.

Despite this, Saints had hung in very well and could, perhaps should have reached the break level. Jackson Hastings sent the ball skyward toward the Wigan line where Robertson was first to it. He seemed to catch it cleanly and ground the ball as he landed. On field referee Liam Moore thought so and pointed for the try.

However, that's not the end of the story these days. We have to do everything the NRL does which now extends to making our video review system even more intolerable. When a try is given it can still be reviewed in the background. It is not usually until the conversion is being lined up that you get the signal from the referee that this one is being looked at for a potential problem. Next - if it is your team which has been awarded the score - comes a sinking feeling before one of inevitability and something else between despair and fury. 

Video referee - Wigan's Jack Smith because one Wigan whistler is never enough - decided that the ball had never reached the ground. I absolutely concede that replays did not prove that Robertson had scored. But nor did they prove that he didn't. What happened to the concept of sufficient evidence to overturn? I'm not one for conspiracy theories but if the authorities continue to appoint Wigan officials to derbies and other Wigan games then they can expect the innuendos to continue.

Where I think the argument has been taken too far is in the idea that the result would have been any different had the try been awarded. Such claims are reminiscent of England fans circa 2010. They felt that the denial of Frank Lampard's effort against Germany at that year's World Cup could have ended however many years of hurt it had been at that point. England lost the game 4-1. They might have lost it 4-2 had goal line technology existed at that time.

Saints were dominated for large parts of the second half. Not because they had a try harshly disallowed by a man in a booth wearing his Norweb shirt, but because this is where we are now. Even a full strength Saints pack has shown this year that it is no longer elite. This group has been cobbled together with a couple of mid season signings and one or two youth products. What genuine class remains from 8-13 was sat in the stands. Without that platform it becomes impossible even for the likes of Robertson and Welsby to do what they do.

The consequence of all this is that with seven games to go in the regular season Saints are out of the top six. Not only that, but those last seven fixtures include matchups with league leaders Leeds, champions Hull KR, playoff regulars Leigh and upstart Wakefield Trinity. It's going to take a monumental effort to preserve that record of having never missed a playoff series in the Super League era. It's not looking all that likely.

But what is perhaps more important now is how Rowley is replaced. Most people said it would take years to recover from the worst days of Kieron Cunningham's spell in charge. Then Justin Holbrook turned up and got us within minutes of the unlikeliest of Grand Final appearances. Then he brought in Ben Barba and that disconnect that everyone talks about when we're losing disappeared into the ether. The right coaching appointment can be transformative. 

But if Rowley was sacked then that means Mr McManus, Mr Ekoku et al got that appointment wrong. They have to get this one right.

Paul Rowley - Why Didn't It Work? Has He Had Time To Make It Work?

In a shocking, dramatic but entirely Saintsy development the club has announced the departure of head coach Paul Rowley. 

I say departure because it's not quite clear who owns this decision. The club statement quotes chairman Eamonn McManus stating 'the decision was an extremely difficult one for all concerned'. He doesn't identify who exactly was involved in the decision making. Did Rowley walk away or was his employment terminated?

If we are to believe that Rowley was forced out then 19 league games and four Challenge Cup outings doesn't feel like a fair crack. Saints are sixth in Super League - still just about in contention for playoff qualification - and reached the semi-final of the Challenge Cup. Though they were humiliated by Wigan at that stage. 

So was this about results, or performances? That semi-final loss was by a score of 32-0. Saints then lost 46-0 at home to Toulouse - albeit in the middle of an injury crisis. When Rowley's Saints lost, they did so in an ugly way.

There's a good argument that Rowley should not be judged so early. He inherited a flagging squad from Paul Wellens. The former Saints fullback was given three years after taking charge of a squad including several members who had won multiple Grand Finals under Kristian Woolf and Justin Holbrook. By the time Rowley arrived a huge rebuild was required. It was never going to be done in 19 games. 

There are those who will point to the recruitment of several ex-Salford players and raise an eyebrow. Certainly, if you are the head coach of one of the leading clubs in the game and you arrive from Salford closely followed by a number of players from that club - that now desperately struggling club - it's not a great look. But it perhaps should be remembered that Shane Wright arrived before Rowley and Jackson Hastings' stint with the Red Devils pre-dates that of Rowley.

That still leaves competent but constantly injured Deon Cross, ex-Wigan dud Joe Shorrocks and maybe one of the biggest disappointments of all in Nene Macdonald. All of those worked with Rowley at Salford so it's a massive stretch to believe that they were recruited without his approval. 

It's even more difficult to believe that Rowley wasn't behind the new three-year deal given to Shorrocks just a couple of underwhelming months into his stay. Mike Rush previously bore the brunt of the criticism for any transfer miss-steps but he left town in February just as the season was getting under way. Abi Ekoku replaced Rush but until today this has not really been viewed as his mess. 

To understand why Rowley may have been an awkward fit we need to acknowledge that Saints are not an ordinary club. They're a 10-time Super League champion club. The only one which has never missed a playoff series in the Super League era. Rebuild or not expectations were for that run to continue as a minimum. It's part of the job description. It's arguable that results and performances fell way below expectations under Rowley regardless of the need to phase out the old guard. The 46-0 home defeat to Toulouse - a first home league shutout for 46 years - states that case loudly.

But this was not yet Rowley's squad. One of the things which did for Wellens was the number of top performers from the Holbrook/Woolf dynasty who were toppling over the hill. Some of those remain and Rowley might reasonably have expected to be given more time to mould his own team. If he has made mistakes - and I think we can agree that he has - then the club has pulled the trigger very quickly. Bat-shit, foreign cheese fearing Liz Truss was the last high profile boss ousted this quickly. 

The timing is especially bewildering. The announcement was made just over 24 hours before Saints are due to visit Wigan. It's a cliche but the derby is a massive game irrespective of form or league position. With 15 or so players still on the injury list you might argue that Saints faced an impossible task. Nothing is impossible - witness the four tries scored by Saints in eight Good Friday minutes that still haunt Matty Peet's dreams. But it does appear that the almost impossible just got an awful lot tougher.

It has given rise to the idea among the social media fan base that this is Rowley walking away from the job. Possibly after a dramatic fallout either with the board, the players, Ekoku or McManus. Because surely they wouldn't dismiss the coach right before such a significant fixture. If that was the plan, why not do it after the Toulouse debacle? That would still have felt early but it would have had a certain logic to it.

Maybe those involved in making the decision, referred to by McManus in the statement, include Rowley. Maybe some imagine a scenario in which all those around Rowley spent hours persuading him to stay. Well, it's a theory. But I don't think it's my theory. 

When Rowley was appointed there was a lot of excitement. He had led Salford to two playoff appearances before financial Armageddon hit, and did so in a style that was more in keeping with Saints tradition. While Saints had been massively successful under Holbrook and Woolf, they hadn't always dazzled. Woolf's tenure brought three titles in three seasons. You can't really do any better than that. But Woolf did it in a style that was conservative to put it mildly. Lose playing that way and he would have struggled to keep his job too. 

So the expectation was that Rowley would rid us of the energy battle, the process and the grind and bring back some swagger. It just hasn't happened. Saints' attack under Rowley has been as bad if not worse than under Wellens. It's been very lateral, with nobody seemingly possessing the smarts to attract defenders and make space. Part of that is down to a lack of go forward in a flailing pack, but part of it is also down to Rowley. It's almost as if the jump to a club with bigger expectations has seen him abandon any notions of flamboyance and play it safe. Like Thomas Tuchel.

Eamon O'Carroll will fill the void for what is left of the season. He won't be the new man in the long term having already agreed a move to rugby union for next season. That might give him the freedom to release the straitjacket engulfing the players at times this season. The environment will still be demanding but he's unlikely to carry the can if Saints aren't playing knockout games in September. The flip side of course, is that having been in the coaching team under Wellens and Rowley he may inherit their caution. 

After the perceived failure of two English coaches many fans are calling for the appointment of an Australian coach. The path from NRL assistant to successful Super League head coach is a well-worn one. If finances allow this option will surely be explored.

Whoever the new coach is we need to get back to being Saintsy for the right reasons.

Saints 0 Toulouse 46 - The Abominable Slow Men

Horrible. Embarrassing. Dismal. Shambolic. These probably aren’t quite the right words to describe Saints' 46-0 home loss to Toulouse on Sunday but they are as close as the English language gets. It represents the first time Saints have failed to score any points in a home league game since 1980.

On that occasion a side containing the likes of Clive Griffiths, Roy Haggerty and Roy Matthias went down 19-0 to a pre-Viking Widnes. Saints finished eighth that year, a blow softened somewhat by the fact that Wigan were relegated. 

 

There was nothing to temper the humiliation this time. The defeat saw Saints drop to seventh in the Super League table. A place in the top six is a must if Paul Rowley's side are to make the playoffs. If they don't it will be the first time that has happened in the Super League era. And it will be on Rowley's watch. 

 

Before we dissect the Toulouse debacle let's give the French side some credit. Toulouse were superb on the day. They ran in eight tries. Three of those went to back rower Matthieu Jussaume. He, Rob Butler and Tiaki Chan did the hard yards that the Saints pack didn't seem capable of or interested in. Olly Ashall-Bott was a constant threat at fullback while Benjamin Laguerre, Paul Ulberg and Romeo Trobis ran riot. The visitors worked harder, outthought and outfought Saints and were far more clinical.  They handed out a warning by thrashing Catalans Dragons 60-18 in Castres last week.  We probably won’t see them threatening the playoff places this season, but Sylvan Houles’ side are an improving outfit.

 

Saints were not without their problems coming into this one.  Rowley was without 12 of his first team squad.  Yet the lineup he was able to select was full of Super League experience and should have been good enough to at least compete with Toulouse.  It was a lineup I certainly believed was capable of getting the win, even if there were reasons to doubt it.  Jack Welsby, Nene Macdonald, Tristan Sailor, Jackson Hastings, Jacob Host, Joe Shorrocks and new arrival Jed Cartwright all featured, with Curtis Sironen entering from the bench.  Add those names to a crop of exciting youngsters like Harry Robertson, Owen Dagnall, Jacob Douglas and Jake Davies and it was fair to expect so much better. 

 

Sadly the injury list got even worse, though it did so long after the game was lost.  Late in the second half Dagnall was tackled into touch and did not get up.  He lay prone just over the touchline right in front of where I sit in the north stand.  I am at the top of the first tier so I wasn’t particularly close to it.  But I could hear his screams of pain loud and clear.  It is not often you can hear a rugby league player react like that to an injury.  It was horrific.  The stretcher arrived but somewhere along the line the decision was taken to let him hobble off with the aid of two medical people to support him.  It has since been confirmed that he has suffered an ACL injury, which puts paid to any hopes of seeing him again this season.  Let’s hope his rehab goes well and he comes back strongly.

 

But injuries were not the problem here .  From the first whistle Saints seemed to lack sufficient energy.  There was an error in the very first set which set the tone.  By the end we had coughed up possession 15 times.  Coming into the game we averaged 11 errors per game.  That’s not all that flash,  but it is not 15.  And it was the manner of the mistakes which was most alarming.  Saints didn’t drop the ball so often because they were trying to play a kind of dazzling, expansive rugby league that we may have all hoped for when Rowley was appointed.  There isn't enough pace in the side for that to work.  They dropped them because of what at best can be described as a lack of concentration.  At worst they could be accused of apathy about the outcome of the game.  It was a performance which ran out of steam way before it reached anything resembling acceptable.  It was an abomination.

 

Still, one defeat does not define a team or a coach.  This one took place just a week after Saints came within a missed penalty goal at the hooter of taking Wigan to extra time in the Magic Weekend derby.  Mighty, exalted Wigan.  Wigan who are crowned champions by the media (and one or two of their fans) even when they don’t win.  Competing with the likes of them as well as Leeds, Hull KR , Leigh and Warrington is what we expect.  Last week we showed that we could.  It is still very early in Rowley’s tenure, but there have been those on social media and others muttering on the bridge back into town after the game that their patience with the ex-Salford boss has expired.  Some are already calling for change.

 

That is a little extreme for my tastes.  Rowley came to Saints with a good enough pedigree.  He had led Salford to two playoff seasons and one semi-final.  That’s Salford.  Perennial strugglers who for a period – albeit one also greatly contributed to by Ian Watson as head coach – challenged the very biggest names in Super League.  They did so by playing an exciting brand of rugby that was fun to watch, except when you were on the wrong end of it.  Rowley just hasn’t brought that to Saints as yet.  The attack is even worse than it was under Paul Wellens.  Regardless of the personnel it goes side to side until we eventually run out of room.  Nobody seems capable of straightening it up and grabbing the attention of a defender to create space for someone else.  We must be the most predictable attacking side in the league.  And we are slow with it.  Although he has Lee Briers there to assist him, that is ultimately on Rowley.  He has to find a way to make us more of a threat, especially if the defence is going to break down as it did in this one.  We cannot afford to fritter away possession cheaply and give teams more opportunities to come at us.  Frankly, our players aren’t good enough to compensate for that kind of profligacy.

 

With Wigan, Hull KR, Leigh and in-form, real deal Wakefield still to play in the final nine games the task of making the six looks pretty daunting.  Many of the injuries are not of the type which will allow players to come back quickly.  We may have to continue with more or less what we have.  So Rowley must get a tune out of them.  Missing the playoffs in itself isn’t a sacking offence from my point of view, but there will be plenty who disagree.  And if you are Rowley, whether you are going to get dismissed or not, you just wouldn’t want to be the one who helped make that particular piece of music stop. The sun comes up in the morning, the birds sing, and Saints make the playoffs.  It just is.

 

If I can be optimistic for a second – and those who know me know that it will only be a second – this could be a turning point.  After all, how can it get worse than this?  More chastening?  More embarrassing?  It probably can’t.  Without wishing to go all Yazz and the Plastic Population on you the only way from this game really is up.  The coach and the team have to be galvanised by it.  Make it a red line where they say enough is enough and we will never be this bad again.  The performance against Wigan a week previously was not exactly edge of your seat scintillating, but something closer to that could still rescue our hopes of scraping into the playoffs. 

 

Saints host Catalans Dragons this coming Friday night.  It will be interesting to see what the response is.  And what changes Rowley makes.  He is limited in what he can do by the injuries but there is a chance that both Alex Walmsley and George Delaney could return after missing this one due to concussion protocols.  Walmsley is a leader by example which should help.  His ability to get Saints down the other end of the field might also take a little bit of the pressure off. 

 

But it is another must win.  Another performance like this one against Toulouse and pressure will ramp up on Rowley.

Saints 14 Wigan Warriors 16 - Blunt Truths

The blunt Saints attack was exposed again as they went down 16-14 to Wigan at Hill Dickinson Stadium. 

Paul Rowley's side had plenty of possession and territory. What some call 'good ball'. But they weren't able to do enough with it. They crossed for only two tries, one from Jack Welsby and another from Jake Davies. More often than not they lacked ideas when close to the Wigan line. They made it easy for a defence which is only ranked seventh in Super League this year by points conceded. It's just not good enough.

This attacking impotence is not a new thing. Saints have scored only 69 tries this season. That's an average of just over four a game. Five Super League sides have scored more and another - Leigh Leopards - can match it. This is not the kind of problem that we expect to have. We might not always win but it has been rare that we have carried so little threat. Until the last few seasons that is. That's not all on Rowley, but he's not improving the situation as yet.

There were factors at play in this one which made fluency more difficult. Despite the fan revisionism of late Jack Welsby is our most creative player. To have him spend two separate periods in the sin bin is not helpful. The second of those looked harsh. 

Referee Chris Kendall had just warned both sets of players after the latest in a series of flashpoints involving most players on both sides. The game had started that way when straight from the kickoff David Klemmer needlessly pushed Brad O'Neill in the back. This time Welsby just happened to be the next player goaded by uber grub O'Neill who walked with the Saints man.

Welsby's first yellow card was for delaying the restart by throwing the ball into the crowd after it had gone dead from his kick. That Jai Field had picked up another one and seemed ready to restart doesn't change the fact that a rule was broken. Welsby needs to be smarter there. It was costly as Adam Keighran crossed for Wigan's first try while Welsby was off the field. Jack Farrimond had half of Liverpool to run into before handing on to Keighran as Saints' defensive organisation collapsed. These are things that decide big matches.

Welsby wasn't the only one deserving of a yellow card during the battle. How Farrimond escaped one for a shoulder to the head of Jackson Hastings is something only Kendall and video referee Liam Moore will know. Whether there is anything in it or not Moore's Wigan connection will always start innuendo whenever he makes a boneheaded call in the Warriors' favour. It continues to baffle me that the game's authorities don't take him out of these huge games involving his home town. 

The decision to ignore Jake Wardle's blatant elbow to the face of Owen Dagnall was worse. It looked fully intentional. Even if you dispute that, the lack of regard for Dagnall's safety is surely a greater boil on the backside of the game than Welsby's gentle lob of the ball into the stand earlier. So too Oli Partington's hit on Dagnall as the Saints winger fielded a high ball in his own territory. That escaped punishment completely despite obvious head contact, intentional or not.

As did similar contact on Daryl Clark which saw the Saints hooker leave the field. No penalty was awarded which not only caught me out but also Rowley who was seen signalling to Hastings to take the two points. Wigan scored through Field in the next set. That's potentially an eight-point swing, though it is also true that just because you feel wronged by a decision doesn't mean you have to fail to defend the next set so spectacularly.

Whoever was officiating might have been slightly perplexed by the interchange chaos that befell Saints late in the game. Both George Delaney and Alex Walmsley failed head injury assessments, while Clark had a facial injury. The injury situation was so desperate that when Saints' final free HIA substitution became a permanent one there wasn't an interchange available. That meant that Saints had to withdraw a player and finish the game with 12 men. 

To Saints' credit this didn't quite finish them off. As the hooter sounded Harry Robertson won a penalty after he was obstructed by Partington - funny how the same names keep coming up in relation to cherry and white housery - while following his own  desperation dribble. Partington's lobotomy offered Saints one last chance to take it to extra time with a shot at goal but Hastings' effort never threatened the uprights.

There are some fans starting to question Rowley after just over half a season in the job. That's not really to my taste. I think coaches need time, especially those coming into the kind of recruitment mess that has been made in recent years. But you can understand the fan frustration. Injuries explain only part of the issue. Previously I have wanged on about how our lack of go forward limits how expansive we can be. But that was not a problem here. 

There were plenty of opportunities but the play was too slow, with nobody seemingly capable of drawing a defender out of position. When we made long range breaks through Welsby and Nene Macdonald the lack of support was glaring. Like the rest of the team just wasn't fast enough to catch up. There remains a palpable lack of pace in this side. 

Which is not terribly convenient when you're trying to push for a playoff place. I need not remind my fellow Saints - or anyone else who follows rugby league for that matter since we mention it enough - that Saints have never missed a playoff series in the Super League era. We are the only club who can say that. Yet this loss - notwithstanding the punch to the ego that derby defeat brings - leaves us in the sixth and final playoff spot. An improving Leigh Leopards side are breathing down our necks, just two points behind. 

You wouldn't want to be the coach for whom a missed playoff series occurs on your watch. Upcoming home games against the French duo of Toulouse and Catalans Dragons are matches that Rowley dare not lose. Leigh face basket cases Castleford and Hull FC in that period. If Adrian Lam's side win those we could - even with wins in the next two - travel to Wigan on July 24 in real danger of falling outside the six. 

Let's be clear this wasn't just a loss against Wigan. That may stir the emotions but I would suggest not quite as much as the prospect of spending the weeks leading up to the Grand Final at home watching others fight it out. If the attack doesn't improve you still don't see where a win against a fellow playoff contender is coming from. After Wigan we still face Leigh, Leeds and Hull KR before the end of the regular season. 

To be blunt. We must somehow find a way to stop being...er...blunt.

Saints 6 Warrington 18 - Are Saints Going From The Unsinkable To The Unthinkable?

Have you seen the Super League table lately? 

If you're brave enough to take a glance you will see that Saints now sit sixth following Thursday's damaging 18-6 loss to Warrington. It was a third defeat in a row for Paul Rowley's men and a fourth in five in all competitions. And it was entirely predictable. It is not hyperbole to suggest that a playoff place is not guaranteed come September.

Rowley has stated that the 17 players involved here were the only players that were available. That's very interesting as most of us thought Kyle Feldt had been dropped when Owen Dagnall and Tristan Sailor were named on the flanks.  That feeling is further enhanced by a social media clip doing the rounds in which Feldt seems to suggest that he never wanted to come to St Helens and had to be more than gently persuaded.  All this comes amid rumours that Saints have decided to cut their losses and end the Australian winger’s deal early.  There is further talk of Feldt’s agent sounding out Australian clubs to complete a deal by the June 30 deadline.  All of which is a possible explanation for his omission which doesn’t quite fit Rowley’s assertion that these 17 where the only fit 17.  If Feldt has played his last game for the club it is hardly a tragedy, but his try scoring record of 33 tries in 29 appearances represents a ratio which stands alongside anyone’s. 

 

Sailor's continued wide berth allowed Jack Welsby another run at fullback but with Harry Robertson and Nene Macdonald out Matt Whitley was moved to centre. Though that did afford Jake Davies the starting second row role that many fans have been calling for. 

 

Excitingly - maybe - there was a debut for Daniel Suluka-Fifita. Matty Lees and Jake Wingfield are out for the season and Noah Stephens is still being held back after concussion issues, so the pack badly needs someone other than Alex Walmsley and hooker Daryl Clark who can flip field position. One game is a small sample, but Suluka-Fifita fulfilled his brief on the night.  He picked up 103 metres on 13 carries which is a more than decent return.  If we had another prop aside from he and Walmsley managing that on a regular basis then perhaps we wouldn’t be having such problems with field position which in turn put pressure on the defence.  David Klemmer arrived with a big reputation but is currently averaging only just over 73 metres per game.  George Delaney manages only just over 58.  It is perhaps unfair to place the onus on Suluka-Fifita to shoulder this burden alongside Walsmley but his performance offered something of a life raft.

 

It was a boost to see Davies restored to the starting lineup. He is a pacier, more dynamic presence than Whitley in the back row but has often been deprived of even a bench spot in favour of the underwhelming one hit wonder Shane Wright. Indeed it was Wright who was bamboozled by Euan Irwin's step which saw the young Warrington half slice over for the game's decisive score.  Not that Wright was the only one standing around doing not much of anything at crucial times.  Josh Smith’s try came about from an attacking kick by Saints which everybody allowed to bounce.  It did so kindly for Smith who danced away from the bewildered Saints chase to race 70 metres for the score.  Joe Shorrocks’ pursuit was a particular nadir, putting in the big steps until half way and then deciding to give up in the manner of a rabbit not powered by Duracell in the old 1980s adverts.

 

Overall - despite injuries to Lees, Stephens, Robertson, Wingfield and Macdonald as well as Jacob Host and Lewis Murphy - the selection and the performance said something foreboding about the squad depth. Feldt and his issues aside, this was less 'next cab off the rank' and more 'who do we have left?' And who we had left wasn't close to being good enough on the night. And that's been a pattern in recent weeks.

 

If Rowley was truly going with what he had available then his plans would have been further damaged by a serious injury to Lomax just 15 minutes in. The veteran had been named in the halves alongside George Whitby but was soon being helped from the field with what was later described as a fractured jaw requiring surgery. As he left the field he could be seen with both hands to his face as if he was holding something in place. It was quite horrific, especially given the list of injuries he has had to face in the 17 years since his debut. Now 36 and in the final year of his contract it's got to be questionable whether we will ever see him on the field again. Many - including this writer - would not select him now even at full fitness. Yet his 388 appearances during which he has won four Super League Grand Finals, a Challenge Cup and a World Club Challenge mark him out as one of the greats of the summer era.

 

His exit hastened Sailor's return to the six role with Deon Cross coming in on the wing. The fact that we had a three-quarter on the bench seems to support Rowley's claim that we were otherwise out of troops, Feldt notwithstanding. The disruption was minimal on the face of it. Yet this was another day when Saints could not find a way across the try line after the break. Having raised this in my Leeds piece last week I was hoping not to have to address it again. But when you add this game to those against Toulouse, Wakefield, Wigan, Huddersfield and the Rhinos in recent weeks it can't be ignored. How Rowley fixes it is something I don't have an adequate answer to. But it would seem to prove that a fatigued Saints attack is among the poorest attacks in the league. Which for a club like Saints is unacceptable. 

 

The loss of Lomax so early only underlined these issues, but the problems run deeper than just personnel.  A pertinent question might be why we are becoming so fatigued so often?  Has there been a change of training methods with the new regime with less emphasis on fitness?  Is there an argument that a more gentle training regime would be justified in the face of what has been an injury crisis throughout the first half of the season?  Or would that make things worse, leaving us even more under prepared? Rowley needs to come up with the solutions because at the moment we are too easy to dominate when our physicality drops later in proceedings.

 

It doesn’t seem that long ago that Saints were sat top of the league, but I think most of us felt then that we were in a false position.  The hope is that our slide to sixth is a similarly misleading trend and that our chances of making the playoffs are not in serious jeopardy.  But I wouldn’t be too confident about that at this moment in time. Don’t think it couldn’t be us.  The fact that we are the only club never to have missed a playoff series in the summer era tells you that it can and does happen to the best of them.  It is quite possible that 2026 could be the year that Saints slip out of the Grand Final conversation before the knockout football even starts.   

 

The next two games are must win, not only to halt the slide but also because they are against opponents that we are expected to beat.  Huddersfield have been woeful all year with just two wins while Bradford have regressed to the lower reaches of the table after a bright start.  Wins in these two could make the playoff picture look a lot more rosy for Rowley.  Defeat in either would heighten the negativity and arguably confirm a crisis is under way.

 

And then you really wouldn’t want to look at a league table.