5 Talking Points From Salford 4 Saints 26

Just........James Roby!!

This was a fine win for Justin a Holbrook’s side but it was not the kind of weather for the free-flowing rugby league that we enjoy most. It rained pretty much relentlessly from midday ahead of the 7.45 kick-off and continued throughout the game. Yet it was Saints who adapted better to the conditions, scoring five tries to Salford’s one.

Leading the way was skipper James Roby, who once again turned in the kind of performance that sparks debate about whether he or Kieron Cunningham is Saints greatest ever number nine. That Roby is even mentioned in the same breath as Cunningham is testament to the greatness of the 33-year-old, now in his sixteenth season with Saints since making his debut in 2004. To put that into context Tony Blair was still Prime Minister at that time, Wayne Rooney was a precocious teenager and Snoop Dogg was dropping it like it was very warm indeed.

As we were constantly reminded by soon to be retired commentator Eddie Hemings Roby had never scored at the AJ Bell Stadium. He broke that duck with two here. The second was a phenomenal effort, supporting Tommy Makinson’s break late in the game to plunge over from Lachlan Cooke’s dummy half pass. Most other players on both sides had given the play up but Roby’s desire and his almost child-like enthusiasm to keep playing saw him rewarded. That came after he’d made 50 tackles in defence and 82 metres with ball in hand including 10 runs from dummy half. He shows no signs of slowing down and will probably surpass Cunningham’s 17 seasons in the red vee by the time he calls it quits. That he is still playing 80 minutes in the hooking position at this stage of his career is staggering. It’s an early call but the new Steve Prescott Man Of Steel points system should see Roby collect the award for a second time if he stays fit. After all, when was the last time you saw a Saints game featuring Roby in which he was not one of the top three performers? It’s rare simply because he operates on a different level to most current Super League players both in terms of quality and consistency.

Defence, Defence, Defence....

Given the rotten weather there’s a good argument that defending was somewhat easier than it might have been. The ball isn’t shifted or offloaded quite so much in the wet and it is more difficult for attacking players to change direction quickly in heavy conditions. Yet a tackle success rate of 91.7% is still an outrageously good effort from Saints as a team. As well as Roby’s half century Dominique Peyroux weighed in with 40, Morgan Knowles 38, Theo Fages 36, Zeb Taia and Matty Costello 32 each, Luke Thompson 30 and Joseph Paul 29. That little collective missed just 13 between them, with Taia responsible for six of those. Incidentally Roby missed not a single one, and of the others only Thompson (2) missed more than one.

Tackling stats give you an indication of how your team is performing defensively, but of course the most important defensive stat is the number of points on the board for the opposition. Since shipping in 22 points in less than 20 minutes at home to Leeds Rhinos last week Saints have conceded just four points in 120 minutes of rugby. There was even an element of doubt about those four as Derrell Olpherts appeared to knock the ball on into Mark Percival before regathering to score for Salford. In all Saints concede an average of 14 points per game this season so far, and have conceded fewer points than all but Castleford, Warrington and Catalans all of whom have played one game less than Saints at the time of writing. Saints have had a huge appetite for defending their line over the last game and a half. If they can keep that mentality for the duration of the season they won’t be that far away when the pots are handed out.

Did Costello Take His Chance?

When Kevin Naiqama was hit by the Luke Thompson Express in just the second minute of last week’s win over Leeds it was always going to cause a problem on the night. Ryan Morgan is on loan at London while Costello had not been included in the 17 with a view to playing on dual registration for Leigh against Toronto a couple of days later. Though it was too late for the Leeds game Naiqama’s injury saw Costello pulled from the Leigh squad. He was about to get his opportunity. Holbrook confirmed this early in the week as fan debates about which of Makinson, Peyroux, James Bentley or McCarthy-Scarsbrook would get the nod still somehow raged on.

It was the right call in my opinion, irrespective of Costello’s performance. He’s either a centre or a fullback, and his prospects of getting a game in the latter role are slim and none. Coote, Jonny Lomax and Makinson all look to be ahead of Costello in that queue. Meanwhile with just Percival and Naiqama ahead of him at centre he has to be given that opportunity when one of those two is unavailable. Otherwise what is the point of having him at the club? If Holbrook doesn’t use him in those circumstances he might as well move him on and spend the cap money elsewhere. In selecting him Holbrook put a round peg in a round hole and, more importantly, showed faith in a product of a youth system which the club takes great pride in and which is the envy of many clubs in all sports across the land.

Costello justified his selection to an extent anyway. Eight carries for 39 metres perhaps shows his limitations as a strike centre but I think if you asked most Saints fans going into the game what they most wanted from Costello it would have been to contain opposite number Junior Sa’u. I had grave concerns for Costello in handling the former New Zealand international. At one point I was considering starting a #prayformatty hashtag but then I realised I’m not the sort of person who starts hashtags. Prayers would have been entirely superfluous in any case. One missed tackle from 33 attempts speaks volumes. Compare that to Sau’s three missed tackles from only 13 attempts and you get some context on Costello’s defensive effort. Moreover, Sa’u was restricted to 73 metres on 14 carries and came no closer to a clean break than Costello. The jury is still out on whether Costello has a long term future at Saints but he showed in this one, as he has before, that he won’t let anyone down while he’s here.

Is It Time For Squad Rotation?

Saints play host to London Broncos next week. Brian Clough once memorably reminded us that they don’t play ball games on paper but any reasonable analysis of the two squads and their relative form seems to point to a routine Saints win. With that in mind, can Holbrook afford to take a few risks with his team selection?

One of the reasons cited for Saints semi-Final defeat to Warrington last term was Holbrook’s reluctance to rest players. Saints stormed the league but looked spent by the end of the 18-13 loss to the Wolves which ended Grand Final hopes at the last four stage for the fourth consecutive season. It’s a riddle that needs solving if the excellent Holbrook’s time with Saints is to be remembered as a success.

We’re only four games in but Holbrook has again kept changes to a minimum in 2019. Costello came in only because of Naiqama’s injury, otherwise it’s been the same 17 men who have led Saints to four wins out of four. Those on the fringe have been sent to Leigh Centurions to get game time. Holbrook isn’t big on resting players.

Yet if that’s his rigid philosophy there is still some scope for changing it up in terms of which players turn out for Leigh next week and which players face the Broncos. Kyle Amor is one who has had several offers of a lift to Leigh from fans keen to see Jack Ashworth given an opportunity. Ashworth had a breakout year at prop last year and must be a little frustrated to find himself out of the first team picture, while Luke Douglas probably didn’t imagine spending time in England’s second tier when he left the NRL. Zeb Taia is another who could soon be ousted by Bentley or Joe Batchelor so why not find out this week how close he might be to that fate?

Risk is the short answer. Unlikely as it is there is a chance that a significantly weakened Saints side could come unstuck to a London side that has already seen off Wakefield this season. Should that happen the pressure will ramp up on Holbrook and on the players amid the social media meltdown. We’re just not grown up enough as a fan base to accept a home defeat to London or, arguably, a win that is anything less than a stellar points-fest. Even in a competition which will be decided by knockout playoff games at the end of the year and not by league position. Same again, then?

Widnes Crisis Shines A Light On Our Good Fortune

The next time you feel like having that meltdown have a minute, relax, take a deep breath and remember that you don’t support Widnes Vikings. The club that was world champions 30 years ago has had the kind of week that Craig David will never endure, bobbing along as he does meeting girls on Monday, taking them for drinks on Tuesday, making love on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday before chilling on Sunday. Just days before the Vikings were due to take on Sheffield Eagles it was revealed that the person pulling the purse strings at the club formerly known as the Chemics had yanked all the money away for themselves. The club faced the very real threat of liquidation.

Not everyone felt sorry for them. Generally the response from people within the game was overwhelmingly positive, sympathetic and helpful. Yet not everyone felt sorry for them. Club legend Martin Offiah couldn’t even find it in his heart to retweet a request for help. Quite something when you consider the amount of self-serving bilge that does appear on the self-appointed great man’s Twitter feed. Yet happily the club have been saved from a fate worse than a fate worse than Marwan Koukash by a three-man consortium. They’ve copped a 12-point penalty for going into administration which will make survival in the Championship tricky, while jobs behind the scenes have been lost. Yet compared to what could have happened they may have got off lightly. They could have been forced to start a new venture from the very bottom rung of the ladder, all but erasing over a century of history. Now they need to keep playing departures to a minimum to stay competitive and get some fan representation on the board to keep a closer eye on what is being decided by the money men. It’s not straightforward but there is plenty of hope.

The moral of this story is that you should never take your club for granted. At the moment we have a competitive team, our own stadium and an owner and board who are in it for the love of the club more than their own benefit. This is not a plea for you to pump your hard earned into the club by going to more games, subscribing to Sky or buying some of the dubious quality merchandise in the club shop. It’s just a suggestion that you should, every now and again, take a moment to appreciate what we have at Saints. Even if we do suffer that unlikely defeat at home to London.......