The month of a January is not yet out but Super League is back in your life. And with something of a loud bang. Grand Final winners Wigan are the visitors to League Leaders Shield holders Saints as the 2019 season begins on Thursday night (January 31, kick-off 7.45pm).
Saints and Wigan will be the first two sides to experience Super League’s new rule amendments in a competitive match. From this season only eight interchanges will be allowed from your four substitutes instead of 10, while so-called ‘shot-clocks’ will be used to attempt to speed the game up by eliminating time-wasting at scrums and drop-outs. The absurd free play rule has been given the kick into touch it has been longing for for years now, while if the two local rivals are level at the end of 80 minutes we will see the first period of Golden Point extra-time in a regular season game. It could be a late one. A late, snowy one.
There have been several changes in the Saints squad during the off season and that is reflected in coach Justin Holbrook’s first 19-man selection of the new campaign. Lachlan Coote, Kevin Naiqama and Joseph Paulo are all included and look set to make their Super League debuts for Saints. Coote replaces Ben Barba after he predictably cut short his stay at a Saints, taking the 2018 Steve Prescott Man Of Steel Award with him as he returned to the NRL with North Queensland Cowboys. Paulo looks a direct replacement for former skipper Jon Wilkin who has joined Toronto Wolfpack, while Naiqama will slot in at right centre ahead of Ryan Morgan who will spend this year on loan with newly-promoted London Broncos.
Ahead of Coote and alongside Naiqama the three-quarter line has a more home-grown feel to it. Tommy Makinson was linked with a move to the NRL after winning the Golden Boot for his outstanding performances in the autumn test series with New Zealand. The winger has thankfully agreed to delay fulfilling his NRL ambitions and remains. He will link up with a Naiqama on the right edge to try and offer the side more balance in attack. Mark Percival and Regan Grace have their moments of miss-communication but are a formidable prospect on the opposite side.
So far, so samey then. Yet in a recent interview building up to the derby clash Holbrook declared it ‘likely’ that Theo Fages will start at scrum half ahead of Danny Richardson. This represented the kind of u-turn that would look far fetched in Westminster given that Fages was left out of the 17 regularly towards the end of last season. When he did play it was not in the halves but as a relief option at hooker for the ageing but still brilliant James Roby. With Aaron Smith also emerging it seemed that Fages could be on his way out of the club, yet the Frenchman now seems set to be the one charged with guiding the team around the park alongside Jonny Lomax.
A pre-season groin injury suffered by Richardson appears to have guided Holbrook in this direction but Fages will be desperate to show that he can be trusted to keep the shirt. Richardson is now fit and also makes the squad. If he’s not selected it will be interesting to see how he responds having seemingly made the role his own last term. Holbrook may be playing mind games with his young half. He may be reacting purely to the fact that Richardson has been hampered by injury. Or the coach may be implementing the first steps towards a real change in the role. It’s an intriguing situation going into the first game of the season, especially given the identity of the opponents.
Alex Walmsley isn’t a new signing but his presence will feel like one for a while. The ex-Batley man missed almost the whole of last season with a neck injury suffered at Warrington in March. In his absence Luke Thompson emerged as the premier front rower in the country, making his England debut and sweeping all before him at the club’s annual awards bash. The prospect of both Walmsley and Thompson in the front row alongside Roby is a frightening one for other Super League clubs, although we should probably expect Walmsley to start on the bench with either Matty Lees or Jack Ashworth getting the run-on now that Luke Douglas is on loan at Leigh Centurions for a month. With Paulo to lock the scrum Morgan Knowles still has to bide his time, while Zeb Taia and Dominique Peyroux are a dynamic pair of second rowers even if they are advancing in years.
Knowles looks set to start on the bench alongside Walmsley and Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, leaving Holbrook to decide whether to fill the remaining slot with either Ashworth, Lees or Kyle Amor from the pack options or else go with the extra back in Richardson. The latter is something that Holbrook went away from towards the end of last season despite then having Matty Smith on the payroll. With some apocalyptically awful weather forecast it might not be the night for returning to that philosophy.
Change has been a theme at Wigan too. Shaun Wane surprisingly announced his departure before the end of last season to take up a role in Scottish rugby union, a move which may or may not have been influenced by the club’s decision to let Sam Tomkins head for Catalans Dragons to spend more time with Mickey McIlorum. Or was the arrival of ticking time-bomb Zak Hardaker at the DW Stadium the straw that broke coach Wane’s silver back? Either way he’s out, with former half Adrian Lam keeping the hot-seat.....er.......hot before the planned arrival of Shaun Edwards in 2020. It’s a risk by the Wigan hierarchy who must hope that if things get tough the players stay on message with Lam rather than electing to kill time before he is replaced. Lam could become a bit of a lame duck.
Meanwhile Hardaker could take Barba’s role as the league’s best fullback but for a limited time only in all likelihood. The former Leeds and Castleford man had not yet returned from his drugs ban before he found himself answering awkward questions from people in uniform about drink-driving. Yet this being early in the season he’s expected to behave himself long enough to give Saints significant problems, though it could yet be at centre rather than the fullback role we are used to seeing him fill. Dom Manfredi made a triumphant return to action to score twice in the Grand Final victory over Warrington in 2018 but looks set to miss the opener with fluid on his knee. That will allow Liam Marshall another opportunity on the wing opposite Tom Davies, with Oliver Gildart at centre alongside Hardaker or maybe Dan Sarginson or Willie Isa.
In the halves the loss of Tomkins could offer an opportunity to Morgan Escare. The Frenchman can also operate at fullback which would leave George Williams to partner one of Sam Powell or Thomas Leuleua in the scheming room. New signing Jarrod Sammutt is not in contention having picked up a two-game ban for getting a bit handsy with the referee in a recent friendly with Salford Red Devils.
Wigan’s pack will be missing the niggly, pest-like awfulness of John Bateman after he joined Canberra Raiders at the end of last term. He’s joined there by the rather less longed for Ryan Sutton and with Joel Tomkins having taken his pub banter to Kingston-Upon-Hull it could be up to veterans Liam Farrrell and Sean O’Loughlin along with former Saint Joe Greenwood to provide a spark in the back row. Tony Clubb and Ben Flower will be their despicable selves in the front row with perhaps Powell at hooker. Gabe Hamlin, Taulima Tautai, Romain Navarrette and new signing Joe Bullock complete Lam’s first Super League squad selection.
It’s always so hard to predict the outcome of a derby but the degree of difficulty goes up when it’s the opening game of a new season. Both sides will have key personnel to bed in and consequently some adaptations to make before they hit full tilt. Ideally you wouldn’t schedule the league’s marquee fixture on the opening day when both teams are likely to be a little under done. You can see the thinking behind it, and some of the promotion around the new season has been more noticeable with this match, the Hull derby and Warrington versus Leeds all on the first weekend. Yet I can’t help but feel we will get lower quality versions of these match-ups than we might see when they meet later in the season. Saints v Wigan will be intense, but expect a high error count especially if the forecasted wintry conditions materialise.
All that said I can’t possibly start the season by suggesting a home loss in a derby so I’m going for Saints to edge it by six. Hopefully without the need for a Golden Point. There’s nothing wrong with a draw and anyway, it’s absolutely blue out there.
Squads;
St Helens;
Jonny Lomax, Tommy Makinson, Kevin Naiqama, Mark Percival, Regan Grace, Theo Fages, Danny Richardson, Alex Walmsley, James Roby, Luke Thompson, Zeb Taia, Joseph Paulo, Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Morgan Knowles, Dominique Peyroux, Matty Lees, Jack Ashworth, Lachlan Coote.
Wigan Warriors;
Joe Bullock, Tony Clubb, Tom Davies, Morgan Escare, Liam Farrell, Ben Flower, Oliver Gildart, Joe Greenwood, Gabe Hamlin, Zak Hardaker, Willie Isa, Thomas Leuleuai, Liam Marshall, Romain Navarrete, Sean O’Loughlin, Sam Powell, Dan Sarginson, Talima Tautai, George Williams.
Referee: Robert Hicks
Widdop Joins The Wire
Yesterday saw the announcement that England half or fullback Gareth Widdop will be joining Warrington for the start of the 2020 season on a three-year deal. All of which has caused the kind of hysteria you would expect from Wolves fans who live in a perpetual state of optimism.
Irrespective of how many knocks they take Wire fans have absolute conviction that the next year will be their year. Some have a self-mocking charm about them while others are off the scale delusional. The latter group will be worse than ever when Widdop rocks up at the Haliwell Jones Stadium in a year’s time. It was almost their year in 2018 but the poor bleeders had to look on helplessly as Catalans Dragons spoiled their Challenge Cup dreams at Wembley before Wigan edged them out 12-4 in the Super League Grand Final at Old Trafford. Warrington have lost four of the last six major finals, twice losing both major finals in the same season in the last three campaigns It is never their year.
Whether he plays as a fullback, stand-off or scrum-half for Warrington Widdop is likely to be the best in his position in Super League in 2020. Yet having just spent the last 12 months witnessing Ben Barba fail to lift either the Challenge Cup or a Super League title we Saints fans can assure our Wire friends that having the best player in the competition guarantees nothing. Especially in our system in which you are required to gamble a whole season’s work on one night in October.
Before he arrives in England Widdop has the 2019 season to get through in the NRL with St.George-Illawarra. He has just had major shoulder surgery which kept him out of England’s test series with New Zealand in the autumn. The shoulder needs to hold up through the rigours of a tough campaign if he is to have the impact that we think he might. While it is great to see top NRL stars choosing to play in England without first having failed a drugs test or interfered with an animal, the idea that Widdop is Super League’s biggest ever signing is hyperbole. He’s not even the biggest name to sign for Warrington even if some Wire fans appear to have forgotten all about Alfie Langer and Andrew Johns. Others throughout Super League history like Barba, Steve Renouf, Trent Barrett and Danny Buderus were all equally if not more star-sprinkled than Widdop.
The hysteria is fuelled by the rugby league journalists. Yet it’s hard to criticise them for someone like me who spends far too much time advising them on Twitter that they should stop talking the game down. And while they’re at it stop blowing smoke up the arse of rugby union. So while it is nice to see a little rooftop-shouting from our game’s media it should come with a note of caution for Wire fans. This isn’t the most seismic thing to happen in the Super League era. No doubt Widdop will raise attendances at the Haliwell Jones and provide as many memorable moments as Barba did at Saints. In his own style. He’s not one for scoring from 90 metres while appearing to jog. But if you want playoffs as opposed to a first past the post system then you have to take on board the idea that signing Widdop doesn’t improve Warrington’s chances of breaking their finals hoodoo very much at all. They’re still Warrington. It’s probably not going to be their year.
Irrespective of how many knocks they take Wire fans have absolute conviction that the next year will be their year. Some have a self-mocking charm about them while others are off the scale delusional. The latter group will be worse than ever when Widdop rocks up at the Haliwell Jones Stadium in a year’s time. It was almost their year in 2018 but the poor bleeders had to look on helplessly as Catalans Dragons spoiled their Challenge Cup dreams at Wembley before Wigan edged them out 12-4 in the Super League Grand Final at Old Trafford. Warrington have lost four of the last six major finals, twice losing both major finals in the same season in the last three campaigns It is never their year.
Whether he plays as a fullback, stand-off or scrum-half for Warrington Widdop is likely to be the best in his position in Super League in 2020. Yet having just spent the last 12 months witnessing Ben Barba fail to lift either the Challenge Cup or a Super League title we Saints fans can assure our Wire friends that having the best player in the competition guarantees nothing. Especially in our system in which you are required to gamble a whole season’s work on one night in October.
Before he arrives in England Widdop has the 2019 season to get through in the NRL with St.George-Illawarra. He has just had major shoulder surgery which kept him out of England’s test series with New Zealand in the autumn. The shoulder needs to hold up through the rigours of a tough campaign if he is to have the impact that we think he might. While it is great to see top NRL stars choosing to play in England without first having failed a drugs test or interfered with an animal, the idea that Widdop is Super League’s biggest ever signing is hyperbole. He’s not even the biggest name to sign for Warrington even if some Wire fans appear to have forgotten all about Alfie Langer and Andrew Johns. Others throughout Super League history like Barba, Steve Renouf, Trent Barrett and Danny Buderus were all equally if not more star-sprinkled than Widdop.
The hysteria is fuelled by the rugby league journalists. Yet it’s hard to criticise them for someone like me who spends far too much time advising them on Twitter that they should stop talking the game down. And while they’re at it stop blowing smoke up the arse of rugby union. So while it is nice to see a little rooftop-shouting from our game’s media it should come with a note of caution for Wire fans. This isn’t the most seismic thing to happen in the Super League era. No doubt Widdop will raise attendances at the Haliwell Jones and provide as many memorable moments as Barba did at Saints. In his own style. He’s not one for scoring from 90 metres while appearing to jog. But if you want playoffs as opposed to a first past the post system then you have to take on board the idea that signing Widdop doesn’t improve Warrington’s chances of breaking their finals hoodoo very much at all. They’re still Warrington. It’s probably not going to be their year.
Shuffling The Pack
It’s been a quiet winter at Saints. Much of the recruitment for the 2019 season had been done well before I was forced to hold hands and sing auld lang syne. Though not before Jools Holland recorded the hootenanny. Kevin Naiqama, Lachlan Coote and Joseph Paulo have arrived from the NRL with Joe Batchelor coming in from York City Knights. Jon Wilkin, Ben Barba and Matty Smith have all moved on while Ryan Morgan will spend the season on loan at London Broncos.
So the only business that remained was to tie up existing players on extended contracts or else offload those who may not be part of Justin Holbrook’s plans. It was persistently suggested that Kyle Amor would leave the club after four years and a Grand Final win to add to last season’s League Leaders Shield. London and Salford were touted as possible destinations for the former Wakefield man. Yet he remains, preferring to fight for his place rather than uproot his family.
Amor’s mission just got that bit more difficult as we swing around wildly to the point of this piece. Saints announced this week that they had given contract extensions to two of Amor’s direct competitors for a place in the front row. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook will now be a Saint until the end of 2020 while Matty Lees has signed a deal running to the end of 2021. They join Jack Ashworth, Luke Douglas and fit-again Alex Walmsley in a group of front row forwards that offers as much if not more depth than that of any other a Super League club.
Both new deals will be widely welcomed I’m sure, though it remains a mystery to me how McCarthy Scarsbrook can be entering into a deal which will see him complete 10 years at the club. The former London man managed to mention the prospect of receiving a testimonial before that of winning some more silverware with Saints, though he did regather himself enough to point out that the latter aim was the more important one. Like Amor, that 2014 double of League Leaders Shield and Grand Final are the only medals that McCarthy-Scarsbrook has collected since his debut in 2011. That he has been offered a new deal ahead of Amor is what old fashioned speakers might call much of a muchness to me. Amor might consider himself a little unfortunate. Perhaps McCarthy-Scarsbrook’s ability to operate at loose forward or as a wide running second row have got him the nod over Amor, whose approach to the defensive line with ball in hand was never reminiscent of Adrian Morley’s, but which seems to have slowed even further in recent years. McCarthy-Scarsbrook will run in harder, though in truth you’d be forgiven for thinking that the main difference between the two Irish internationals is their hairstyles. McCarthy-Scarsbrook’s histrionics, high-fives and propensity to swear in front of a camera have made him a crowd favourite, while a Amor’s unspectacular workhorse approach is less popular.
Now here’s something we can all agree on. Keeping Lees at the club for at least the next three seasons is a very good, if rather obvious move. Lees broke into the Saints first team in 2017 and became a squad regular in 2018 under Holbrook. With Walmsley injured Lees and Ashworth showed that they can be counted on to be part of the prop rotation on a regular basis in a Super League. Lees has only made 20 appearances for the first team but could become a key man in the pack in 2019 even with the return of a Walmsley and what we all hope will be the continuation of Luke Thompson’s world class form.
Lees will be 21 just a few days after Wigan come to town for the opening game of the 2019 Super a League season and alongside Thompson and Ashworth should be the future of the Saints front row. No less a figure than Saints legend Paul Sculthorpe named Lees as the best player on and off the pitch on the recent England Knights tour to Papua New Guinea. This could be the year that Lees follows Thompson and Walmsley into the full England side, especially if he can stay disciplined without losing the aggression that characterises his game. He was heavily criticised for a red card he received at Salford last term but under the guidance of Holbrook there is every reason to believe that those sorts of flaws can be eradicated from his game.
So the only business that remained was to tie up existing players on extended contracts or else offload those who may not be part of Justin Holbrook’s plans. It was persistently suggested that Kyle Amor would leave the club after four years and a Grand Final win to add to last season’s League Leaders Shield. London and Salford were touted as possible destinations for the former Wakefield man. Yet he remains, preferring to fight for his place rather than uproot his family.
Amor’s mission just got that bit more difficult as we swing around wildly to the point of this piece. Saints announced this week that they had given contract extensions to two of Amor’s direct competitors for a place in the front row. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook will now be a Saint until the end of 2020 while Matty Lees has signed a deal running to the end of 2021. They join Jack Ashworth, Luke Douglas and fit-again Alex Walmsley in a group of front row forwards that offers as much if not more depth than that of any other a Super League club.
Both new deals will be widely welcomed I’m sure, though it remains a mystery to me how McCarthy Scarsbrook can be entering into a deal which will see him complete 10 years at the club. The former London man managed to mention the prospect of receiving a testimonial before that of winning some more silverware with Saints, though he did regather himself enough to point out that the latter aim was the more important one. Like Amor, that 2014 double of League Leaders Shield and Grand Final are the only medals that McCarthy-Scarsbrook has collected since his debut in 2011. That he has been offered a new deal ahead of Amor is what old fashioned speakers might call much of a muchness to me. Amor might consider himself a little unfortunate. Perhaps McCarthy-Scarsbrook’s ability to operate at loose forward or as a wide running second row have got him the nod over Amor, whose approach to the defensive line with ball in hand was never reminiscent of Adrian Morley’s, but which seems to have slowed even further in recent years. McCarthy-Scarsbrook will run in harder, though in truth you’d be forgiven for thinking that the main difference between the two Irish internationals is their hairstyles. McCarthy-Scarsbrook’s histrionics, high-fives and propensity to swear in front of a camera have made him a crowd favourite, while a Amor’s unspectacular workhorse approach is less popular.
Now here’s something we can all agree on. Keeping Lees at the club for at least the next three seasons is a very good, if rather obvious move. Lees broke into the Saints first team in 2017 and became a squad regular in 2018 under Holbrook. With Walmsley injured Lees and Ashworth showed that they can be counted on to be part of the prop rotation on a regular basis in a Super League. Lees has only made 20 appearances for the first team but could become a key man in the pack in 2019 even with the return of a Walmsley and what we all hope will be the continuation of Luke Thompson’s world class form.
Lees will be 21 just a few days after Wigan come to town for the opening game of the 2019 Super a League season and alongside Thompson and Ashworth should be the future of the Saints front row. No less a figure than Saints legend Paul Sculthorpe named Lees as the best player on and off the pitch on the recent England Knights tour to Papua New Guinea. This could be the year that Lees follows Thompson and Walmsley into the full England side, especially if he can stay disciplined without losing the aggression that characterises his game. He was heavily criticised for a red card he received at Salford last term but under the guidance of Holbrook there is every reason to believe that those sorts of flaws can be eradicated from his game.
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