We Need To Talk About Expansion

I know, this is supposed to be a blog about Saints but every so often there is a hot topic which concerns all clubs and which it would be remiss to ignore. That happened this week as Toronto Wolfpack played their first home league game of the 2019 season.

That fixture, a 52-10 win over Swinton Lions, brought the subject of expansion back sharply into focus. It has been claimed that a Championship record crowd of 9,562 were on hand at the Lamport Stadium for the Canadian club’s home opener. Glibly, and with deep regret in hindsight, I happened to opine on Twitter that it was possible that not everybody had paid the full price for their ticket. I also asked an awkward question about why it is that one club, the Wolfpack, are allowed to wait until the end of April before they have to bother hosting a league game.

Now as you can imagine this did not go down well with the growing number of expansionists on my Twitter feed. The idea that anyone got in to the ground for less than what you would consider a regular admission price was met with a mixture of denial and shrugs. Apparently people are happy enough if the only way we can fill our stadia is to let people in for free or at a heavily discounted rate. I’ve been advised by more than one person who is just desperate for a weekend in Toronto that these things don’t matter, that there is a bigger picture. Furthermore I have been told that it is not in any way unfair on anyone else to let Toronto move their schedule around as and when it suits them. Which is an interesting point of view when you consider that some teams therefore will have to make the trip to Canada to take on what is easily the strongest side in the division, and to do so with all of the logistical challenges that presents, while others don’t have to bother. At the same time, some fans get to enjoy a trip to Toronto if that is the sort of thing that floats their boat, while others will be denied the opportunity. But yes, all perfectly above board, nothing to see here.



I also, foolishly given the barrage of abuse that was about to come my way, questioned Toronto’s adherence to the rules on quotas which the rest of the RFL’s mere mortal members have to abide by. I was advised, with rather more glee than was justifiable given the lack of Canadian players in the Toronto team, that they adhere to the same quota rules that everyone else does. This came as a great surprise to me and I must admit left me feeling foolish that I hadn’t understood what the definition of a Canadian player is. For the record, if I’m reading this right regarding the quotas, the definition of a Canadian player is one who is absolutely in no way Canadian and who may or may not have been there to play for the Wolfpack previously. Or on a holiday to Niagara Falls with his mum and dad when he was seven years old. It was a relief to have that cleared up.



Another complaint on my boring list (I was asked during this whole charade why it is that I hate fun) was that the emergence of non-UK sides within the RFL structure increases the chances of a World League model taking hold. NFL fans may remember that such luminaries as the Rhein Fire, Barcelona Dragons, London Monarchs and Frankfurt Somethingorothers were all part of a World League of American football. The league gasped its final breath in 2007 after 16 years, many of which were spent in decline as the novelty wore off. Now here we are in rugby league looking to copy the model, with potentially Super League teams in not only Toronto, New York, Boston, Ottawa, Toulouse and of course the Catalans Dragons in Perpignan all in the mix. This soul-less bowl of piss is apparently what your modern day rugby league fans want because….well….why? Oh, because the sponsors….that’s why. The argument goes that the current rugby league set-up, the one which has just witnessed a record aggregate crowd for the Easter double header, is on its proverbial derriere. So you see we have to sell our soul to exist. It’s a price well worth paying, right? If we can get Coca-Cola and McDonald’s on board instead of Bigga Peas and Cash Converters it’s a win, right? Not for me actually.

At the risk of being labelled a flat-capper by the ever so progressive expansionists, what about history? What about tradition? What many fans of traditional RL clubs fail to realise is that far from enjoying their jolly to Toronto five years from now, they may face a fight to keep the club they love within the boundaries of the town it represents. Are towns like St.Helens, Wigan, Castleford and Warrington really sexy enough for a brand that will also feature major North American cities and beauty spots in France? It may seem unimaginable to fans now, but the logical conclusion to following the American and Australian model of sporting structures is that no team is safe in its current location or its current form. In those countries teams that are not making anyone rich are just uprooted and moved to an area where businessmen feel they will be more appreciated. So if you want to rip the soul out of your sport for profit then you go for it. I’m just not coming along for the ride.



Through all this, and despite being compared to frog-faced people-hater Nigel Farage I am not against expansion or the creation of rugby league clubs in North America. Quite the opposite. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could envisage a time when the Super League winners jetted off to play in a meaningful international club competition against the winners of the NRL and the winners of a professional North American league? Again I am scolded for my idiocy on this one, assured by everyone that such a venture could never work financially and that entry into the UK structure is the only way that this expansion thing is going to fly.



Repeatedly I have asked whether the inability of North America and France to form professional leagues is a good enough indicator that there is therefore not the required interest in the sport. Repeatedly I am told that there is interest, but that they ‘need’ the exposure of an established league in order to prosper. But hang on, our league and our sport in this country is failing isn’t it? Why would you want to be associated with something that is so manifestly awful when you have the chance to establish something wonderful of your own?

The French situation particularly baffles me. As soon as Catalans Dragons were entered into Super League that sounded the death knell for any hopes of a professional French league. Now any French kids growing up playing rugby league aspire to play in Super League for Catalans or Toulouse. Having gained entry into the UK structure those clubs ain’t coming out to take what they would see as the financial risk of trying to get a pro league off the ground. And don’t forget, they can’t possibly start a pro league anyway because rugby league was banned in France 20,000 years ago, a blow from which it could never possibly recover. But start a team in Toronto and attract fans to it for a fixture against little known Swinton? Yeah, that is perfectly plausible. It happened.

So with France we will see the same thing in North America. Its supporters insidiously suggest that a North American league is their endgame but it is absolutely not. Once they are in the UK structure they are not coming out. Their endgame is the World League model, and guess what St Helens, you better have a serious make-over or you are not getting in, you hear me? It is the reason why New Zealand Warriors will never leave the NRL, leaving a nation which won the World Cup as recently as 2008 without a league that could hold the proverbial candle to the NRL or even Super League. In approaching expansion the way we are suggesting we are teaching everyone who wants to participate in or watch rugby league that the only places worth doing so in are the UK and Australia. An opportunity to expand will instead become the fucking boat race, only two competitors sharing all the attention, finance, bells and whistles between them.

As you were then. We can get back to talking about Saints now. If you haven’t already, check out this week’s 5 Talking Points blatherings from the big win over Expansions Catalans Dragons, and don’t forget to hit and like the That Saints Blog You Quite Like’s Facebook page….

5 Talking Points From Saints 50 Catalans Dragons 14

Saints Show Squad Depth

We were expecting changes for this one. Mark Percival, Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook and Luke Thompson were already ruled out with injuries while Morgan Knowles had picked up a one-match ban for a challenge on Albert Kelly in the Easter Monday drubbing of Hull FC. When Justin Holbrook named his 19-man squad for the visit of Catalans Dragons the names of James Roby and Tommy Makinson were also missing. There was no mention of any of the ‘slight niggles’ that have plagued Roby since we ran out of steam at the end of the 2018 campaign, so the assumption was that the England hooker was merely being rested for the battles ahead. Makinson had left the field early in the Hull game with back spasms and his exclusion was no real surprise either.

All of that was just about manageable, but when the match day 17 was announced on Sunday there were one or two other nasty surprises awaiting the Saints fans. Neither Lachlan Coote nor Jonny Lomax would be on deck for the visit of Steve McNamara’s side. Both had been nigh on unplayable in the 62-16 peppering of the black and whites. Add those in to the lack of a first choice winger, centre, stand-off, prop, hooker and loose forward and you are down to what Harry Redknapp used to refer to as ‘the bare bones’ before he went out and signed four Lithuanian left-backs on deadline day. The only good news was that Theo Fages returned from the hip injury which had kept him out of the last clash with the Dragons as well as the meetings with Warrington, Wigan and Hull FC.

For Saints to rack up 50 points in the face of this kind of adversity is nothing short of miraculous. Jack Welsby played as if he has played 100 games at fullback in relief of Coote, while Adam Swift has come into the side and scored four tries in two games on the right wing. Matty Costello stepped into Percival’s shoes and grabbed a hat-trick, while stand-in hooker Aaron Smith also crossed for a try as he walked away with sponsors man of the match honours. Matty Lees is a little more experienced now but he continued his development with another start in place of Thompson. A game which had threatened to be a real test of a decimated Saints squad turned out to be a stroll in the sunshine.

Burying The Bogey

Aside from the somewhat scratch side that Holbrook was able to field this week another reason to be wary was Saints’ recent record against the French side. The Dragons are still the only side to beat Saints in 2019 following their 18-10 win in Perpignan three weeks ago. And who can forget the Challenge Cup semi-final of last year when Catalans blew Saints away in the first half to lead by a chilling, Wembley-1989-evoking 27-0 at the break before completing a 35-16 victory? There is something about the Dragons that hasn’t agreed with Saints in recent times.

There wasn’t much of that in evidence yesterday. After going behind early to a Brayden Williame try Saints dominated proceedings. It really was, to wipe myself down with the towel of cliché, champagne stuff at times. Saints scored nine tries, many of which were the product of flowing passing moves and bewildering breaks and offloads. Swift’s twists and turns down the right touchline before setting up Dominique Peyroux for his try was quite the sight to behold.

The Dragons can be dismal travellers and they showed it again here. They lacked the stomach for it when it got difficult and the end result was that a Saints side featuring eight academy graduates (five more were among the list of absentees) cut through them time and time again. It was embarrassing for Catalans and leaves you scratching your head as to how this rag-tag mob ever caused Saints a problem in the last 12 months. It’s always difficult backing up over Easter and so perhaps the fact that Saints had so many fresh faces in the side was a help to them rather than a hindrance. As well as the starters already mentioned Joe Batchelor, Kyle Amor, James Bentley and Jack Ashworth made up the bench. None of those have featured all that heavily this season so far, with Amor in particular having one of his best games to the tune of 131 metres on 16 carries in a cracking little cameo.

Zeb, Zeb, Zeb…..

All Hail Zeb Taia. What a marvellous and under-appreciated player this guy is. Often accused of being lazy because of his languid style and, admittedly, perhaps because of his less than endearing habit of losing concentration when handling the softest lollipop passes imaginable, Taia doesn’t get 5% of the credit he deserves. Even his errors are endearing to me. What could be more Saintsy than a wide-running forward who creates tries, scores tries, and occasionally drops balls that a five-year-old would expect to pouch? We have built our identity on these sorts of players, certainly during my time growing up watching men like George Mann, Derek McVey, Sonny Nickle and Vila Mata’utia.

Taia’s stat-line in this one is nothing short of incredible. He had two assists, one try, 144 metres, 27 tackles, no misses, nine tackle busts, 3 clean breaks and 4 offloads. So roughly the same stats as Morgan Knowles and Joseph Paulo have managed between them during this whole season. Costello’s hat-trick was basically gift-wrapped by Taia. The former Dragon is a proper player and we should star to appreciate him a little bit more. Taia turns 35 at the end of this season so we may not have him around for much longer. That’s ok with the likes of Bentley and Batchelor coming through behind him but my head is still spinning from the social media discussion last week which centred around whether or not we should bring back Joe Greenwood from Wigan. Apparently poor old Joe, who would be unhappy if he fell into a barrel of tits, is unhappy at Wigan. To be fair who wouldn’t be unhappy at bloody Wigan? They’re a shit show. But if you ask me Saints did very well out of the Greenwood/Taia deal.

There will be those who say that this performance is not typical of Taia and that it might have been a one-off. It’s probably fair to say that he won’t score a try, make two assists, three clean breaks and four offloads in every game but that isn’t to say that he doesn’t normally contribute. Perhaps he too read the social media guff about Greenwood last week and felt motivated to remind the Saints fans why he ended up here in the first place. The man is out and out quality, still one of the better second row forwards in the league and massively out-performing Sulky Joe.

Sundays – Yes Or No?

The more perceptive among you will have noticed that this week’s game took place on a Sunday. With all teams in action on Easter Monday there were no Thursday or Friday night games taking place this week, so Saints took the opportunity to try out another Sunday afternoon fixture. Happily the weather co-operated with sunshine throughout even if I did see a brass monkey looking for a welder on the North Stand platform. Over 11,000 were on hand to witness Saints’ destruction of the Dragons so could this become a more regular thing?

Well, that 11,000 figure is always going to be the subject of some debate. I spent a long and laborious evening yesterday ‘debating’ on Twitter with pro-expansionists about the validity of Toronto’s claims to have attracted over 9,000 for their first home game of the season against Swinton. Quite why they are playing their first home game at the end of April is something that would require its own blog, but regardless the figure is undeniably impressive. The problem is that there have been accusations that some fans might not have paid exactly face value for their tickets, which as a long-term strategy is up there with offering a referendum on the EU and then working out how you are going to implement it three years later.

Saints would not have been expecting hordes of French fans to make the journey over to support the Dragons. And why would they? Conventional wisdom now is that the game does not need away fans. It needs teams in exotic cities that nobody can afford to travel to. Away support. Pah, tish and pish to it. So anyway to combat the obvious shortfall in numbers expected from France Saints implemented a scheme aimed at getting community club members in to see their local professional outfit. Tickets were sold at £10 for adults and £5 for children through the local amateur clubs. Half of that money went back into those community clubs, which helps the game throughout not just the town but the whole country. This resulted in a crowd that was something in the region of 2,000 higher than what might otherwise be expected for a Dragons game. Congratulations to everyone involved, so long as they remember that this is no more a long term strategy for Saints than it is for Toronto or anyone else.

Where Is Luke Douglas?

With so many players missing you might have thought that Luke Douglas would be in the reckoning for at least a place on the bench this week. He missed the 19-man list named by Holbrook before the game but we have seen before how that can sometimes not be worth the i-phone it is mashed out on. Many a That Saints Blog You Quite Like preview has been ruined by the smart-arsed-ness of the wild beast that is the Super League coach.

Yet even when Holbrook made further changes to what we expected would be his plans for the Dragons game there was no sign of the former Gold Coast Titan. Douglas was sent on loan to Leigh Centurions at the start of the season. An initial month-long loan deal seemed to make some sense at the time. He was down the pecking order with Walmsley and Thompson the two best front rowers anywhere in Chrissendon, Ashworth and Lees performing admirably in behind those two and even Amor remembering how to punch a hole in the proverbial paper bag without first falling into it. And if that wasn’t enough we had King Louie, his own unique brand of enthusiasm just waiting to be unleashed on an unsuspecting rival crowd. Only two of those six missed the Catalans game as it turned out but when Douglas sees that Holbrook would rather go with two second rowers on the bench (Batchelor and Bentley) ahead of him he must come to the conclusion that his time as a Saint is all but up. He has made no secret of the fact that he intends to head back home to Australia at the end of this season but if he has played his last game for the club then why wait? Other clubs are releasing players now to allow them to make moves for the future. Are we not just wasting time in keeping up the pretence that the Scottish international has a chance of playing for Saints again that is larger than say…..the chances of me riding the winner in next year’s Grand National? That’s not going to happen and not only because I’m five foot nothing with all the balance of a Daily Mail argument on immigration. I also happen to be ideologically opposed to the fucking Grand National. You'll find I'm ideologically opposed to most things.

Anyway, I digress. I just can’t imagine a scenario where Douglas comes back into the reckoning, and that feeling has only been strengthened by the fantastic performances of all our pack players in this one. There have been calls on social media for Danny Richardson to be ‘sent back to Leigh’, although they will have been quietened by the halfback’s excellent performance here, but nobody has ever questioned what Luke Douglas is doing knocking around St Helens. Maybe we are keeping him as a sweetener to Leigh who would not be able to borrow him on dual registration where we to release him. I just hope that isn’t a decision that costs us when it comes to our recruitment for next year as other try to steal a march on us.

Saints v Catalans Dragons - Preview

There are scores to be settled when Saints host Catalans Dragons in a Betfred Super League Round 13 match on Sunday (April 28, kick-off 3.00pm).

The Dragons are the only side to have beaten Saints so far in 2019, running out 18-10 winners in Perpignan three weeks ago. The fixture computer (or a Sky executive with a piece of paper and a pen and a lot of time to kill) has presented Saints with an early chance to avenge that loss, and the one in the Challenge Cup semi-final last season. On that occsion a previously all-conquering Saints side found themselves 27-0 down at half-time to Steve McNamara’s side. Saints eventually lost 35-16 as the Dragons went on to lift the cup at Wembley.

Saints coach Justin Holbrook would no doubt sniff at talk of revenge, focusing instead on the job in hand which is to win the next game in front of his team regardless of their identity or any history which might exist. To that end he has made four changes to the 19-man squad which rolled Hull FC 62-16 on Easter Monday (April 22). Tommy Makinson and Luke Thompson left that game early with back spasms and an ankle problem respectively and so do not make it, while James Roby is rested. Morgan Knowles is suspended for one match after the disciplinary panel took a dim view of his challenge on Albert Kelly.

All of which means a fair amount of reshuffling is required. Matty Costello comes into the reckoning after he was a try-scorer for Leigh Centurions on Easter Monday. He could claim the left centre spot vacated by Mark Percival who remains out with a hamstring injury, while another part-time Centurion James Bentley comes in and could also stake a claim for that spot. Jack Welsby scored a try as a substitute against Lee Radford’s men and started when Percival missed the win over Hull KR through illness at the end of last month. All have a reasonable claim and it is a tricky decision for Holbrook to make.



As is the question of just how to re-introduce Theo Fages. The Frenchman hasn’t played since injuring his hip in that Hull KR win but returns to the 19 this week. Will he immediately reclaim the scrum-half berth that has been recently and quite capably filled by Danny Richardson? Or will Fages be used from the bench? With Roby out and Aaron Smith likely to start at hooker it may be wise to have both Richardson and Fages in the match day 17. Fages can fit in to the team in a number of positions as can his half back partner Jonny Lomax and fullback Lachlan Coote. If Smith needs a spell or for whatever reason it isn’t working with Richardson in the halves alongside Lomax then Fages is an excellent option to have off the bench.

With Thompson, Roby and Knowles out the pack will also have a somewhat different look. Alex Walmsley returns after missing the Hull FC win as does Zeb Taia, while Dominique Peyroux is likely to be promoted from the bench spot he occupied last time out. Joseph Paulo had two fine assists starting at 13 against the black and whites and should be a certainty to start in that position again. Smith should start at hooker after his absence from the match day 17 against Hull FC baffled most observers. The perceived wisdom was that Monday’s game would be the one in which Roby would rest and Smith would see big minutes, but Holbrook has chosen to do things slightly differently. There may be some merit in it too, as plenty of teams have found out to their cost how difficult it is to get up for the game which follows the bank holiday double header. Two games in the space of 72 hours takes a significant mental and physical toll and it can be quite difficult to perform at a high level again the following week. With bigger battles ahead, keeping Roby wrapped in cotton wool is a fair enough decision especially in the context of the current playoff system. Four points clear at the top, a defeat wouldn’t hurt Saints beyond the fact that it would throw up all sorts of ‘oh not bloody them again’ feelings among a fan base left to deal with another defeat by the Dragons. Of course there will be those for whom a defeat will inspire calls for mass sackings, public shamings and beheadings but those people would lurch straight for their keyboards to demand the same kind of ‘justice’ if the team won by anything less than 30 points. In many ways this one isn’t about the performance.



Saints still have Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook out so one bench slot will be filled by Jack Ashworth, one in all probability by Kyle Amor and a third by either Bentley, Jack Welsby or Joe Batchelor who impressed on his debut on Monday. Two of those three may make the 17 if Holbrook takes the gamble of restoring Fages to the starting line-up and omitting Richardson altogether. That seems unlikely, but it isn’t something we can rule out at this stage.

The Dragons, who have just allowed prop Antoni Maria to go out on a month’s loan to Hull KR, are still without wingers Jodie Broughton and Fouad Yaha as well as utility man Ben Garcia and former Wigan rule-bender Michael McIlorum. His old pie-munching accomplices Sam Tomkins and Matty Smith will no doubt feature heavily while Lewis Tierney is another Wigan old boy who is a regular in the Dragons back-line. David Mead’s recent return adds real quality there and in Brayden Williame they have a slightly erratic performer but one who can cause a variety of damage on his good days. The same can be said for look-out-he’s-behind-yous Tony Gigot, while Kenny Edwards and Sam Moa are on few fans’ lists of opposition players they most admire.



For that you have to look at Remi Casty, a man who has seemed to epitomise the physicality and energy of the Dragons during his two spells with the club. Matt Whitley was rated highly by many when he was with Widnes last year and looks to be kicking on in France, while with Julian Bousquet, Benjamin Julien and Jason Baitieri you know what you are getting. Recent signing Sam Kasiano is in the same mould but perhaps with a little bit more of an excitement factor about him. The key man could be Greg Bird, a veteran of Super League and the NRL who can sometimes make Gigot and company look like choir boys but who can also provide that mixture of steel and inspiration that was once the hallmark of a quality loose forward before they all became tackling machines and battering rams.

We have seen how Saints have struggled in more recent times against the Dragons and their overall record against the French side since they joined the Super League in 2006 is not as good as you might think. The Dragons have won five times on St Helens soil since then, most memorably in 2012 when a late, late Catalans try was converted by Scott Dureau to give the side then coached by Trent Robinson a 34-32 win. It was positively Saintsy. A real taste of the kind of medicine that Saints had been handing out to all and sundry for over a century before. We do not want to see any of that caper this week thanks all the same. And recent history suggests we won't. The Dragons last league win at Saints was in 2016 when they won 30-12 thanks to four tries from Broughton and further efforts from Ritchie Myler and Pat Richards. That’s right, another ex-bloody Wiganer.

It’s a rare opportunity to get out and see Saints play on a Sunday which many fans have been calling for for some time so you would expect a reasonable home crowd to be on deck to see if Saints can consolidate or even improve their position at the top of the table. At the same time as the Saints and Dragons do battle Warrington will attempt to stay in touch with Holbrook’s men when they host the bipolar Huddersfield Giants at the Halliwell Jones Stadium. My feeling is that both will win, with Saints holding off the challenge of McNamara’s men by something like 12 points.

Squads;

St Helens;

1. Jonny Lomax, 3. Kevin Naiqama, 5. Regan Grace, 6. Theo Fages, 7. Danny Richardson, 8. Alex Walmsley, 11. Zeb Taia, 12. Joseph Paulo, 16. Kyle Amor, 17. Dom Peyroux, 18. Adam Swift, 19. Matty Lees, 20. Jack Ashworth, 21. Aaron Smith, 22. James Bentley, 23. Lachlan Coote 24. Matty Costello, 25. Joe Batchelor, 29. Jack Welsby.

Catalans Dragons;

1. Tony Gigot 3. David Mead 4. Brayden Williame 5. Lewis Tierney 6. Samisoni Langi 7. Matty Smith 8. Rémi Casty 10. Sam Moa 11. Kenny Edwards 13. Greg Bird 14. Julian Bousquet 15. Mickael Simon 16. Benjamin Julien 17. Matt Whitley 18. Alrix Da Costa 19. Mickael Goudeman 24. Jason Baitieri 28. Sam Kasiano 29. Sam Tomkins

Referee: Robert Hicks

5 Talking Points From Saints 62 Hull FC 16

Is The Easter Schedule Too Much?

For as long as anyone can remember rugby league has required all its professional sides to turn out twice in four days during the Easter period. The festival itself might be movable but the tradition of this punishing schedule has not budged. Nor does it look likely to despite the debate raging every single year. It's like poppies in November.

This year is no different. For the clubs the fact that there are two games means that they are guaranteed one home game over the long weekend. This is a major reason why the majority of them support the status quo. They view that one home game as an opportunity to welcome what old fashioned people call a ‘bumper’ crowd to their home venue, thus boosting the club’s finances. Switching to one game and spreading the fixtures over the holiday as they do in the NRL would mean clubs having to adapt to the fact that they would only get a home fixture every other year at Easter. Driven by self interest and steeped in all the old truisms about poverty in the game which have led us down the path towards loop fixtures, the clubs have continued to resist change.

But are there compelling reasons to look again at the situation. Hull FC turned up for this one without Danny Houghton, Gareth Ellis, Josh Griffin and Mickey Paea from the squad that had hit 56 points of their own in the Good Friday derby win over Hull KR. Saints were without the injured Mark Percival and Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook while coach Justin Holbrook also chose not to risk Alex Walmsley or Zeb Taia. Saints then went on to lose Luke Thompson and Tommy Makinson during the course of the game. With Theo Fages having been out since the win over Rovers at the end of March the squad was stretched. But this is not a whine about the effect on the team, the kind of drivel you might get from some other Saints-related snallygasters online. It’s a genuine concern that paying fans of all clubs are being denied the right to see the best players in action, especially in the Easter Monday games after the Good Friday fixtures have taken their toll.

What does the scheduling do for the sport anyway? Ok, so over 22,000 fans turned up to watch Wigan v Saints on Good Friday. Indeed it was a record aggregate crowd for Super League fixtures over the Easter weekend. But how many TV viewers were lost for Wigan v Saints as the target television audience flocked to Headingley and the Halliwell Jones Stadium for the other 3.00 kick-offs? Which other sport schedules its biggest TV games to clash with other matches in the same division in the way that rugby league does? How many times have you been at the stadium that dare not speak its name watching Saints trounce London Broncos on a Friday night and allowed just the flicker of the notion to pass through your mind that you’d rather be at home watching Warrington play Leeds, Wigan or Castleford. We need to wise up.

Thompson Loss A Huge Blow For Saints

Of all the bumps and bruises picked up over the two games the most telling might be the injury sustained by Thompson. Barely 10 minutes had gone by when the England forward picked up what has been described by Holbrook as a sprained ankle. He added, chillingly, that he hoped it wouldn’t need surgery and that instead it would just need to be put in a boot for a while.

All ends up that means at least a few weeks out for Thompson. He’s been Saints best prop again this season, arguably the best in the league and all on the back of sweeping the board at Saints’ individual awards presentations in 2018. He’s broken into Wayne Bennett’s England team among some ridiculous competition. He’s got everything you’d need from a front rower, including 1356 metres at nearly eight metres a clip and 284 tackles so far this season. That translates to more ground made than any Saints forward. Only Makinson is ahead of Thompson in that category for the Red Vee.

On the plus side his absence is likely to offer an opportunity for more minutes for Matty Lees and Jack Ashworth, while Kyle Amor should also expect to see more action over the coming weeks with McCarthy-Scarsbrook also laid low. Lees and Ashworth performed admirably against Lee Radford’s side but it was Amor’s 104-metre effort that may raise the most eyebrows. The former Wakefield man is probably fifth or sixth choice in Saints’ prop rotation when everybody is fit but if he can produce numbers like that when called upon it bodes well.

The return of Walmsley is a must, however, especially against a physical Catalans Dragons pack this Sunday. Steve McNamara’s side have got the better of Saints on a couple of occasions in the last eight months and would fancy doing so again if Saints have to go in without either of their front-line props. For all their industry and enthusiasm, the others in the group lack that almost unquantifiable certain something that can be the difference between dominating and being dominated as a pack. Some call it a bit of dog but it is more than that. Aggression is key, but it's the speed at which Walmsley and Thompson do things and their indefatigable engines which are perhaps more important.

Morgan Misses Out

Call it all off. It's all over. We might aswell not turn up this weekend. Just give Catalans the game. Or at least send for the emergency services to cope with the mass collapses among the Saints fans that are sure to ensue with the news that Morgan Knowles will miss this weekend's visit from the French outfit. The Welsh international has been handed a one-match suspension for a challenge on Albert Kelly. I couldn't see the exact nature of it from my position in the North Stand but the disciplinary report talks of forcefully twisting, bending or otherwise applying pressure to the limbs of an opponent in a manner which provides an unacceptable risk to player safety. Kelly was down for a while following the tackle but that is no real barometer of innocence or guilt. There appear to be two camps among the Saints fans on this one. Those who haven't seen it and those who don't believe Knowles was guilty. Mind, many of those are so under Knowles' spell that if they came home to find him in bed with their wives they would just tuck him in and go back out for another pint.

Knowles is a fine player and vital to what Saints are trying to achieve this year. Yet to listen to some of the hyperbole coming out of the mouths of fans and certain ex-players about him you would think he was a rugby league God already. He regularly tops Saints' tackle count, although this one was a rare exception after he was shunted out into the second row in Holbrook's reshuffle. It is going the other way that he leaves me a little underwhelmed. His attacking stats as this column might have mentioned once or twice before are about as frightening to opposition defences as those of the much more maligned Joseph Paulo. Knowles managed 26 tackles against the black and whites, behind only James Roby's 35, and carried the ball for 78 metres on 10 carries. This compares very favourably to Paulo's 38 metres on just seven carries but that is before you consider the fact that Paulo had two try assists and the fact that Knowles' move to the second row should result in more space to run into. In 11 previous starts at loose forward Knowles has managed just one assist. And precisely no clean breaks. In those 11 starts at 13 he has averaged only 47.36 metres per game which isn't all that different from Paulo's effort in this one. So he is quite similar then, but without the assists. Prior to that the former USA international was averaging 57.36 metres per game off the bench. You do the maths, folks. Knowles starts off a lot of Saints attacks by going to the line and drawing defenders but he never beats any himself, and never misses a man out with a pass. He keeps it simple, giving the ball to someone more creative at the first opportunity. There's a lot to be said for that. It's quite the virtue. But does it deserve the level of awe in which Knowles is currently held?

For example, can someone explain to me why Garry Schofield compared Knowles with Paul Sculthorpe this week? And yet there are still people who think Knowles is UNDER-rated! Knowles may well go on to captain Saints and maybe even Great Britain if he develops into the leader that no less a judge than Holbrook believes he can be. But the level of praise he gets right now is the very definition of premature. I only hope that the lad himself knows this and doesn't go around thinking that he is currently comparable to Sculthorpe, one of the greatest players to ever pull on a rugby league shirt for any club let alone just Saints. Sculthorpe never used to give the ball to a more creative player because quite often he couldn't find one. There weren't any. Danny Richardson is an absolute case study in what happens to talented players when they are compared with club legends way before they have achieved anything like as much in the game. Please, I implore you Saints fans, stop ruining Morgan Knowles.

For the weekend the Cumbrian-born player is a big miss. Let's not forget that, and let's not forget that Catalans are still the only side to beat Saints in Super League this season. We could have done with someone with his voracious appetite for a tackle shoring up the middle of that defence. But you know what? We're still capable of winning. I won't be setting up an emergency helpline for bereft fans just yet.

Swift Does All He Can While Lomax Shows His Class

We might not see too much of Adam Swift this season. Or indeed for the remainder of his Saints career. He has to be weighing up his options having seen Regan Grace cement a spot on that left wing, and with Tommy Makinson already an immovable object on the opposite side. Only injuries and suspensions among the backs will allow Swift a look-in. This was one such occasion, with Percival having been ruled out with that hamstring injury picked up at Wigan.

Swift cannot do any more than he did, really. This was his first Super League appearance of the season and he has only played a couple of games on dual registration at Leigh Centurions after starting the season injured. To step in and help himself to a hat-trick of tries shows the character and the quality of Swift. Most clubs would start with Swift right now, maybe even Wigan whose array of talented wingers are going down like the proverbial pins. Two of his three finishes were Makinson-esque dives for the corner and though a lot of credit needs to be given to Kevin Naiqama for an excellent performance at right centre Swift should also receive his share of the plaudits.

Overall Swift ran for 167 metres on 20 carries, more than any Saint including Naiqama who racked up 149. Swift made no errors, which farts in the face of some of the criticism he has received in the past, although he was questionable defensively as he managed to miss two of his meagre five tackle attempts. Yet in many ways it doesn't matter what Swift did or did not do. When Percival returns to fitness he will no doubt be restored to the line-up and there is, despite his heroics here, no reason to believe that Swift has lifted himself ahead of either Makinson or Grace in the pecking order. Those two have enough credit in the bank of their own to be able to absorb being outshone on a Bank Holiday Monday at home to Hull FC without having anyone question their place in the side. All of which is unfortunate for Swift who has managed 82 tries in 123 appearances for his home town club. He should get a chance to add a few more to his tally as Percival looks set to miss around six weeks of action, but it would surprise nobody if we saw Swift lining up regularly for a different Super League club in 2020.

That Swift did not get Man Of The Match honours on his return to the side is down in part to the display of Jonny Lomax. The fullback turned stand-off was peerless in the middle of the field, amassing an eye-popping, defence-shredding SIXTEEN tackle busts as well as crossing for two tries of his own and adding a further three assists. He was at the centre of everything that Saints did as they tore apart the FC defence time and time again. Don't forget that Hull actually took an early 10-0 lead in this one as tries from Joe Westerman and Carlos Tuimavave rattled Saints cage. But Lomax didn't panic, leading his side around the park supremely, putting in Saints in front in quick time with his first half try-double. I am not sure it is a coincidence that the one game Saints have lost in 2019 is the one game that Lomax has missed, when illness forced him out of the trip to Perpignan. He is going to be crucial to Saints' chances of avenging that loss this weekend.

Batchelor Debut Is Promising

This column was hauled over the proverbial coals last week for the heinous crime of suggesting that Joe Batchelor had not yet established himself in Saints first team. His first team appearance total of zero would seem to suggest that there was some basis in fact in what was written. It may not be his fault, he may have done well to work his way up to the fringes of Super League so soon after playing in League One with York, especially at a club like Saints who are currently dominating the standings. But the fact remains he was not in the side. The post did not speculate as to the reasons why nor did it attach any blame to the kid for not being better than Taia or Dominique Peyroux.

However, with Taia rested and Peyroux only named on the bench Holbrook did offer Batchelor an opportunity in this one. Hate to say I told you so but that was actually the wider point I was making when I mentioned Batchelor's lack of first team activity in a previous post. That he would probably play in this one, and he did. But yeah, it was lazy.

Anyway, Batchelor will have impressed many with his first foray into Super League action. He operated on the left of the second row which was a difficult place to fit in with Percival missing and his initial replacement Makinson clearly half-fit. It would have been easier for him to have slotted into a more settled left edge but he showed that no matter who you put alongside him he is prepared to do whatever it takes to establish himself at this level. Can I say that? Can we get a sub in here to make sure that passes the rose-tinted, happy-clapper test? Statistically Batchelor is surely one of few Super League debutants to go over the 100-metre mark, his 107 coming off 13 carries at 8.23 metres per carry. He put in a respectable 19 tackles, missing just the one while he had two tackle busts. The only negatives were one error and the concession of two penalties. All in all a pretty promising debut but like Swift, you get the feeling that Batchelor is a player who will need to make the most of his opportunities when they arrive. Taia and Peyroux have formed one of the best second row partnerships in the competition in 2019 and it would be a major surprise if both were not restored to the starting line-up for the visit of McNamara's men. The difference from Swift's situation is that the men in front of Batchelor do not have time on their side. At only 24 he has that time to wait for more chances.

With talk of whether or not we would re-sign an apparently unhappy Joe Greenwood from Wigan doing the rounds this week it is heartening to know that there is enough talent coming through in that position to suggest that we do not necessarily need to go back to players who have already left the club for a reason. James Bentley turned out for Leigh at the same time as Batchelor was making his Saints debut and the former Bradford man helped himself to a hat-trick of tries in the process. He has been unlucky not to have been given more opportunities since making his Super League debut but if both he and Batchelor stick around they could be part of something new and exciting at Saints in the future. And yes, that will probably involve a pretty pivotal role for one M.Knowles.....

5 Talking Points From Wigan Warriors 10 Saints 36

Sport Hurts

It was another bruising derby despite the comfortable margin of victory and nobody could testify to that more than Tom Davies. We’d already seen Mark Percival leave the action with a hamstring injury when the Wigan winger suffered a terrible double leg break in what looked a fairly innocuous tackle. It’s a savage blow to Wigan who are already without the likes of Liam Farrell, Jarrod Sammut, Dan Sarginson and Dom Manfredi through injury while Sam Powell and Gabe Hamlin are experiencing more self-inflicted absences. Sean O’Loughlin, normally Jesus In Reverse because he rises from the dead on Good Friday, was only fit enough for a place on the bench alongside Joe Greenwood.

Yet the cruellest blow was to Davies himself who now faces months of rehab and a lengthy spell away from the real on-field action. Nobody likes to see any player sustain such a sickening injury and I’m sure all Saints fans will join me in wishing Davies a speedy recovery. To clear up the slight controversy about the Saints’ fans reaction yes there was an audible cheer when Davies took the initial hit but nobody in the crowd could have envisaged the true nature of Davies’ situation at that point. When they did realise Davies was applauded off the field with the full respect that should be afforded to any player in such dire straits. Sport hurts. Any player crossing the white line is to be admired for their courage.

Grace Getting Better And Better

It was Saints who adapted to the enforced reshuffling the better of the two sides. Not immediately as Percival’s exit was all the encouragement that the Warriors needed to attack down that edge where Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook had been asked to fill in. Zak Hardaker went over with ease to reduce Wigan’s arrears to 6-4, and that after he’d been knocked backwards into Warrington’s year in trying to stop James Roby’s opening try for Saints. Then came Davies’ injury and the first two of Regan Grace’s hat-trick were in the bag by half-time. First he supported a superb break by Jonny Lomax to go over in the left corner and then he was the beneficiary of some sensational work by Luke Thompson who broke the line, handed on to Lachlan Coote and then was on hand to feed Grace from dummy half as if he’d played hooker all of his life.

Grace’s third was all his own work. It didn’t cover the same distance as his effort against Warrington a week previously but there were eerie parallels as he stepped away from the attentions of his opposing winger and centre before streaking clear and rounding the fullback. Hardaker and Stefan Ratchford are two of the best fullbacks in Super League but the young Welshman has made them both look ordinary in the last two games. He now has 11 tries for the season and even the loss of Percival inside him could not slow his progress. He’s added a real physical strength to the natural speed he has always had. He could become unplayable over the next two or three years.

Coote Form Causes Revisionism on Barba

Coote has been something of a revelation since joining Saints from North Queensland Cowboys in the off-season. He’s been so good that he’s already inspired his own song among the fans, which is not what might have been expected when he was signed. The doubters ummed and aahed and predicted that he would never replace Ben Barba, whose brilliance helped sweep Saints to the League Leaders Shield last year before it all began to unravel for both club and player.

Coote was outstanding again here, racking up 134 metres on 13 carries at 10.30 metres per carry. He had seven tackle busts, made two clean breaks, kicked six goals and wrapped the whole thing up in a big Easter bow by mugging Hardaker for Saints’ last try. He’s a fabulous, fabulous player. If you sense a but...you’d be right.

That doesn’t mean Barba wasn’t. It’s already become common among fans and pundits to suggest that Coote is a better player than Barba. A better signing. More of a team player. Part of that is emotive revisionism sparked by the way that Barca’s time at Saints and seemingly his career has ended. He doesn’t deserve anyone’s sympathy for getting himself in his current predicament but as much as anything else are we trying to convince ourselves that Barba wasn’t all that? Are we on the rebound, insisting that our current lover is The One and that our ex was an absolute thunderprick in any case?

Even if you still remember Barba’s genius it remains unfair to suggest that he wasn’t a team player. He led the league in assists but more than that his role was to find a way to produce the spectacular. To score and create tries that others could not conceive of. That’s what he was bought for and that is what was expected of him. In that sense he was fulfilling his role in the team in the same way Coote does. Grace doesn’t score more tries than Thompson or Roby because he’s selfish, he does so because that’s his job.

We are blessed to have a player like Coote in the side now but let’s not re-write history when it comes to Barba just to soften the blow of how it all turned out.

Holbrook To Stay

Although this was a highly significant and hugely satisfying win it might not be the most important development of the week long term. Wigan are fairly dismal anyway so the truth is we should beat them and beat them handsomely. While we storm away at the top of the table they continue to show relegation form in the wake of their many and varied off-field disasters. Their only chance in this one was only ever going to be the proverbial ‘puncher’s chance’ afforded to out-matched boxers.

The biggest deal of the week might be the moves being made on the future of coach Justin Holbrook. Almost from the moment Saints started winning under Holbrook the Australian has been linked with a return home and a shot at a top job in the NRL. Many suggested Paul Wellens was being groomed to take over sooner rather than later, a move that if nothing else would have shown how little we have learned from the whole Kieron Cunningham trauma. A club legend with no prior experience of head coaching but who has served an apprenticeship under a canny Australian? No, not again. Not yet.

Heartening then that when asked about his future this week Holbrook had this to say;

“I’ve had a quick chat to the Chairman and we want to wait until Easter is out of the way and have a chat in May. I’m happy with that, he’s happy with that and I’m happy here. We’ll see what happens. I haven’t got any plans to leave.”

This sounds extremely promising from a guy who most believed was virtually on the plane back home at the end of this season when his initial contract expires. He’s improved every single player he inherited from Cunningham, brought us the excitement of Barba and has made yet more shrewd signings in Coote, Naiqama and Paulo. All that is missing from his Saints CV is that final step of winning a major final. Cynics might say that his inability to do so as yet might be the only thing stopping NRL clubs from really pushing hard to get him, but that unfinished business might also be a factor in his own thinking about whether to stay or go. We can only hope that he stays to finish the job he is doing so well and if he can then also that he can persuade the likes of Thompson, Walmsley and Makinson to join him in putting on hold any ambitions they may have on the other side of the world.

Who’s on deck for Monday?

No sooner had he stepped in to replace Percival at centre than McCarthy-Scarsbrook was himself forced out of the action through injury. Those two join Theo Fages and Zeb Taia in missing out on Saints’ 19-man squad for the Easter Monday visit of Hull FC. Jack Ashworth, Adam Swift, Joe Batchelor and Jack Welsby all feature as Holbrook tries to deal with the hectic Bank Holiday schedule.

The main issue surrounds the centre position. Matty Costello is out injured so Holbrook may opt for what he did when Percival missed the home win over Hull KR at the end of March and give Welsby the nod. However, Swift’s return to action on dual registration at Leigh recently gives the coach the option of drafting him in and moving Makinson into the centre position. Naiqama can also be used as a winger, while Taia’s second row berth may go to Batchelor. Loaned back to York after failing to establish himself Batchelor would surely relish the opportunity. And what better time than against a Hull FC team that has also had to make a raft of changes following their derby win over Hull KR? None of Josh Griffin, Danny Houghton, Mickey Paea or Gareth Ellis will be backing up from their impressive thrashing of Rovers. Add to that the fact that Saints now have a four-point lead at the top of the table following Warrington’s surprise defeat to Salford and it becomes more tempting to rest stars and improve the experience of the fringe players. Aaron Smith is another fitting that bill after coming off the bench for the last half hour at Wigan. He impressed and it seems to make little sense to make the 33-year-old Roby play for a second time in four days.

It’s perhaps not the message that the club would want to send to the fans as they hope for a big Easter Monday crowd in the first leg of the Steve Prescott Cup, but we might see two much-changed sides going at it in the Round 12 clash. And then the debate about the rights and wrongs of the Easter double header will really kick in.

Wigan Warriors v St Helens - Preview

There’s changes afoot in the English game. Two more North American teams are expected to be foolishly and needlessly shoe-horned into the UK structure following a meeting of the game’s decision makers last week. Leeds won a match, beating Workington Town by the proverbial cricket score in the Challenge Cup last weekend. And Wigan are searching for a new coach after legendary halfback Shaun Edwards pulled down his pants and shat all over his own legacy with his decision to go back on his agreement to join the club as Head Coach from next year.



Heck, even the rules might change given the amount of chin-stroking, head-wobbling and forehead-slapping that has gone on in response to Catalans Dragons’ ludicrously disallowed try against Hull FC last week when Greg Bird was adjudged to have obstructed a Hull FC defender by breathing the same oxygen.

One thing that won’t change, not unless our friends from down the road make all our Christmases come at once and get themselves relegated, is that it will be derby day on Good Friday. Now there are already one or two feet-stomping rants about how the Hull derby is the biggest derby in rugby league so we are not going to go down that route. Not too far down it, at any rate. It goes without saying that Saints-Wigan (sorry, Wigan-Saints to give it its correct title taking into account who has home advantage this week) has no equal in terms not only of the size of the attendance that is expected at the DW Stadium when the teams meet for a 3.00pm kick-off this Friday (April 19), but in terms of the quality. Wigan might be pretty terrible right now, but between them Wigan and Saints have won 11 of the 23 Super League titles up for grabs since the competition began in 1996, and another 10 Challenge Cups between them in that period also. Meanwhile the Hull clubs have no Super League titles between them and just the three Challenge Cups, all won by FC. Rovers have reached just the one Challenge Cup final in the Super League era (which they humiliatingly lost 50-0) and got nowhere near a Super League Grand Final. But yeah, their derby is much bigger. Adrian Fucking Durham says so.



And so to the real business. Unlike last week’s 38-12 win over Warrington this is not a top of the table clash. Amusingly, Wigan are currently languishing in 10th place having won just three of their opening 10 games in 2019. While they have been at it they have had a player charged with drink-driving, another suspended for a doping offence and been forced to look for a new coach after Edwards’ all-too-predictable U-turn. At the time of writing present incumbent Adrian Lam is starting to show signs that he is leaning towards staying on at the end of the season, though his record as the top man so far probably doesn’t have Wigan fans dancing around at the prospect.

Saints only selection decision appears to be whether or not to restore Theo Fages to the line-up. The Frenchman missed the defeat at Catalans Dragons a fortnight ago and the win over Warrington with a hip injury. That allowed Golden Child Danny Richardson to step in but with a decidedly ‘meh’ result. A little lost in Perpignan, Richardson showed some good touches as Saints dominated the Wolves last time out. Arguably Justin Holbrook should not change a winning team, especially not after a performance like the one against Steve Price’s side. Yet the inclusion of Fages in the 19 named today (Wednesday) seems to shout out loud that the former Salford half will play if he is fit enough. That will be harsh on Richardson but there is a good argument also that he didn’t quite grasp the opportunity he was afforded with both hands.



The rest of the Saints side should pick itself, with Lachlan Coote at fullback behind a three-quarter line of Tommy Makinson, Kevin Naiqama, Mark Percival and Regan Grace. Naiqama had his best game as a Saint against Warrington, setting up Makinson’s try and making several other telling contributions with ball in hand. The Fijian will need to be on his game defensively because the threat, if this bewildered shambles of a Wigan side prevent one, comes down their left edge of attack where Oliver Gildart and Joe Burgess have pace to burn if not brain cells. George Williams often operates down that flank also and with Sean O’Loughlin patched up and ready to go for one of his four games a season (two derbies, a semi-final and a final) Wigan could have a little bit more about them in attack than has been the case in recent weeks.

If Fages does play he will partner Jonny Lomax in the halves behind a peerless front row of Alex Walmsley, James Roby and Luke Thompson. Zeb Taia and Dominique Peyroux form the second row partnership with Morgan Knowles at loose forward. On the bench Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook made a telling return to action after missing the Catalans game to be with his wife as she gave birth to twins. Expect him to make the usual nuisance of himself in the trenches with Matty Lees and Kyle Amor with Joseph Paulo flitting in and out to cover for Knowles as and when required. Jack Ashworth has been unfortunate to miss out on the 19 with both Richardson and Fages included, presumably as Holbrook waits on the fitness of the latter.

Lam welcomes Zak Hardaker back to the fullback position, one of the few Wigan players who would probably get into the Saints team notwithstanding the excellent form of Coote or the former Leeds and Castleford man's behavioural problems. Tom Davies should hold down one wing spot after Dom Manfredi was cruelly robbed of another season of his career due to yet another ACL injury, while Burgess and Gildart make up the rest of the three-quarter line along with Dan Sarginson. Quite how he gets away with starting for a club as celebrated as Wigan is almost an essay in itself on how far the quality of Super League has slipped over the years and, in particular, of how far the paper champions have fallen since winning the Grand Final against serial chokers Warrington last October.

Williams has no Jarrod Sammut to partner him in midfield and with Sam Powell banned for the third or fourth worst Wigan offence in their recent loss to Wakefield Thomas Leuluai may have to fit in at hooker and allow Jake Shorrocks a start. Ben Flower, Tony Clubb, Talima Tautai and Romain Navarrette are the main prop forward options for Lam, with former Saint Joe Greenwood a genuine threat in the second row alongside the rather more underwhelming talents of Willie Isa. Liam Farrell is still injured and represents a huge miss for the Wigan side. O’Loughlin will lock the scrum with youngsters Oliver Partington, Morgan Smithies also included in the 19 along with former Catalans man Morgan Escare and centre Chris Hankinson. That suggests either a doubt about the fitness of one of Wigan’s backs or that Lam is just a bit fed up with the form of one of them and is set to give somebody else an opportunity.

Last year’s derby was a close run thing, with Saints running out 21-18 winners at home thanks to tries from Grace, Taia and Ben Barba. The teams have met three times since in this madcap, skirting board world of Super 8s, loop fixtures, Magic Weekends and finding any other ways imaginable for the top sides to meet as many times as possible, with Saints winning 14-6 in July at the DW, 22-12 in this season’s opener, but going down 30-10 in a miserable home performance at the end of August that was so bad that Sarginson crossed for two tries.

There’s a limited chance of a Wigan victory this time out. This is a derby and as such the old cliché about anything happening still stands. But Saints have been dominant in all but one of their fixtures this year and that in foul weather with two stand-in halfbacks. If Saints are at full strength, whether that means opting for Fages or for Richardson, it is hard to see anything other than a comfortable win by something in the region of 20 points. And yet, you know…it’s Wigan…

Squads;

Wigan Warriors;

Joe Bullock, Joe Burgess, Tom Davies, Morgan Escare, Ben Flower, Oliver Gildart, Joe Greenwood, Chris Hankinson, Zak Hardaker, Willie Isa, Tommy Leuluai, Romain Navarrete, Sean O’Loughlin, Oliver Partington, Dan Sarginson, Jake Shorrocks, Morgan Smithies, Taulima Tautai, George Williams.

St Helens;

1. Jonny Lomax, 2. Tommy Makinson, 3. Kevin Naiqama, 4. Mark Percival, 5. Regan Grace, 6. Theo Fages, 7. Danny Richardson, 8. Alex Walmsley, 9. James Roby, 10. Luke Thompson, 11. Zeb Taia, 12. Joseph Paulo, 13. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook 15. Morgan Knowles, 16. Kyle Amor, 17. Dom Peyroux, 19. Matty Lees, 21. Aaron Smith, 23. Lachlan Coote.


Referee: James Child

Derby Classics - Saints Storm Back In 1987

This won’t be a popular view but I quite liked Central Park.

I mean, I’m all for progress and I would hate to think that Saints or Wigan or any modern top flight club that has moved into a more modern facility would go back to their old homes. They were squalid, had poor and in some cases no facilities and if you happened to have the temerity to turn up using a wheelchair you had to do so early. The concept of charging disabled people to watch hadn’t occurred to Saints or Wigan at that time, during the 80s and 90s. Which might sound good, but the reality is that it was a free-for-all in the limited space available in those old grounds. I haven’t left many Saints games before the final hooter, but I can recall seeing the 1996 Good Friday classic in The Bird I’Th Hand because getting in a position where you could actually see the pitch inside the ground had become impossible some two hours before kick-off.

So why then did I quite like Central Park? Well partly because I didn’t have a Langtree Park or a DW Stadium to compare it to. But mainly because my best friend, who is now sadly no longer with us, was a huge Wigan fan. When Saints were playing away I would go with him to Central Park to noisily cheer on the opposition, and he would come to Knowsley Road if Wigan were playing away. He once won a McEwans Lager sponsored Saints sweater for being the face in the crowd in a match day programme, which was just hilarious. He wore it too, though mostly only for wheelchair basketball training during the week.

I liked the location of Central Park, the atmosphere, the push to the ground from some God Awful town centre watering hole of the day like Harry’s Bar or The Bees Knees. The current stadium might have much better facilities inside, but nearby your only real choice is the Red Robin and if it’s derby day you have probably got about as much chance of pushing your way to the bar and actually being seen at wheelchair height by the bar staff as you had of seeing any rugby league inside the wheelchair area on that memorable day back in 1996. I mention this because this week’s nostalgia comes from Central Park. Specifically it is December 27 1987 and a mud-soaked classic between the two old foes.

That’s one thing I don’t miss in the summer era, in this age of good drainage. Mud. You imagine trying to push through it using your hands rather than just having to step through it in your Wellies. Then you had the problem, which became very real during the second half of this one, of trying to figure out exactly who was on which team when all players appeared to be dressed head to toe in brown. If Wigan had had Sir Alex Ferguson in charge perhaps he would have defended their second half collapse by explaining that his players could not identify each other.

It all started well enough. Both sides strode out from the tunnel behind the posts with great purpose and confidence, Saints somehow allowed to get away with white with a blue ‘v’ as a change of strip to avoid a clash with Wigan’s cherry and white hoops. The visitors lined up with Phil Veivers at full-back, a three-quarter line of Kevin McCormack, Les Quirk, Paul Loughlin and Mark Elia with Shane Cooper and Neil Holding in the halves. In the front row were Tony Burke, Paul Groves and Peter Souto. Souto made just six appearances for Saints between 1986 and 1988. His last would come just a month after this one against Bradford. Saints back row consisted of local products Paul Forber and Roy Haggerty with future Wigan and Auckland Warriors man Andy Platt at loose forward. This was Platt’s last derby on the right side of the boundary before he moved to Wigan in 1988. Saints bench that day, which remember had room enough only for two players under the rules at the time, was occupied by David Tanner and Welsh rugby union convert Stuart Evans.

Wigan lined up with the ever reliable Steve Hampson at fullback. Ahead of him were Dave Marshall, father of current Wigan winger Liam, opposite another man who would make the switch between the two sides but this time in the other direction in Kevin Iro on the other wing. The great Ellery Hanley lined up in the centres alongside the speedy former Widnes man Joe Lydon. Shaun Edwards and Andy Gregory was perhaps one of the greatest halfback partnerships the British game has every seen while in front of them in the pack were Ian Lucas, Martin Dermott and Brian Case. Ian Potter and Graeme West made up the second row while Andy Goodway locked the scrum. On the bench were Richard Russell and Adrian Shelford, the latter having been involved in controversial transfer saga which culminated in him joining Wigan despite having earlier agreed to sign for Saints.

Saints went into this one having already suffered five league defeats from their first 10 league outings. They’d also crashed out of the Lancashire Cup, losing 27-21 to Leigh at Hilton Park in a game which saw the side coached by former Saints player and boss Billy Benyon outscore Saints five tries to four. All five of Saints’ league defeats to that point had come away from Knowsley Road with the travel sickness taking its toll at Castleford, Warrington, Halifax, Leeds and Hull KR.

By contrast Wigan had opened their campaign with nine successive victories in all competitions. They had made it through to the Lancashire Cup Final in which they beat Warrington 28-16 at Knowsley Road. Their first defeat of the 1987/88 season came at home to Halifax in October when they went down 17-14. That was followed by an unhelpful 18-18 draw with Leeds a week later and when they emulated Saints in losing at Castleford they found themselves floundering behind early season pace-setters Widnes whose only league loss before Christmas was a surprising 21-20 reverse at home to Swinton. Yet Wigan had beaten Widnes 20-12 in late September on their way to the Lancashire Cup success and so perhaps held a psychological advantage over their title rivals.

In the event it was Saints who would get closest to the Cheshire side as they wrapped up the first of what would be three titles in a row. All a far cry from the yo-yo-ing of the Vikings, administration and Dennis Betts that have characterised the Widnes club during the summer era. For Widnes the late 1980s was the era of Martin Offiah, who scored 41 tries in 1987, and later of Jonathans Davies and Devereux who came across from Welsh rugby union to light up the rival code.

Back to Central Park, where Saints took the lead through McCormack. Witness the way Holding receives the ball from hooker Groves before doing a full-scale pirouette to enable him to pass right handed out to Cooper. The New Zealand international hands on to Veivers who ups the pace to slice between the Wigan defenders and put McCormack away down the right hand touchline. The pacey winger easily has enough speed to enable him to trot around to dot the ball down under the sticks for the first try of the afternoon.

That was as good as the afternoon got for McCormack. Later in the first half Edwards, showing a good deal more decisiveness than he can currently muster when pondering his next coaching job, kicked the ball through the Saints defensive line at speed before following it up to put the boot in for the second time. McCormack was easily winning the race for the loose ball as he came around to cover, Edwards having been sent tumbling to the ground in Premier League footballer fashion by the slightest of brushes from a panicked, on-rushing Veivers. As McCormack approached the loose ball to pick it up the twang of his hamstring was almost audible. He crashed to the ground in what used to be referred to as instalments, grabbing the affected area in pain yet still managing to fall on top of the ball. He played no further part in the game and did not feature again for Saints until a 16-6 loss to Widnes in early April.

Edwards was instrumental in Wigan’s reply. He took a pass from Gregory before handing on to Shelford whose bullet pass was too hot for even Hanley to handle. Hampson reacted first as the ball bobbled along the ground, scooping up for Edwards who had continued his run to put Iro over in the left hand corner. It is remarkable to think that this happened fully 12 years before Iro joined Saints and helped them win the epic 1999 Super League Grand Final, and that after spells at Manly, Leeds, Hunter Mariners and Auckland Warriors. As Iro gets up from touching the ball down in this one you can recognise his familiar gate, though the hair on both his head and face are specifically of their time.

Wigan’s next try was classic Saints 1980s pantomime. Holding failed to gather the ball from a scrum that he himself had fed, allowing Goodway to get a foot to the ball ahead of Quirk. The Wigan forward won the race to touch down with opposite number Platt to put the home side ahead. It’s difficult enough playing against a late 1980s Wigan side you would imagine without providing tries for them straight off the production line at the clown factory, but that’s where we were with Saints in that period. They could be brilliant, as we would see later in this game, but they could also be absurdly bad.

Things got worse before they got better. Again it originated from Saints possession. Holding’s long ball out wide was gathered by Loughlin on the bounce but as he ran back inside from right to left he inexplicably decided on a wild pass which floated across the Saints attacking line to nobody in particular. Nobody that is except Lydon, who jutted out of the Wigan defensive line to hack the ball forward. Lydon could shift, and he looked like an athlete playing against drunk pub-goers as he raced on to his kick, wafting his boot at it again as he caught up with it some 40 metres from the Saints try-line. His second kick took him to within about 15 metres and his final touch sent it dribbling over the try-line from where he touched down. Holding is the nearest Saint to Lydon as he scores the try but that is only because Lydon has had to slow down considerably to stay behind the ball which had lost pace owing to its unpredictable bounce and the boggy surface.

That left Saints 22-6 down at half-time, a position from which few would have given them any hope of a recovery. Even when Platt drew two Wigan defenders towards him and neatly slipped the ball to Veivers for an easy walk-in try hopes were not high. Not as high as the shot with which Graeme West clouted Veivers after he scored that try in any case. That stoked the fire even further, and with the game now back in the melting pot Saints closed the gap to just two points at 22-20 when Veivers scored again soon after. Cooper’s delicate kick close to the line squirmed just out of his reach as two Wigan defenders converged on him but there was Saints’ Aussie fullback to pick up the pieces to touch down for his second of the game.

Veivers was involved again as Saints took the lead. He took Cooper’s pass out wide on the right before bringing Tanner back on the inside. Tanner had come on to replace the stricken McCormack in the first half and kept his nerve to just about reach the line and get the ball down. Just a minute or so later Quirk added his name to the list of scorers as he took Holding’s basketball-style hook pass, the kind of thing that would be deeply frowned upon in the age of staying in the grind, to squeeze over in the corner to give Saints a barely credible 30-22 lead. Loughlin added a late penalty, helpfully aided by Holding’s first audition to be a groundsman as he helped dig a suitable hole in the turf from where the Great Britain centre could tee up the ball for the shot at goal. These were the days before kicking tees when the sight of players digging up chunks of turf with the heel of their boot was as common as obstruction is now.

When the whistle blew to signal Saints victory there were fans on the pitch, notably those surrounding coach Alex Murphy as he jogged down the tunnel in triumph. This sort of thing would also get the thumbs down today, and quite rightly so in light of Jack Grealish’s recent unwanted encounter with an opposition fan. Yet it was easy to forgive the exuberance of the Saints fans who had witnessed their local rivals winning the title the season before for the first time since 1959/60. After Widnes’ hat-trick Wigan would go on to win the title six times in a row before the advent of Super League and full-time professionalism across the competition. Saints, who had not won a title themselves since 1975 and would not do so again until that first Super League season of 1996.

That they did not do it in 1987/88 was largely down to that early season away form. They did finish runners-up to Widnes, so ending the campaign looking down on Wigan who finished third, even if only points difference separated those two as well as fourth placed Bradford Northern. The Christmas derby win was the third of 11 straight victories in all competitions for Saints, two of which came in the John Player Trophy which the red vee pocketed by beating Oldham 18-8 in the semi-final before edging Leeds 15-14 in the final at Central Park. There was a certain symmetry about the fact that both Saints and Wigan had now won silverware at the home of their deadliest rivals.

Saints’ good run was ended by a 22-18 reverse at Salford before that 16-6 loss at Widnes was sandwiched between rare home defeats by Leeds and, crucially, Wigan. Two Hanley tries proved vital in that win and it would be a brutal blow to Saints hopes of ending their 13-year wait for a top flight title. The defeat at Widnes finally killed Saints hopes, while Wigan’s challenge was derailed by a three-game losing streak as Warrington, Hull FC and Hull KR all got the better of Graham Lowe’s side in the run-in.
Central Park was finally turned into a supermarket in 1999, the same year that my best mate passed away from this world. It may have been the home of the enemy for 97 years but it holds some poignant memories for me, in particular what was arguably the most thrilling game of the 1987/88 season.

5 Talking Points From Saints 38 Warrington Wolves 12

What A Difference A Week Makes

There seemed good reason to be nervous ahead of the visit of Warrington. Saints has put in a performance against Catalans in Perpignan that was so stale and stodgy that if it were an episode of Game Of Thrones it would have needed the deaths of at least three central characters to make it watchable. By contrast Warrington had been flying like Danaerys on the back of one of her dragons. They took over at the top of the table last week thanks to Saints’ defeat in France and the Wolves’ own 48-12 peppering of a London Broncos side morphing into the sort of relegation fodder we always suspected them to be. Like Saints, Warrington’s only loss coming into this one was against the Dragons of the rugby league variety, and that only by a single point in a performance that was far more compelling viewing than the one Saints served up.

Yet that was a side shorn of the talents of Jonny Lomax. With Theo Fages also out Saints had thrown in 18-year-old Jack Welsby last week to play alongside Danny Richardson in the halves. The latter was playing his first Super League game of the season too having lost his starting place to Fages at the start of the campaign. It was no surprise that the new combination struggled in Perpignan but Saints are a different proposition with Lomax among the cast members. He ran the show in the final stages of the first half after Mike Cooper was sun-binned for a careless high shot on Richardson. Lomax got over for a try in that crucial period in which Saints stretched an 8-6 advantage out to 20-6 at the break.

Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook had spent much of the previous night in the delivery room as his wife gave birth to twins, but he returned to the fold to put in a quite stunning cameo. The Londoner scored one try and came within inches of another almost immediately, before narrowly failing to exert downward pressure on the ball as it bobbled over the Warrington try-line early in the second half. Between them Lomax and McCarthy-Scarsbrook scored two tries, had one try assist, made 34 tackles and ran for 151 metres as Saints took control of a match that had been cagey early. Wire coach Steve Price admitted afterwards that Saints had been dominant, a lot of which was down to the return of these two key contributors.

Will Danny Keep The Halfback Role?

When injuring his hip in the win over Hull KR on March 29 Theo Fages was almost immediately ruled out of the games against Catalans and Warrington by coach Justin Holbrook. Yet the coach was also quick to point out that the injury does not require surgery and so hopes are high that Fages will be available for the Easter double-header. Saints go to Wigan for the second derby of the season on Friday (April 19) followed by a home clash with a Hull FC side currently displaying all the consistency of Boris Johnson’s Brexit columns. But will Holbrook change a winning team? Should he?

Richardson’s numbers aren’t startling by any means. He still plays too side-on, suffering from the old Luke Walshian phobia of running at the line to commit defenders and so make space for others. Fages is much better at this, largely because he could care less if somebody clocks him into next Wednesday. Richardson carried the ball just six times for 28 metres against the Wolves, not the kind of running threat you want from your half in games of this magnitude. Yet with six attacking kicks and nine more in general play, many of which turned Warrington around deep inside their own territory it is clear to see that Richardson has the edge on the Frenchman in that department. Since Lomax has no kicking game to speak of either the inclusion of Fages over Richardson would put a lot of extra responsibility on Lachlan Coote.

Defensively Richardson is a target for opponents. He missed five of his 18 tackle attempts against Wire which is not a great success rate. You can’t help but worry about how he might cope with Wigan’s formidable left edge of Oliver Gildart and Joe Burgess. It might not cost us given that Wigan are generally garbage despite those attacking threats. While Saints were winning this one the Lam Pies where slipping to a seventh league defeat in 10 outings as they lost 30-20 at Wakefield. Burgess scored a hat-trick even so. The threat is there and Holbrook must make a decision on whether Saints can defend well enough for Richardson’s defences lapses to be absorbed. They managed it well enough this week.

Sin Bin Kills Wire

There wasn’t much disputing the yellow card given to Cooper for a high tackle on Richardson around the half hour mark. He’d been unbalanced by Richardson’s change of direction as he shuffled along the defensive line and could only offer a desperate grab which clunked into the head of Saints’ young half. At that point Saints were leading 8-6 and arguably in the ascendancy but the removal of the England prop softened them up still further.

The ease with which McCarthy-Scarsbrook crashed through the gut of Warrington’s goal-line defence was evidence of that, as was the way in which Lomax was able to jig his way over shortly afterwards. Suddenly a two-point lead had become a 14-point buffer and from then on Saints never looked like losing. All those fears throughout the week of what Warrington’s potent attack might do to us became questions about just where Wire star Blake Austin was hiding. He’d scored Warrington’s early try, benefitting from some good fortune when Daryl Clark was adjudged to have lost the ball backwards in Lomax’s last-ditch tackle. Yet after that the Australian was fairly anonymous, ending the game with 19 carries for 72 metres at just 3.78 metres per carry. A lot of opportunities on the ball but no visible threat. He missed a Richardson-like four of his 18 tackle attempts and was required to kick for territory 10 times.

Once Cooper had returned the game had changed beyond redemption for Warrington. They scored first after half-time through Clark to reduce their arrears to eight at 20-12 but when Stefan Ratchford and Tom Lineham held a meeting instead of dealing with Coote’s snow-covered Sky-botherer to allow Matty Lees to crash over like Jon Snow riding into Kings Landing the game was over as a contest. Further tries followed from Regan Grace and Tommy Makinson followed, the former an eight-point play due to Lineham’s petulant late hit on Grace in the act of scoring, to give the final result a sheen that Saints’ dominance deserved. What would have happened had Cooper not been given to recklessness in the first half is something we’ll never know. But any chance Warrington had seemed to disappear with Cooper as he trudged off.

Naiqama and Grace Step Up

Adam Swift returned to fitness last week. He was also back in action, scoring twice while playing on dual registration at Leigh. In the wake of Saints’ dud of a performance in France it reopened the debate about whether he could again put pressure on Grace for a first team shirt. If not, and amid rumours of a loan move to Wakefield to fill in for the stricken Tom Johnstone, it could signal the end of a Saints stint that has seen Swift cross for a very respectable 93 tries in 137 appearances. When you compare it to Makinson’s 116 four-pointers in 211 games you can make a statistical case that Swift is elite.

Yet Grace’s fleeting but quite brilliant contribution here has put Swift further away from a recall. The Welshman only carried the ball seven times but he did so for 119 metres, a whopping average of 17 metres per carry. The bulk of these arrived during his breathtaking 75-metre dash to the line midway through the second half. Having held off the attentions of Josh Charnley and Jack Hughes Grace made a third Wiganer look ridiculous in the space of a few seconds, sitting Ratchford on his behind. The only contact made with Grace was the cowardly smack over his head offered by Lineham as Grace dove over to score. That cost Warrington an extra two points as Coote kicked his seventh goal from bang in front after landing his sixth with the original conversion. Incidentally, the Lachlan Coote song set to the tune of Oasis’ ‘She’s Electric’ is great but it does go on a bit. It could do with a second verse just to break up the monotony as Will Smith might have it. I’m working on this. It needs an extra line yet but how about;

‘He’s got a bald patch’
‘He always wins Man Of The Match’
‘James Roby’

No? Ok.

Another man whose position has been questioned of late is Kevin Naiqama. The Fijian came in for what was presumably a barrow-load of money as Ryan Morgan took the journey south for a loan spell with London Broncos. While few have called for a return for Morgan and it is has always been quite likely that we have seen the last of him at Saints, there were those wondering whether we had actually got ourselves an upgrade. Naiqama has struggled as much as anyone in that under-used right edge of Saints attack but had arguably his best game since arriving. He came inside looking for work early in the game when it was a bit of a struggle but as it opened up he gave Ryan Atkins a torrid time. Naiqama ran for 89 metres on 10 carries and had the energy to burst on to Coote’s excellent pass to set up Makinson for his second try in as many games. Naiqama also busted out of six tackles, but the defensive side of his game still needs work with four misses from 22 attempts. Like Richardson, he could come under pressure against Gildart and Burgess next week but unlike the Widnesian halfback he has done enough in this one to be certain of retaining his place.

Don’t You Wish It Mattered More?

In the build-up to this one both Saints and Warrington’s social media departments tried to out-naff each other with their promotion of the game. They should probably be congratulated given that their efforts contributed to a record crowd for a Saints v Warrington clash at the stupidly named stadium of over 17,000. Saints went with a clunkingly bad war pun on the name of their visitors while Wire inter-cut footage of Lineham being a good deal more useful than he was here with images of a worried looking dog. His tries from last year’s semi-final win over Saints were an odd choice given that Wire went on to lose the Grand Final to the knee-seekers of Wigan. To be fair there isn’t an extensive library of clips of Warrington getting the better of Saints so they had to go with what they had I guess.

Contemplating this, and the inevitable blowback that Warrington and their fans received following their team’s comprehensive defeat, I couldn’t help but wish that all this mattered a bit more. Normally this sort of discussion isn’t raised until September when it’s time to force a smile to pick up the League Leaders Shield, but I’m bringing it forward. Wouldn’t last night have been so much better if we still had a first past the post system to decide the identity of the champions? I’ve been looking at scores of....well.....scores and tables from yesteryear for the nostalgia pieces you can read on these pages (look out for a derby special this week) and they remind me of an era when every game really did count. To take one example, every game during the 1992-93 season when Saints lost the title to Wigan on points difference was a nerve-shredding affair. An 8-8 draw between the two on Good Friday that season was truly epic. But no, it isn’t that one that inspires this week’s blog down memory lane. I’m not revealing that just yet.

As good as beating Warrington is, and as much as it lays down a bit of a marker between the two sides hotly tipped to reach Old Trafford for the Grand Final, it doesn’t really matter. It won’t matter at all unless we win the Grand Final, even if it is the difference at the end of the regular season between finishing top of the table or not. It shouldn’t be that way. Surely there is a compromise to be found between rewarding consistency over the season and celebrating the winners of what is essentially an end of season playoff competition? The League Leaders Shield in its current form, with the lack of kudos that offers, is not that compromise.

Saints v Warrington Wolves - Preview

It’s not quite war, but there is still plenty at stake when Saints entertain Warrington Wolves in a BetFred Super League Round 10 meeting on Friday night (April 12, kick-off 7.45pm).

Notwithstanding tedious and ill-conceived promotional blather around the game there is still plenty for fans of either side to get all pumped up about. Saints’ defeat at Catalans Dragons last time out has left the Wolves at the top of the table on points difference. Maths enthusiasts will have worked out then that the winner of this one will take a two-point advantage at the top. With others struggling to keep up with the pace set by Saints and Warrington a win on Friday could be significant in the battle for the League Leaders Shield. I can almost hear you sniffing, Saints fans, but don’t forget that this year that comes with a second chance to reach Old Trafford via a home playoff game. That should help the fans and players alike crack a bit more of a smile should we manage to defend that particular dish.

Saints faced the Dragons last week without either of their first choice halfbacks. Theo Fages is still missing with the hip injury he picked up in the win over Hull KR a fortnight ago and so Danny Richardson will again deputise. Last week Richardson was partnered by Jack Welsby after Jonny Lomax suffered a late illness. That didn’t help either young half so it will be vital that Lomax is on hand to guide the team around this week.

The only change to the 19-man squad sees Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook return in place of the unfortunate Welsby. McCarthy-Scarsbrook missed last week to be with his partner who was expecting their child. There must have been a power cut in a few Saints households late last summer after Alex Walmsley and Zeb Taia also welcomed new additions to their families in recent weeks. Both returned for the Dragons trip and both will be pivotal here. Expect McCarthy-Scarsbrook to oust one of Jack Ashworth, Kyle Amor or Matty Lees for a place on the bench in coach Justin Holbrook’s final match day 17. The smart money is probably on Amor who doesn’t appear to be on Holbrook’s Christmas card list, although Ashworth could yet be the one to be stood down. Matty Lees has been more involved than either of late so it would be a surprise to see him omitted.

Elsewhere in the pack James Roby leads by example again, with Luke Thompson making up the front row along with Walmsley. Dominique Peyroux was one of Saints better performers in a display that the cool kids of today are already calling ‘meh’ against Steve McNamara’s men and is a near certainty to start alongside Taia in the second row with Morgan Knowles behind them at loose forward. Joseph Paulo has been the subject of some criticism on social media for his lack of statistical contribution in attack, a criticism that never seems to be applied to Knowles. The truth is that both are very similar, ferocious workers in defence but currently struggling to burst a hole in the proverbial paper bag with ball in hand. It makes you long for Jon Wilkin. Almost.

Saints’ backs are a much more dangerous proposition for any defence, particularly Lachlan Coote who continues to impress at fullback. There is a decision to be made by Holbrook on whether Coote continues with the goalkicking duties with Richardson now back in the side, but aside from an underwhelming success rate in that department Coote has been imperious since joining Saints at he start of the season. He’ll play behind a three-quarter line of Tommy Makinson, Regan Grace, Mark Percival and Kevin Naiqama. Adam Swift has regained fitness, scoring twice while playing at centre for Leigh Centurions on dual registration last week, but has not done enough to earn a place in Holbrook’s thinking for this one on the evidence of his 19-man squad. Naiqama’s position has also been questioned by a significant portion of the fans but the lack of a truly credible candidate to replace him at that right centre position, plus the presumably massive barrel of cash that the Fijian takes home each week are so far enough to convince Holbrook to persist with his new signing.

The squad is completed by Aaron Smith who, while a more than able deputy for Roby whenever he has been called upon, has not been selected whenever Roby is deemed fit enough. With a certain Daryl Clark on the other side we’ve got everything crossed that Roby is not suffering from any ‘slight niggles’ that have hampered him at times this season or that he is not suffering any ill effects from his quite ridiculous 61-tackle effort in Perpignan.

Warrington’s squad is strong enough that there is no place in it for Jake Mamo who has just signed a new deal with the club this week. He has featured on the wing at times since his move from Huddersfield Giants but it looks very much as if coach Steve Price intends to go with former Hull FC tugboat Tom Lineham and the prolific, tattooed irritant Josh Charnley in those positions. Stefan Ratchford is the fullback and his duel with Coote could be fascinating, while if there is a weakness in Warrington’s backline it is at centre where Bryson Goodwin continues to miss out through injury. Toby King and Ryan Atkins are the likely pairing there, behind a halfback partnership of the hitherto spellbinding Blake Austin and young gun Declan Patton. Kevin Brown was lost for the season before it even kicked off, so Patton has the job of providing the foil for the increasingly brilliant Austin. Along with Clark, everything Wire do in attack seems to go through him and what was a very mean Saints defence before the Hull KR game will have to be back to its early season best to handle the former Canberra Raiders man.


Up front Warrington fans will be confident that there front three of Clark, Chris Hill and Mike Cooper can match Saints celebrated trio. It will be another epic battle (no war metaphors, sorry) among many all over the field as the competition’s two most talented squads go head-to-head. Jack Hughes must be highly thought of by Price as he was rested for the Wolves 48-12 win over London Broncos last time out. He will likely partner the injury-prone but classy Ben Currie in the second row with one of Jason Clark, Ben Murdoch Masila or Joe Philbin completing the back row. Harvey Livett is in the 19-man squad after starting against the Broncos but along with former London man Matt Davis, young hooker Danny Walker and former Saints lightweight Lama Tasi he will do well to get into Price’s 17-man selection on the night. Pantomime villain and all around unconvincing ogre Ben Westwood is still suspended after pushing Morgan Escare away with his head three weeks ago.

Saints once went a on a preposterous run of just one defeat in 44 league matches with Warrington, including a quite hilarious 72-2 pounding at Knowsley Road that you can read about elsewhere on these pages this week. However, things are a little less one-sided and predictable these days with Saints having lost no less than 13 times to Warrington since February 2011. The worst of these was undoubtedly a 48-22 larruping at Magic in 2013 while the most painful during that time is arguably still the 2016 Super League semi-final in which Warrington failed to score a single legal try and yet still managed to win 18-10. All of which was the usual waste of time for the Wolves as their inability to win a Grand Final remains legendary.

They might well win this one though. Doubts have to remain about Saints halfback pairing with Richardson unconvincing in Perpignan. Fages had become a vital cog in the machine in the early part of the season so much depends on Lomax and at times Coote if Saints are to provide the creativity they will need to break down the Wire defence. This being That Saints Blog You Quite Like and not That Warrington Blog You Quite Like I’m going to tip Saints to edge it, but only with the kind of confidence that I have in Joe Root correctly calling the outcome of a coin toss.

Squads;

St Helens;

1. Jonny Lomax, 2. Tommy Makinson, 3. Kevin Naiqama, 4. Mark Percival, 5. Regan Grace, 7. Danny Richardson, 8. Alex Walmsley, 9. James Roby, 10. Luke Thompson, 11. Zeb Taia, 12. Joseph Paulo, 13. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook 15. Morgan Knowles, 16. Kyle Amor, 17. Dom Peyroux, 19. Matty Lees, 20. Jack Ashworth, 21. Aaron Smith, 23. Lachlan Coote.

Warrington Wolves;

Ryan Atkins, Blake Austin, Josh Charnley, Daryl Clark, Jason Clark, Mike Cooper, Ben Currie, Matt Davis, Chris Hill, Jack Hughes, Toby King, Tom Lineham, Harvey Livett, Ben Murdoch-Masila, Declan Patton, Joe Philbin, Stefan Ratchford, Lama Tasi, Danny Walker.

Referee: James Child


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