Saints - Evolution Or Revolution?

The struggle continued for Saints as they suffered a shock 34-32 defeat in a wild one at York. 

Despite an ever increasing injury list this was not expected. The Knights had won just six of their previous 20 games in their debut Super League season. Meanwhile Saints had every incentive, with Leigh's 20-8 defeat at home to Wigan on Friday having opened up a door to the top six. 

Instead Saints now sit two points off the sixth placed Leopards with an inferior points difference. The two will meet at Leigh on September 4. But the more immediate concern for Saints based on the performance at York is where their next win is coming from. The proud record of having never missed a playoff series in the Super League era is all but gone. It seems like more than four years ago that Saints were winning a fourth consecutive Grand Final.

Since then the squad hasn't been replenished adequately. There has been a failure to acknowledge the speed at which some of those involved in those Grand Final triumphs have declined. Nobody can go on forever. We're left with too many players still in key roles who are demonstrably past their peak. Consequently the squad lacks pace, dynamism and has too few players operating in their physical prime.

So we need a rebuild. That was true before York. Before Toulouse. Those defeats just brought it into sharper focus. But in a rebuild it is just as important to identify those who you definitely want to have as part of the future as those you want to ship out. 

First and probably most obvious, Jack Welsby. He's a senior player now. Captaincy material. Having benefited from the guidance of others as a youngster to the extent that he had won everything in the game by the age of 22, he now shoulders a lot more of the responsibility. But he must do this and not forget to also remain brilliant.

Harry Robertson is becoming equally important. Since his switch to the stand-off position from centre there has been a noticeable difference in Saints' attacking threat. They look like scoring much more often now. There were many games in which Robertson was marooned at centre with Tristan Sailor or Jonny Lomax partnering Jackson Hastings in the halves when it felt like Saints could have played all day and scarcely threatened the line. Robertson's positional switch has been transformative. 

Robertson is still only 20, and heads a crop of youngsters who may not be world class finished articles now but who absolutely need to be persevered with. Jake Davies has been outstanding at second row and can also fill in at centre. Owen Dagnall is fearless in terms of the way he goes about creating opportunities for himself and others. The ACL injury he picked up on that awful day when Toulouse came to town is one of the more damaging injury problems that Saints have right now.

Jacob Douglas has had fewer flashy moments but has shown enough to demonstrate that he could prove invaluable in a side that has for too long lacked pace. Currently much of that commodity has been provided by Sailor. The ex-Brisbane man has also proven himself extremely versatile. He has played in a number of positions as successive head coaches have struggled to identify the preferred spine of the team. Whether it's wing, centre, fullback or stand-off Sailor has something to offer in all of them. Whether that justifies the recent deal he signed to keep him at the club until the end of 2029 is arguable. But he's pulling his weight at the moment.

Fan opinion is a little bit split over George Whitby. There are those who think that he should be handed the keys to the castle now as starting halfback. But there are also those yet to be convinced. There are lessons to be learned in recent history when it comes to anointing talented halves as the real deal here and now. Remember when Danny Richardson was a Super League Dream Team selection? He was then ousted because Lewis Dodd was thought to be even better. Now there's Whitby. 

He's shown some great signs in the 20 first team appearances he has made, but not enough to end debate about how far he can go. It was not a crazy idea to bring in a more senior half for a year to help Whitby develop. Whether Jackson Hastings was the right choice for that role is questionable. Without ever being terrible Hastings hasn't lit the place up either. 

Many were puzzled when he inherited the captaincy when Matty Lees got injured. Rumours of off-field rifts and attitudinal flaws have followed him around wherever he's been and tongues are again wagging. He only has a one year deal so perhaps 2027 is the time to really see what Whitby is made of. 

Decisions around the pack are arguably more complicated. Lees has been sorely missed from a defensive standpoint. Having him back for one more year before his moe to PNG Chiefs will be a boost. But by 2028 both he and Alex Walmsley - stalwarts of all the late 2010s/early 2020s triumphs - will be gone. At 36 and on current form Walmsley's deal to the end of 2027 looks a year too long. His discipline and handling are declining and his recent extended absence in concussion protocols is a worrying development. If he can find his best then one more year is a no brainer. But can he? You would have to question it. On the plus side he is still averaging 122 metres per game. Saints have nobody else as capable of getting them down the other end of the field.

A lack of depth added to the small print on their contracts might save one or two forwards from being moved on. George Delaney exacted great excitement when he emerged in 2022 (see Richardson, Dodd and Whitby). But now perceived wisdom is that Delaney - out for the rest of 2026 with a dislocated shoulder - doesn't have the build to make an impact at prop. Some hedge that he could be converted to a back rower. That looks more doable as a project given that he's 22 and has two more years on his contract. Discarding him now would be complex and would give an already threadbare department another problem to solve.

Injuries are also complicating the situation around Noah Stephens. The scouse prop evokes memories of a former Saints great fitting that description. But again we need to tread carefully. Stephens has the potential to dominate but isn't there yet. His current injury is a particularly complex one so patience is going to be required if we are to see him progress as we hope. But at 21 and with a deal in place until the end of 2028 he's another who has to have time invested in him. The rewards could be great.

So we have seen those who are essential and who remain worthy of more time. But in a team performing this poorly there are inevitably a corps of players whose exit is - if not immediately essential - then certainly beneficial sooner rather than later. The trouble is that many of them have contracts for 2027 and beyond and may not be all that keen to leave. 

Exhibit A and B here are Joe Shorrocks and Lewis Murphy. Both were given new three-year deals midway through this car crash of a season. Generally to widespread indignation. Shorrocks was never going to replace Morgan Knowles at loose forward but has not even managed to come close. Meanwhile Murphy - while talented - is too often a bag of nerves prone to costly errors. The try he scored at Wigan recently was celebrated with nothing more than an apology for an earlier gaffe. That contrast kind of sums him up. 

There have already been reports of Saints making attempts to move Murphy on despite his deal running until the end of 2029. Which is a wild admission from the club that they got it wrong when his stay was extended. Will they be willing to do the same with Shorrocks? Try that too many times and it may start to look like you're not entirely sure what you're doing.

If the Saints hierarchy can untangle all of that they have an important date in their diary looming, and decisions to make on whether to wait for it or get out ahead of it. As things currently stand the end of the 2027 season will see a clutch of players out of contract. They include centres Mark Percival and Nene Macdonald, utility back Deon Cross, underwhelming forwards David Klemmer, Shane Wright and Jake Burns. It's also when the one senior hooker - Daryl Clark - is up for renewal. Ordinarily that would be an easy decision but any offer he receives has to take into account that he will be almost 35 when his current deal expires. 

Jacob Host has started to contribute after a broken leg derailed his first season with the club. But will he want to extend his time here after his contract expires? He'll be 31 by then. Curtis Sironen also has that 2027 expiry date but will he still be here? He's struggled with injuries in the last two seasons in particular. He's only played 12 times this year. He's just turned 33. Matt Whitley has two more years and - if he can stay fit - is probably going to survive any cull. 

I save the most difficult - but in some ways the most straightforward - decisions for last. Jonny Lomax made his Saints debut 17 years ago. He has increasingly become a bit part player whose every injury seems more horrific than the last. He latterly reinvented himself as an interchange hooker - a position Saints require desperately. But time has surely caught up with him now that he will be out of contract at the end of the current season. It seems an obvious time to say thanks for the memories. He's a classy individual who has won everything with Saints and has no more to prove.

Jake Wingfield is less decorated. He's also someone whose repeated injuries have blocked his full potential. But even then he's never struck me as an irreplaceable presence. His current deal apparently relies on appearance targets being met to trigger an extension and unfortunately he was ruled out for the season back in April. He's still only 25 but looks likely to be asked to rebuild his career elsewhere.

Many of the same issues surround Mark Percival. You won't see a full season out of the 32 year-old but he does have a deal for next year. That came after a bizarre scenario in which it was alleged that a contract was offered and then withdrawn. Or lost of you believe one particular ex-Saint and TV pundit. The deal was eventually done, since when Percival has played seven times. Years of being used as the battering ram early in sets have taken their toll on Percival. Ideally I would do a deal to let him go now but there is merit in the argument that he's worth another year. 

Can the same be said of Macdonald. The ex-Salford centre seems to play one game then miss three since joining Saints at the start of this campaign. When he has played his impact hasn't quite been as envisaged. A lack of genuine strike at centre and Robertson's recent move away from the position may add up to Macdonald sticking around.

As much as we howl about how everyone involved in the Toulouse and York debacles should never be allowed near a shirt again the reality of the situation is more nuanced. There are a dozen or so players whom you can make an argument for living without. But rugby league history rarely brings instant success to clubs who make so many changes so quickly. Some patience from us and more than a little pragmatism from the as yet unidentified new head coach are probably required.

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.