Saints v Bradford Bulls - The Bulls Awaken (a little bit)

It'll be just like old times as Bradford Bulls visit the Brewdog Stadium on Saturday night (March 7).

On the day Mario Goetze scored the only goal to help Germany beat Argentina in the World Cup final, the Bulls made their last league appearance at The Stadium Formerly Known As Langtree Park. They were sent packing following a 46-22 defeat. Recently departed head coach Paul Wellens scored two of his 231 tries for Saints. Tommy Makinson, Mark Percival, Adam Swift, Lance Hohaia, James Roby and Mose Masoe also crossed. 

It was also the last year that Super League had 14 teams. The Bulls and London Broncos were marooned at the bottom as it became evident that the player pool couldn't take the strain. Twelfth-placed Wakefield Trinity finished 11 points better off than the Bulls while the hapless Broncos only managed one league win all season. The player pool still isn't strong enough for 14 teams but we have gone and done it anyway. Hence the return of the Bulls to the top flight. I should make it clear that this has nothing to do with Nigel Wood being restored as RFL chairman in the offseason. Right? Right...?

In Bradford's previous incarnation as a successful Super League club they made serious waves. They won four of the first 10 Super League titles and faced Saints in two other Grand Finals and three Challenge Cup finals. These teams were sick of the sight of each other. Not having faced them for so long feels weird for anyone old enough to remember those late 90s-early 2000s battles. 

The two coaches have more recent history. Bulls head coach Kurt Haggerty assisted Saints boss Paul Rowley at Salford for four seasons. He was all set to take over from Rowley until the Red Devils endured a Bearings Bank level financial meltdown. Then the opportunity to take over the Bulls cropped up. His boyhood club. A giant that is not so much sleeping as utterly comatose. Although the son of Saints cult hero Roy Haggerty grew up within a spent firework's throw of this writer, it was Bullmania that caught his attention. 

Both teams will be fairly happy with how they have started 2026. Saints and the Bulls sit in the top four having won two of their three games so far. All of which has sparked much nostalgia with Bulls' peak-era powerhouses Leeds and Wigan also in that leading group. Haggerty's men have enjoyed victories over both French sides while going down 27-20 to Hull FC. 

Meanwhile Saints started with defeat at Warrington but have since earned wins over Leigh Leopards and Catalans Dragons. The Leigh win removed a monkey from Saints' back. They had failed to beat Adrian Lam's side in 2025. Meanwhile, the Dragons' current lineup isn't the best we've ever seen but any time you can leave Perpignan with a 32-point margin of victory it's a satisfying outcome. 

Two wins out of three is a respectable but not awe inspiring start for Saints. After the drudgery of the last two seasons - and with a new coach and an influx of new players - expectations have been revived. If they ever went away. The playoffs are a minimum requirement for the only club that has never missed them in the Super League era. But if Rowley's side scrape in it will be viewed as stagnation. More of what we have seen the last two years. That's why beating Leigh feels significant even this early in the season. It's progress but it's essential that it's built on. You sense there's a hunger and a will to do that. But saying it, wanting it and doing it are all different things.

The mission isn't helped by some early season injury concerns. Captain Matty Lees has been out since sustaining a knee injury at Workington, Jack Welsby didn't finish the Super League opener at Warrington before dislocating his shoulder and Jonny Lomax fractured an arm in the early minutes of that home win over Leigh. Now you can add Alex Walmsley to the absentee list owing to a foot injury. The veteran prop was highly influential in breaking the stubborn resistance of the Dragons last week but we now won't see him for around six weeks.

Without Walmsley others will need to step up. George Delaney went very well at Catalans and may get a chance to shine from the start. David Klemmer is currently averaging around 73 metres per game and 22 tackles. Those aren't quite the numbers you'd expect from a former Kangaroo playing in a league constantly denigrated by everyone from Australian pundits to English NRL aficionados. Either Super League isn't as far away from the NRL as everyone says or the ex-Newcastle Knight needs a bit more time to acclimatise. 

Noah Stephens is at the opposite end of his career to Klemmer. Yes he's still a little raw but he should be getting an opportunity with Lees and Walmsley out and Agnatius Paasi shuttled out on loan to Salford this week. Paasi. The new Konrad Hurrell. Given a new deal to the almost audible head scratching of all and sundry, before being hidden away in the hope that we'll forget about this egregious profligacy. Jake Wingfield hasn't featured since August but is in contention again. But selecting him ahead of Stephens - if both are fully fit - would be regressive in my opinion. And would you put the house on Wingfield being fully fit anyway?

It seems insane to say it, but suddenly there is a surplus of options in the backs now that a new deal has been agreed for Mark Percival to stay. The highly decorated centre was apparently on the verge of joining Huddersfield Giants but will now be at his only club until at least the end of 2027. He's also fit enough to be in this week's squad. I'm not sure I would have taken the same decision on his future or that I would select him for this game. But Rowley just might.

If he does then someone has to make way. The leading candidate for me is Lewis Murphy. But it could be Deon Cross. Whoever misses, out the inclusion of Percival appears to push Owen Dagnall further away from a first team return. He'll still only be 22 by the end of Percival's new deal but it's easy to see his development stalling in the meantime. He's probably too good to be sitting around idly already. Another two seasons of that feels as wasteful as whatever chunk of cash has been spent keeping Paasi around. 

Harry Robertson and Nene McDonald feel like certain starters when fit. But with Welsby out one of them will have to operate at fullback. At present you would trust both more as runners in that position than as passing playmakers. Which increases the burden on Jackson Hastings and Tristan Sailor in the halves. 

A quick look at the Bulls squad shows a potential return to St Helens for Waqa Blake. The former Parramatta Eel had one of the most underwhelming spells of any NRL import when he spent 2024 with Saints. His inability to score a try on one infamous occasion at Leigh will live with many fans for a long time. But he's back with a new hairdo and a bit of form. He has four tries in his first three Super League outings with the Bulls. He managed 11 in 24 for Saints. But it wasn't that which disappointed. It was his often disinterested body language coupled with reports of his being...well...socially distracted. 

They may have been fast tracked back into the top flight but the Bulls are not just a collection of Championship level players. They have Super League experience in their ranks in Andy Ackers, Joe Mellor, Ed Chamberlain and Ethan Ryan among others. Ryan Sutton and Caleb Aekins both turned out for Canberra Raiders, while centre Esan Marsters has almost 100 NRL appearances across spells with three clubs.

This one might not match the intensity or quality of those early Super League and Challenge Cup meetings. Bradford aren't expected to compete at the top in their first season back in the big time. And anyway it's impossible to have a Wide To West moment in Round 4, or anything to match the out and out joy of Sean Long's 2002 Grand Final winning drop goal. 

But after 14 years it takes on a significance of its own.

Nightswimming - Saints Earn Their Badges - Catalans Dragons 4 Saints 36

Saints' 36-4 victory over Catalans Dragons was a bit like learning to swim. Devilishly difficult at first but quite straightforward after a sufficient helping of dogged perseverance.

A 32-point winning margin at that common obstacle - the difficult place to go - was something almost all of us would have taken before kickoff. But the route to that win was complicated for an hour. 

Saints led 6-0 for what seemed an interminable period. The action could best be described as attritional until then. Daryl Clark's first half try - set up by a dazzling link up between Jackson Hastings and Shane Wright - was the one moment of illumination.

But let's take it back. Prior to kickoff Saints' own Twitter feed published a team list which placed Nene McDonald at fullback and Harry Robertson at centre. Robertson was on the bench for last week's win over Leigh until Jonny Lomax got injured a few minutes in. 

His subsequent performance coupled with Lomax's continued absence was always going to see him restored to the starting lineup. But he had excelled at fullback. Surely he would be left to try to provide more of the same while natural centre McDonald stayed in his lane? 

Yes, actually. Whether the social media bods at Saints had got it wrong or head coach Paul Rowley was indulging in what sports media types call kidology, the pair lined up the other way around. George Whitby came in to the 17, starting on the bench in his first appearance since last July. That was largely due to Lomax's injury, helping add to Rowley's options in creative roles. But it also sent a signal to Whitby that the first team door is open once more. It appeared to be shut under Wellens and his apparent preference for the now departed Moses Mbye.

This was ugly for some time. If you had run into it at a nightclub at ten minutes to two on a Sunday in the 90s you might still have looked the other way. That early converted Daryl Clark try was all either side could muster in terms of points in the opening half. Shortly after half-time an arguably massive turning point unfolded. Former Saint Lewis Dodd - back from a year on Wayne Bennett's shit list at South Sydney Rabbitohs - waltzed around the defence only to drop the ball in the act of scoring.

With points at a premium, Saints' try in the next set marked Dodds error out as pivotal. This time the scorer was another former Rabbitohs man, Jacob Host. And Clark was again involved, hitting the back rower with a short pass close to the line and inviting him to do the rest. It wasn't the razzle dazzle we had been hoping for with the new regime, but the timing of it and the context of a low scoring game temporarily stunted those concerns.

Dragons coach Joel Tomkins has since accused his team of giving up. Harsh words perhaps, but the final quarter saw Saints score at a rate better than a point a minute. Alex Walmsley was absolutely central to this, coming into the action and finally providing some consistent go forward. Until then Wright had been carrying the load, although George Delaney went beyond 100 metres for the first time this season. It's an area where Saints have looked desperate for improvement so far in 2026. That improvement took its sweet time but it arrived in this one.

If Saints can dominate field position as they did in that final quarter it opens up new possibilities. The understanding between Hastings and Wright should flourish and we should see the best of Tristan Sailor at 6. When the Dragons' resistance broke in this one he racked up 194 running metres and looked far more dangerous. Attack is very much a work in progress at the moment but the first step is for the pack men to start winning rucks and getting the side in better positions.

Given his history it was fascinating to see how Dodd's performance compared with that of Hastings. We have already seen how Dodd's failure to score having created the opportunity swung momentum in Saints' favour. But it would be unfair to judge his performance purely on that. With 133 metres next to his name it's clear that Dodd took on the defensive line more than he ever did in his final season with Saints. His runs yielded three clean breaks, more than any player on either side. 

Seeing all that you would be forgiven for thinking that Hastings was outplayed by his opposite number. But that ignores how Hastings led the team around the field, constantly organising and bearing responsibility for almost all of the kicking game. Sailor was the only Saint other than Hastings who attempted a kick in general play, while six of Hastings' 19 efforts were with attacking intent. 

There were still a few examples of the uber negative. Handing over possession without a kick near the opponent's line is not this writer's bag but we at least saw some variation this week. And the decision on when to kick or not has likely been made by Rowley and not Hastings in any case. Hastings wasn't one of Saints' try scorers on the night but he did have an assist - putting Wright over after a break from Sailor had set up the position. 

At 18-0 we had reached the point at which Tomkins saw his team check out. Clark's second was followed by a quick double of his own by Kyle Feldt. The Australian winger isn't everyone's preferred hot beverage. You sense that there's a general feeling he could do more. Which reminds me of a barb hurled at me by my football argument adversaries during childhood, telling me that all Ian Rush did was score goals. What else do you need? 

Feldt has 28 tries in just 22 appearances for Saints. His first here was a slightly less graceful reenactment of the flying finish patented by his predecessor on Saints' right wing Tommy Makinson. His second was a skilful demonstration of how to leap, catch and ground in one silky movement.

Feldt has proved to be the master of the two-yard walk-in. The rugby league equivalent of a goal hanger. But here he showed his class and his continued dominance under a high ball which comes in very handy in both defence and attack. Though he might not look back too fondly on a berserk defensive read which led to the Dragons only score of the night through Charlie Staines when the score read 24-0.

A good night's work in the end, even if patience was required. The only blot was an injury to Curtis Sironen. The ex-Manly man is still vital for Saints' physical presence in the middle of the field. Especially with Matty Lees missing too. Fingers crossed Sironen is ready for the visit of Bradford Bulls this weekend. I know we're all dying to get another look at the fascinating human behavioural study that is Waqa Blake. 

It's a game we dare not lose at home to a newly fast tracked promoted side. There's a lot of excitement around the Bulls early on this year as victories over Catalans and Toulouse see them occupying a top four spot along with Wigan, Leeds and the now third placed Saints. It's enough to make you all nostalgic for the 2000s.

Perhaps now we've learned to swim we will start a little faster in that one.

Saints 20 Leigh Leopards 18: Hoodoo? What Hoodoo?

Joy or relief? You might have experienced a bit of both as Saints got their Super League 2026 show on the road with a 20-18 win over Leigh Leopards.

After the disappointment of defeat at Warrington in last week's opener there was a fair degree of anxiety coming into this one. Saints failed to beat Leigh throughout 2025 so a bounce back was far from a given. But a mixture of grit, skill and determination got Paul Rowley's men over the line.

Rowley had a surprise for us when it came to team selection. Harry Robertson has now made 37 appearances for Saints. Of the previous 36 only one saw him starting on the bench. That was a 34-4 defeat at Hull KR in May last year. Despite the absence of Jack Welsby with a dislocated shoulder Robertson was relegated to the interchanges again, with Jonny Lomax restored to a starting role in the halves.

We thought we'd seen the end of Lomax as a 6 or a 7. As great as his career has been the last couple of seasons have shown that he's no longer the man for the job. The injuries and the ageing process have blunted his abilities in that role. I can't have been the only one feeling nervous about how he would go in partnership with Jackson Hastings.

As it turned out fate intervened. Less than five minutes were on the clock when the veteran suffered an arm injury and left the scene. It has since been confirmed that he has fractured his arm. That could reduce selection options going forward but in this moment it's hard to argue that it didn't help. 

Robertson got an early introduction, taking over from Tristan Sailor at fullback while the ex-Brisbane Bronco moved alongside Hastings. It's unknowable, but there was a lot of chatter on the bridge heading back into town after the game about how we wouldn't have won had that tactical adjustment not been forced.

I thought so myself. But my belief was more about the introduction of Robertson than the exit of Lomax. The latter was missed and will be if he is out long term. But he'll be missed in his late career role as an alternative hooker and for his huge experience. Not for the pace and guile needed in the creative positions. 

The introduction of Robertson provided pace and guile and a fearlessness that this side craves in the post-Paul Wellens era. If we want to achieve something we have to take risks. Live closer to the edge. Lomax's selection felt safe and uninspiring. And we have seen those things fail us often enough. Much more than Lomax, Robertson signals threat to opposition defences. It forces them to recalibrate. 

In what was always a tense, close battle on the scoreboard some risk aversion frustratingly remained. Throughout the 2025 season Saints were rightly criticised for a poor kicking game. Poor is being kind. It was shambolic at times. In this one Rowley chose to partly address this problem by not allowing any attacking kicks close to the try line. Instead, with a narrow lead during a fraught last 20 minutes Saints continually ran on the last tackle. This turned the ball over close to the Leopards' line and asked them to go 95-100 metres against this still formidable Saints defence. 

It's defensible because it got the result. But one of the big reasons for the enthusiasm around the appointment of Rowley was the promise of entertaining rugby. This was Wattoball. And there's a reason Watto isn't currently coaching in Super League. My hope is that it was an emergency measure for the situation and doesn't become the norm. It shows either a lack of intent on last tackle plays - which are key - or a lack of faith in the players to execute the skill. 

Injuries weren't finished biting Saints who ended up toughing this one out with only one or two fit interchange players. Along with Lomax centre Nene McDonald was out of the rotation with a muscle injury. Anecdotally, someone suggested to me that he was fit enough to go through warm up on the sideline exercise bike but he did not participate in the second half. 

With Robertson likely now to fill in for Welsby long term we suddenly have a problem at centre. Such was the extent of that problem here that Matt Whitley was again pressed into emergency action in the role. Something else we thought we would no longer have to resort to. But with McDonald out, Deon Cross off for a spell for an HIA and Mark Percival still unavailable our depth has evaporated quickly.

Given the way the middle of the defence collapsed at times during the loss at Warrington it was a pretty special effort to keep it together. Saints badly miss the injured skipper Matty Lees in this department as well as the departed Morgan Knowles. Prominent in the improvement on last week was Joe Shorrocks. 

The ex-Wigan and Salford man is proving me more and more wrong with each passing week. And not just for his defence. His passing skills have been central to some of Saints' most coherent attacks. Even if he does resemble Lakeside era Phil Taylor. 

He deservedly got over for the decisive second half try. But his 46-tackle defensive effort was key to filling the hole left by Lees. That was the most by any player on either side. Jacob Alick-Wienke had 42 for Leigh while Daryl Clark was Saints' next busiest defender with 40. He may have had an easier workload but for the loss of Lomax. 

So it's goodbye to the Leigh hoodoo. Such as it was. Endless column inches - including here - were written about Saints' inability to beat any of Leigh, Wigan or Hull KR last term. Defeat at Warrington only intensified that anxiety. So as much as it is two competition points on the table this win is also psychologically important. It should instil belief that was never really there under Wellens. There's work to do but we can all feel more hopeful that it's a manageable task. 

Some aesthetics to report on for the first visit to the newly monikered Brewdog Stadium in 2026. I arrived in the middle of the pre-game lights show. I'm sure many enjoyed it but I'd rather have some music or a recap of the lineups. Especially since I haven't had a mobile signal in the ground since it opened in 2012 and couldn't verify the whispers I was hearing about Robertson's original omission from the starting lineup. 

A common and reasonable fan bugbear is the way that repeat sets or 'six agains' have been communicated to the crowd since the rule was introduced during the Covid crisis. Previously there was a buzzer but it was hit and miss to the extent that sometimes the players didn't seem aware. Now there is an over confident sounding bell - no not Mikey Lewis - and a radio jingle style announcement of 'ruck infringement'. It's a start but it's still a bit vague. You still need to be watching on TV and therefore able to hear the ref mic to fully understand why your team are defending what feels like tackle 14. 

And staying with sound effects can we please get Kyle Feldt's try scoring music into the nearest bin? Whenever he crosses - as he did in this one - we are subjected to a blast of Rhinestone Cowboy. Presumably this is a reference to his previous club North Queensland. That's misguided at best and plain weird at worst. Please, please stop with this cringe-athon. 

Ultimately we probably haven't learned as much about the Rowley philosophy as we would like. It's likely that the difficult circumstances forced him into emergency measures. Full discovery will come when everyone is fit and available. But you would absolutely be forgiven for wondering when that might be.

Saints visit Perpignan next week to take on the Catalans Dragons. Lewis Dodd, Tommy Makinson et al. They haven't greatly impressed in a win over Huddersfield and defeat to Bradford in the opening two rounds. If Saints can apply themselves as they did against Adrian Lam's men they should be well capable of coming home with the points.

Saints v Leigh Leopards - I'm Saying There's A Chance...

Despite the excitement and anticipation brought about by a new head coach and several new key signings, the opening week of Super League 2026 did not go well for Saints. 

A pretty abject first half showing saw Paul Rowley’s side fall 18-0 down at the break.  That translated into a 24-14 defeat by the end of proceedings at the Halliwell Jones Stadium. 

Fortunately the weekly churn of Super League offers Saints a quick opportunity to respond when they host Leigh Leopards this weekend.  But it will be far from easy against one of the best teams in the competition since they returned to the top flight in 2023.  Can Rowley and Saints find a response and raise our spirits?

The turmoil wasn’t just on the field last week.  A few short days after the defeat to Warrington it was announced that Mike Rush would be stepping down from his position as CEO after 13 years in the role.  Few people believe that the plan was always to step down after one game of the new season.  Consequently an air of uncertainty hangs over Saints as they enter this one.

It’s been exhaustively well documented that Leigh are one of the teams with whom Saints had so much trouble throughout 2025.  The Paul Wellens incarnation of the side could not beat any of the Leopards, Hull KR or Wigan throughout the campaign.  You can add Warrington to that although had we been fortunate enough to run into them during their post-Wembley meltdown there’s a reasonable chance we could have got over the line. 

With this in mind facing Adrian Lam’s side when the front row is in a state of disrepair is far from ideal timing.  Leigh are a very physical – some would say violent – side.  Saints are unlikely to be visibly intimidated but are they going to be able to make enough metres to allow what should be an improved back line to operate?  And defensively the loss through injury of skipper Matty Lees has already been felt.  Not to mention the void left by Morgan Knowles who left the club at the end of last season. Someone has to stand up for Saints but you look around and you don’t see who it will be.   

There was a time when you could leave that to Alex Walmsley.  His magnificence over the successful years has served to mask the fact that our other props aren’t providing enough go forward.  Lees and Knowles were great defensively but even they didn’t light up the stats sheet with their metre making.  With Lees out and the almost 36 year-old Walmsley now limited to almost performing cameos from the bench we need more from new signing David Klemmer and home grown talent George Delaney. 

It’s unfair to judge Klemmer after one league game and one Challenge Cup game but Delaney has appeared to go backwards in the last year or so.  He was an exciting prospect for a time but he doesn’t yet have that ability to lay waste to a defensive line and help speed up the ruck.  Hooker Daryl Clark is still quick out of dummy half but he is the only experienced hooker still in the building.  Jonny Lomax has been employed as a relief option and although he has done a serviceable job it is more as a distributor than as a runner.  The same is surprisingly true of Joe Shorrocks who has nominally replaced Knowles, while second rows Matt Whitley and Shane Wright didn’t really see enough of the ball against Warrington to make the difference.

While Saints were toiling at Warrington, Leigh were opening their campaign with a 26-14 win over Leeds Rhinos.  Brad Arthur’s side came home with the wettest of sails in 2025 until they ran into the un-Wellens-like ‘Right To Wright’ miracle in the Headingley playoff which saw Wright cross for the winning score on the last, post hooter play of the game following the award of a penalty.  Yet Lam’s men handled them fairly easily, scoring five tries to two against a side you can expect to contend once more.  It was a result which also laid down a marker that Leigh will be in amongst the playoff contenders again in 2026. 

Rowley has made one enforced change to his 21-man squad in preparation for this test of his side’s collective mettle.  Jack Welsby was forced off the field last weekend and it transpires that he will miss around four months with a dislocated shoulder which requires surgery.  That could leave a straight choice between Harry Robertson and Tristan Sailor for the fullback role, with the other perhaps occupying the stand-off role alongside Jackson Hastings at seven.  However George Whitby is also named and could be handed another first team opportunity earlier than maybe he had feared.

Replacing Welsby in the squad isn’t the still injured Mark Percival – the subject of much conjecture about whether he really was offered that two year deal as claimed by Jon Wilkin immediately prior to Rush’s departure, but utility forward Curtis Sironen.  The ex-Manly Sea Eagle doesn’t solve the problems in getting the ball down the field but he might just bring a level of defensive steel and work rate that was largely absent in the first half of the Warrington showing.

Another pack body in the 17 wouldn’t be a bad thing.  Discounting Lomax’s part-time hooking role the head coach only had two forwards on the bench last time out.  He found room instead for centre or winger Owen Dagnall.  That was less  a statement of intent to play expansively and worry less about grunt, and more about a lack of available personnel.  Some have suggested that Sironen was available and not selected, which if true is fairly staggering.  Whichever way you slice it Saints need more forward impact off the bench than Walmsley and Jacob Host.  Dagnall may miss out, though he remains a credible candidate to replace Robertson at centre if the youngster is the chosen one to step into Welsby’s shoes.

So just how does Rowley go about winning this one?  Well there were visible signs of improvement after the break at Warrington.  Saints were much better defensively and managed to put tries on the board through Welsby, Sailor and winger Kyle Feldt.  If they can start faster and match Leigh early on – particularly physically – then maybe they won’t have to dig themselves out of a hole later.  Being at home will help.  The most obviously important factor has to be making sure that the defence gets back to what it was even under Wellens – for all the other problems – and not what we saw in Warrington last week.  The absences of Lees and Knowles were glaringly obvious when the Wolves made breaks through the middle of the field where Saints are ordinarily impregnable.  Get back to that and Saints will be in the contest.

There is an excitement surrounding this one.  An intrigue about just how Saints respond to last week.  And about how they can compete with the teams who effectively obliterated their season last year.  Much will depend on how that defensive line holds up, especially early.  And on solving the conundrum of getting the ball down the field safely to allow the backs to do their jobs later. 

So I am saying there’s a chance.  But only if there’s an improvement from round one.

A Rush For The Exit

New season, new coach, new players.  Let’s have a new CEO then, shall we?

After 27 years with the club, 13 as the CEO, Mike Rush is stepping down from the role.  The timing – just days after Jon Wilkin shook up the rugby league world with an attempt at some actual insight – whiffs ever so slightly of something which was not part of the plan going into the season. 

It brings to an end what has to be regarded as a hugely successful tenure for Rush.  A club statement reassured us that the search for a replacement has begun amid mischievous suggestions online – and not just from Wiganers – that this could be the start of a downward trajectory for Super League’s most successful club.

Rush joined Saints in 1999 and held several other roles before becoming CEO in 2013.  He has been involved with strength and conditioning, acted as assistant coach and even a joint tenure as interim head coach alongside Keiron Cunningham.  

Yet it was his work with the Saints youth department for which he was most often associated and rightly lauded.  It’s probably not a coincidence that in the time he has spent with the club it has fostered a reputation as one of the best clubs in the world for youth development.  

An incalculable number of players have come through from the academy to the first team during his time.  Not all have stayed with the club – some moving on to forge careers at other clubs – but he would be within his rights to count those as successes also.  Not every youth product is going to be James Roby or Jack Welsby.

But for a time Rush knew how to mix the best of that talent with quality reinforcements from elsewhere.  Since 1999 Saints have won nine Grand Finals, six Challenge Cups and three World Club titles.  We have seen the likes of Jamie Lyon and Ben Barba wearing the red vee in sides that were still able to retain that flavour of home grown talent.  

Roby, Welsby, Jonny Lomax, Mark Percival, Regan Grace, Luke Thompson, Tommy Makinson, Morgan Knowles and Matty Lees have all come through during that time. Now there is the next generation yet to show us their absolute peak in the likes of Harry Robertson, Owen Dagnall, Noah Stephens and George Whitby. 

His belief in a successful youth system has not diminished.  In a now infamous interview with Sky Sports Rush suggested that he would like to see the first team comprised of 70-80% youth products. This seemed like an unrealistic goal at the time, inspiring a cynical response from the likes of this writer who felt it might be a signpost that the club no longer wishes to spend any of its hard earned on quality recruits from outside. 

It suggested there would not be any imminent arrivals of slightly wayward but supremely gifted NRL stars.  Certainly the recruitment in the last couple of years since the departure of Kristian Woolf as head coach has hardly been spellbinding.  This isn’t a fan base who will endure too many seasons of finishing outside the top four while we wait for another Class Of 92 style influx of ready made superstars to grace the first team.  Yes the club has had a fantastic record during his time but you cannot keep producing at that rate. 

The fans were getting slightly restless about what they saw as the beginnings of a decline at the time of that interview.  It didn’t help that Rush referred to our criticism as ‘outside noise’, as if it were nothing but inconsequential yapping that shouldn’t be listened to or taken seriously.  Nobody seriously expects a CEO to listen to Dave on Twitter and base recruitment strategy around his thoughts but at the same time you cannot dismiss fan opinion.  When you do that you come across as fairly arrogant. And arrogance without success is an ugly look.

But it is not those comments which seem to have hastened his departure but those of Wilkin.  In an explosive tirade during coverage of the 2026 Super League opener between York Knights and Hull KR the former Saints forward made some startling claims.  

Anybody sleepily waiting for him to assert that ‘he’ll be disappointed with that, Brian’ about an in game incident would have had their gast well and truly flabbered by his thoughts.  He claimed that the club treated former head coach and Wilkin’s mate Paul Wellens badly. Wilkin suggested that the club offered Wellens the incentive of a new contract should he reach the Grand Final while in actuality they had already made their minds up to replace him.  

Wellens didn’t get anywhere near that Grand Final so it is perhaps a moot point.  But the club have still felt the need to deny these claims in their statement announcing the departure of Rush.  They say Wellens was kept informed about plans for the coaching position throughout last season.  He has eventually been replaced by Paul Rowley after a sixth place finish which even Wilkin would find hard to trumpet.

But that wasn’t all. Amid reports in the rugby league media that Percival could be on his way out of the club Wilkin made another revelatory claim.  He suggested that a two-year contract offered to Percival has now ‘disappeared’.  

I feel it slightly unlikely that a contract could disappear in the digital age and with so many people invested in the deal, from club officials to agents to Percival and his family.  The club’s version of events is that the centre was offered a contract verbally but that this was never ratified by the board.  

So while it has been framed as a withdrawal of an offer, the club say no such formal offer was ever made.  Meanwhile, the reporters continue to link Percival with the exit. The fresh Hell of Huddersfield Giants is apparently his likely destination.  

Opinions vary on whether Percival should be given two more years at Saints.  I personally think we have enough depth now in Robertson, Dagnall, Nene McDonald and Deon Cross to let him go.  He isn’t the player he was.  But there is a way of handling things and I would be as mortified as the biggest Percival fans among the fan base to think that he could be treated badly after his excellent service.

While taking the club’s denials of Wilkin’s allegations at face value, you can’t help but wonder about his claims.  As he stated during the broadcast the people on the inside at Saints are his friends after his long association with the club as a player.  What would be his motivation for making this sort of gossip up out of nothing?  All I can really think of is his continuing quest to get his own chat show on prime time BBC1 on a Saturday night.  He’s not camera shy, to understate things a tad.  

Yet if there is absolutely nothing in the claims why is Rush stepping down now?  Why wasn't this addressed during the three month long off season? His statement is mostly vanilla platitudes about how fantastic it has been for a boyhood fan to have been in such a privileged position behind the scenes.  

Perhaps deliberately it doesn’t address the claims.  But his sudden decision to leave his post is going to be enough to persuade some that there is weight behind what Wilkin is saying.  Even I find it hard to reconcile the idea that it was always his intention to step down after the first game of a new season. Especially with all the other change that has come about this off season. It just feels...untidy.

It's a slightly worrying time to be a Saints fan, then. Our on field reset has already hit the buffers with a flat performance in defeat to Warrington. Next up is Leigh, another side we failed to beat in 2025. And whatever the truth of the reasoning behind Rush's exit there's clearly some instability off the field as well as on. The search for a replacement should have a wide enough scope to consider those who have performed a similar role in other industries. The new person needs to be a good negotiator. They don't need extensive rugby league knowledge. Recruitment can be delegated. 

We knew that 2026 would have the feel of a new broom sweeping after the stagnation since the Woolf years. And change can be good, even if it's unexpectedly forced. But the club has to get this right to get the ship back on course.