5 Talking Points From Saints 26 London Broncos 0

A Perfect Ten

Another week, another routine win for a Saints side gathering Big Mo Mentum. This 26-0 success over London Broncos was Saints fifth win in a row to start the 2019 campaign, giving them a perfect 10 points out of 10 on the league table. Justin Holbrook’s side are now the only side who can boast a 100% record in Super League after a banged up Castleford Tigers lost 24-10 at Warrington on Thursday (March 7). The Wire had seen their own perfect start go up in smoke a week previously when they went down 23-22 to Catalans Dragons in Perpignan.

Saints scored five tries against Danny Ward’s Broncos outfit while defensively the shutout means Holbrook’s men have conceded just four points since shipping 22 in the first half against Leeds Rhinos two and a half games ago. Dominique Peyroux, Theo Fages, Regan Grace, Kevin Naiqama and Lachlan Coote all crossed for Saints. The latter, who has been mentioned in dispatches for inclusion in the Great Britain squad for the winter tour of New Zealand and Papua New Guinea due to his qualification for Scotland, kicked three from five goal attempts and was just shaded to the Man Of The Match award by the busy, industrious and skilled Fages.

A Slight Niggle....Or Rotation?

Holbrook had spoken this week on the subject of squad rotation. It is felt by many that the reason Saints could not keep their 2018 regular season form going into the Super 8s and Super League semi-finals was that key players were never given a rest by the Australian coach. A 30-game season, plus a cup run to the semi-finals was thought to have taken its toll on Saints who went down rather meekly to Warrington in the last four before the Grand Final. Yet Holbrook insisted this week that he was not overly concerned about fatigue possibly setting in. He remained adamant that players would not be rested and that only injuries or suspensions would see his regulars miss out. It’s too early in the season, he explained, adding that players should not need to be rested for the London game having only played four games prior to the visit of the newly-promoted side.

And yet when the teams were announced an hour before kick-off one name was glaringly absent from the 17. James Roby has been busy building an impressive lead in the new Steve Prescott Man Of Steel scoring system. It seemed the only way to give other players a chance to catch Roby was for the Saints skipper to miss out. His performance in last week’s 26-4 win at Salford was typically masterful and there has been every reason to believe he could continue his record of collecting Man Of Steel points in each of Saints Super League games so far. That is until he was omitted with what was described as a ‘slight niggle’.

The explanation fit the criteria that Holbrook had laid down for leaving his top stars out. If there was an injury doubt about Roby it was exactly the right call to give him the week off. However you don’t have to be as cynical as this scribe to wonder about the omission of a player whose ability to play 80 minutes has never been questioned but nor has it always been considered the best thing for his career. It’s a coincidence that Roby develops a slight niggle in the week that Holbrook speaks out against a rotation policy and in which Saints get a visit from one of the favourites to finish bottom of the pile this year, even if it was a team coming in off the back of a memorable win over Wigan.

It is to be hoped that whatever niggle Roby has is indeed only slight and that he will be available for this week’s trip to Huddersfield Giants. They too prepared for a clash with Saints by beating Wigan but they look a slightly more genuine threat than the Broncos, particularly on their own patch.

Should Smith Now Be A Regular In The 17?

In Roby’s absence Aaron Smith grabbed a first Super League start of the season at hooker. Smith has spent much of 2019 so far on dual registration with Leigh Centurions. He did not seem close to a first team recall, and even his regular gig at Leigh was thrown into doubt when the Centurions acquired Liam Hood from Widnes in the aftermath of the Vikings’ brush with extinction. Yet one slight niggle later and Smith was elevated straight into Saints first 13.

The results will have given Holbrook something to think about. At 33 Roby could do with a capable back-up to help reduce his minutes and so maximise his impact when he is on the field. None of Stuart Howarth, Tommy Lee or Theo Fages have fit the bill since an ageing Kieron Cunningham shared playing time with the young prodigy Roby almost a decade ago. Until now Roby’s superhuman efforts have allowed Saints to largely get away without that quality back-up, but in Smith they may have at last found someone who can maybe take on that role for a spell before assuming the starting job once Roby signs off. Thirty-one tackles, just two misses, a couple of tackle busts, a clean break, five runs from dummy half and an average gain of 7.43 metres per carry represent a very promising stat line for the youngster who made his Super League debut on loan at Hull KR last term. Only the allegedly lazy malingerer Zeb Taia and Morgan Knowles managed more tackles than Smith in the Saints side, while only Tommy Makinson and Naiqama picked up more ground per carry.

With Fages now seemingly settled in the halfback role Holbrook could do a lot worse than find a regular spot on his bench for Smith. Yet with so many props to try to keep happy now there must still be doubts about whether he will do that. As well as Smith the likes of Kyle Amor, Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Jack Ashworth, Matty Lees and Luke Douglas will all feel that they have a case for regular inclusion in the match day squad. Holbrook faces tough selection decisions every week. As long as he has a fit Roby to call on he may still feel it is best to hold Smith back. How long he can do that for is another question.

Easy On The Knowles Hype

I want to talk to you about Morgan Knowles. But first of all a cautionary tale. Do you remember last season when Danny Richardson slotted into the Saints halfback position and helped the side to a League Leaders Shield? The talk then was of comparisons to the great Sean Long, especially with the man himself on the coaching staff. Surely it could only aid Richardson’s development into a world superstar? Hmm...well......

It hasn’t quite turned out that way. Fast forward a few months and a fit again Richardson is plying his trade at Leigh on dual registration, kept out of the Saints first team by a resurgent Fages. Richardson’s prospects of an immediate recall appear bleak. He has a lot of work to do to avoid being remembered on the excellent Saints Heritage site as something of a one season wonder, someone who’s star shone brightly and briefly never to reach those heights again.

Which brings me back to Knowles. The Welsh international has been around the first team for a little longer than Richardson has so far managed. This year he has been promoted to the starting line-up now that Jon Wilkin is no longer around, even fighting off competition for that spot from Saints new signing from Cronulla Joseph Paulo. He is always in the thoughts off most fans when discussion turns to the standout performers each week and it is easy to see why. He has a stunning work ethic which has seen him average 42 tackles per game in 2019. No other Saint can match that and only four players have got through more than Knowles’ 210 in the whole of Super League.

Yet as talk of a Great Britain call-up and comparisons to Sean O’Loughlin intensify, here are some other Knowles stats. One try. No assists. Only six tackle busts with no clean breaks and only two offloads. Knowles has no short kicking game either, a fact referenced by his grand total of no attacking kicks. I’ve never seen him beat a man, never seen him pass to anyone but the next person in the line, and if he’s playing 13 as an auxiliary prop as is the modern way then he needs to improve on the 254 metres he has made in the first five outings. To put that into context Tai’a has 602 metres, Luke Thompson 540, McCarthy-Scarsbrook 471 and Alex Walmsley 466. So if Knowles doesn’t make metres like a prop and he doesn’t have the creative skills of a traditional loose forward he’s basically keeping his place through the sheer defensive workload he gets through. For that reason he should be in the 17 every week. Defence win games and ultimately, championships.

All I’m asking is that before we ruin him and turn him into a foot note in the club’s history can we stop acting like he’s Ellery Hanley?

Is The Job About To Get Tougher?

Relatively plain sailing then for Saints who are averaging 25 points per game in attack (which would be more if they had improved on an overall goal kicking success rate of 56%) and who have the league’s best defence with only 56 points conceded at an average of only just over 11 per game. If you are conceding 11 points each week you are going to win far more games than you lose. The next best rearguard belongs to Castleford Tigers who are giving up just short of 14 points per outing.

Yet some of these stats are perhaps best viewed in the context of the strength of the opponents. Saints have only faced one of the other four sides occupying the top 5 playoff places in the shape of Salford and get set to face another basement dweller when they visit the bottom-placed Giants this week. The unexpected struggles of Wigan and Leeds have helped soften Saints early season schedule, but there are perhaps tougher battles to come. After Huddersfield Saints visit Castleford before hosting Hull KR. Rovers have an encouraging three wins out of six so far this year and their visit is followed by a trip to Perpignan to face Catalans Dragons for the red eve. The Dragons’ 46-0 home pounding by Salford looks something of a freak so an easy ride should not be expected there. Then come Warrington at home on April 12 before the Good Friday reunion with what by then will surely be a much improved Wigan outfit.

If there is still a zero in the loss column following the Easter programme we can be extremely confident, provided the lessons from the back end of last year have been learned.