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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