5 Talking Points From Saints 10 Wigan Warriors 30

Ben.....Again....

On Thursday, one day before Saints 30-10 derby defeat by Wigan, the Australian media saw fit to run a story declaring that Ben Barba has agreed a one-year deal with North Queensland Cowboys from 2019. The timing of this was probably not an accident. The Australian press want Box Office Barba back in the NRL as much as his potential suitors do. They can be relied upon to ramp up their efforts to unsettle him accordingly.

They are ably assisted by the British rugby league press who, while stopping short of running a story with anything resembling quotes in it, tweeted the 'news' as if it was fact and began using their social media platforms to speculate on Lachlan Coote arriving in St Helens as a replacement. The noise grew so loud throughout Thursday that even I was moved to call on the club to make a statement regarding Barba's future. Fearing a fan backlash I thought it best to get it all out in the open. Even if all they could confirm is that Barba is considering one or more offers to go home.

The Saints fan base is not naive enough to believe that Barba is planning on being around next year. Where some have been naive is in not realising that it was always going to be short and sweet with Barba if he proved to be a success. The only way he was ever seeing out two and a half years in Super League is if he'd played poorly and so failed to attract attention from the NRL. In those circumstances the club would be wanting him off the wage bill and he'd be digging his heels in telling everyone he has a contract. But that was never likely given his quality which brings me to my final point on Barba.

The man is outrageously good. He's been ordinary in recent weeks and this was another example. Ordinary but no worse than that. If we're not a one-man team in May and June when we're sweeping all before us then it's not all down to him when we lose as we have in three of the last four in all competitions. I'm in the camp that believes Barba is carrying a knock. That's what Justin Holbrook has told us more than once and would explain why that game-changing turn of pace has been absent for a while. We saw a glimpse of it in the first half here but with no support Barba couldn't keep the foot down enough to get home by himself. Perhaps he would have in May or June but we should treat those feats as the miracles they were and not puff out our cheeks and accuse him of not trying. Criticism of his defence is accurate but also rather like berating your window cleaner for not fixing your leaking sink. It's not a revelation to observe that Barba is not the defensive fullback that Paul Wellens was. That's no reason to yearn for Adam Quinlan.

Everything about Barba on and off the field suggests he's embraced the club and the community. Hearing him speak at a club forum in May convinced me that he's not the type of man to give anything less than his best. Is he really going to down tools a month from the end of the season when his chance to pick up silverware and leave a lasting legacy is just around the corner?

The TV Rule Must Go

Saints were well beaten on the night. No amount of what-ifery is going to change the fact that Wigan were by far the better team on the night. The effort was there from Saints but the execution was not, while Wigan were clinical, defensively ferocious and street smart. Yet this was not a totally one-sided affair. There were eight points between the teams until 17 minutes from time when Oliver Gildart streaked down the north stand touchline and rounded Barba as if he were....well.....Adam Quinlan. There were big moments in this one which could, if you believe in momentum in sport, have changed the complexion of the game.

One such moment came early in the game with Saints trailing to Dan Sarginson's early score. Louie-McCarthy Scarsbrook got outside his man and stepped past the cover to touch down by the posts. Ever the showman he leapt in the air and treated us to a dab, which came as a surprise to me as I had thought Cam Newton's well-worn celebration had passed over into parody following excessive use by primary school children mascotting in the Premier League. As it transpired any choice of celebration would have been ill conceived as referee Chris Kendall sent the try up for review with a soft signal of no-try.

Replays showed contact between dummy runner Luke Douglas and Wigan defender and former Saint Joe Greenwood. It's highly questionable whether Greenwood would have got across to make the tackle but video ref Ben Thaler felt he might have and upheld Kendall's no-try decision. The problem is not so much Thaler's belief that Greenwood had the opportunity to make the tackle but rather that he felt that Douglas could have taken any other course of action than he did. According to Sky Sports background noise Stuart Cummins dummy runners must either run through the line or stop short of it. Douglas looked to have stopped just in time to avoid impeding Greenwood. He certainly couldn't run through the line. Greenwood has a significant frame which gives Douglas nowhere to go.

Yet whatever you think of the nature of the contact there can be little argument that the obstruction rule is only applied in TV games. Had this been a non-TV game it's doubtful whether anyone would have questioned it. Greenwood didn't even appear to appeal. The video replay system is now giving officials the option of not bothering to referee TV games which cannot be raising their standards. We saw another example when Kendall failed to rule out a Sam Powell try which was later chalked off by Thaler for a knock-on by John Bateman. There's an argument that he was attempting a pass in any case, which as we know the video referee is unable to rule on. It all adds up to a whiffy old mess in which top professionals are expected to play two versions of the same game depending on the presence or otherwise of broadcasters. Make it stop.

Hey Joe

Greenwood was a big, lanky pain in Saints arse all night. The man they let go to Gold Coast Titans early in 2017 was one of Wigan's top performers, ripping up 137 metres on 14 carries. No Wigan forward made more ground while the only players in cherry and white to better Greenwood's total were wingers Tom Davies and Gildart who combined for a ridiculous 360 metres between them.

Greenwood had one assist, sending Gildart on that epic run which sealed the win but before that he'd had a hand in the first two, both finished by Sarginson. First Greenwood put Morgan Escare through a gap to allow the Frenchman to put Sarginson in. Escare had only been called up as a late replacement for Sam Tomkins who was injured in the warm-up but the former Catalans Dragon caused large helpings of havoc all night. Following that Greenwood broke down the left before handing on to Gildart who held off Barba to put Sarginson in for his second.

All of which is a painful bite on the butt for Saints. There will be inevitable suggestions that Saints should never have let Greenwood leave, especially in the context of the relatively meagre 74 metres on 13 carries mustered by his direct replacement Zeb Taia, who also missed three tackles. Yet that's an overly simplistic view. Greenwood was not fitting in for whatever reason under Keiron Cunningham and wanted to leave. The opportunity at Gold Coast was too good to turn down and by the time he decided to return home Saints salary cap situation was vastly different. None of which eases the pain of watching a very talented old boy put us to the sword.

By Way Of Mitigation.....

I've already intimated that I didn't feel Saints were that bad on the night. Wigan were just very, very good. Apart from Greenwood, Escare and Gildart I haven't even mentioned Sean O'Loughlin who peerlessly ran the game without ever seeming to get his shirt dirty. His ability to have time on the ball amid a frenetic derby is other-worldly. Bateman and Powell were excellent too as the Wigan pack found their Saints counterparts as susceptible to bullying as Catalans and Huddersfield have in recent weeks. But there were certain things that went against Saints that made life more difficult.

Ryan Morgan has been out for three weeks with recurring concussion problems. He lasted just 18 minutes of his return before another blow to the head forced him out again. There has to be a concern now about his long term ability to play rugby league. A similar problem brought an end to Lance Hohaia's playing days. A player's health must come first and serious assessment will no doubt be required before we see Morgan again.

Having declined to select a back on the bench the exit of Morgan left Holbrook with no choice but to move McCarthy-Scarsbrook to the centres. When Cunningham did that he was viewed as the mad king. McCarthy-Scarsbrook was game and his offload for Tommy Makinson's second try was no less magical for the fact that it may have been a touch forward. Cheating Wigan is a joy, after all. Yet there is no getting away from the fact that the switch left Saints exposed defensively, a weakness ruthlessly exposed by Greenwood and others all night. Danny Richardson was targeted and although Morgan Knowles was shunted out there to try to shore things up later on it continued to be a problem.

It's not clear whether Theo Fages was injured or left out but his absence and that of Matty Smith meant there was no opportunity to rest James Roby. That told on Saints who relied too much on their skipper and Luke Thompson to take on Wigan's big men. Dominique Peyroux, a man once held up as a symbol of the mad king's loosening grip on sanity, is now being sorely missed. To borrow Cunningham's phrase the likes of Jack Ashworth, Matty Lees and even Kyle Amor seemed overawed.

Fages would have offered an option at 9 and maybe even at 7 where Richardson is currently floundering thanks to his beaten pack and his own questionable choices with ball in hand. The question is whether you call on Fages or even the experienced Matty Smith for a last hurrah down the stretch before what looks like a move to France or else stick with the youngster on the basis that he will learn and grow through the difficulties he is currently experiencing.

Is The Season Unravelling?

Before the cup loss to Catalans there wasn't much doubt in Saints minds that we would reach and win both the Challenge Cup final and the Super League Grand Final. There were those who nodded sagely at 27-0 down at Bolton and announced that such a fearful pounding to such an average team had been coming, but even those people were strangely quiet about that until midway through that bewildering first half. Nobody had anything bad to say about this Saints side until that very public exposure of their frailties.

Most saw even that as a blip and weren't even overly concerned when we managed to lose at home to Huddersfield the following week. It has taken a comfortable derby loss to strike real fear into hearts that this season may be one in which we end up with nothing. The continuing circus around Barba only supports the notion that we've run out of steam. We're already guaranteed a home semi-final but beyond that would it be a major surprise if we were beaten at home by any of Castleford, Warrington or even Huddersfield? And where would your money be if the Grand Final were next week and we had to face up to Greenwood, Bateman, O'Loughlin, Gildart, Davies and company in? Though it would help if they replaced Escare with a suddenly fit-again Tomkins, wouldn't it?

We're in a spot at the moment precisely because we are capable of being comprehensively outplayed despite no lack of effort. If we hadn't tried I'd be disgusted but somehow heartened that with a bit more commitment and endeavour we could turn it around. We're being outmatched in the forwards and not just by a quality Wigan side but by less celebrated mobs like the Dragons and Giants. Thompson is feeling the strain of having to fill the void left by Alex Walmsley's season-ending neck injury. If you can't win the battle up front then only the miraculous return to form of a world class attacking threat in the backs will give you even a sniff of glory.

If only we had such a player........