Saints came into this one six points clear at the top of the Betfred Super League table. They had not suffered defeat since going down 18-10 to Catalans Dragons in Perpignan in early April, a winning run of nine matches in all competitions. By contrast the Broncos were rock bottom of the standings with only four wins from their first 16 Super League outings. With all this in mind, and remembering the criticism he received for choosing not to rest players last year when Saints strolled to the League Leaders Shield before faltering at the semi-final stage of both the Super League playoffs and the Challenge Cup, coach Justin Holbrook decided to freshen things up.
On reflection it is tempting to suggest that he used a little too much freshener. Jonny Lomax and Tommy Makinson were always likely to be left out for this one. Their history of knee-related mishaps makes playing on the pretend grass of London's Trailfinders Sports Club ground fraught with risk. Yet when the 19-man squad was announced for this trip on Friday (June 7) it was also missing the names of Alex Walmsley and Zeb Taia. Going into the game without four of your best players is a stretch if you are serious about winning, but come game day Holbrook had also decided that he could do without fullback Lachlan Coote. The Scottish international has been one of Saints best players so far this term but his place in the side went to the far less experienced Jack Welsby.
Whenever you take this kind of gamble you are leaving yourself open to criticism should it backfire. It was not all that surprising when it did so. Saints are ahead of the competition at the moment, but not so far that they can afford to rest those five highly influential players without experiencing a drop-off in performance. London fully deserved their golden-point win, given to them by Morgan Smith's drop-goal after the last of several thousand handling errors by Saints deep in their own territory. Holbrook will maintain that the side he fielded should have been good enough to win against the league's bottom side and that his side just didn't play well on the day. That much is true, but a full-strength Saints side would likely have beaten London even if they had been well below their best. Those five players are all difference makers.
How Much Does It Matter?
As much as we can criticise Holbrook for a perceived arrogance in fielding a weakened team, we should also remember the logic behind it is sound given the cards he has been dealt. He hardly rested any players in 2018 only to find that they didn't have enough in the tank when the big knockout games came around. Understandably burned by this experience he is not about to let it happen again. If a slightly embarrassing defeat at London is the price to pay for everyone being fit and available to deliver when it really matters in September and October then I'm sure that's a deal that Holbrook would make.
The only way to stop coaches fielding weakened teams at certain parts of the regular season is to do away with the playoff and Grand Final system which currently determines the champions. If Holbrook had gone into this one knowing that finishing top of the league was the be all and end all of winning a title then I'm quite sure we would have seen Coote, Walmsley and Taia at least. Were Warrington a bit closer in pursuit in a first-past-the-post system then he may even have risked Lomax and Makinson, dodgy knees or not. But like it or not (and I don't) we don't have such a system in place. In the circumstances Holbrook is 100% right in trying to make sure that his squad is at its fittest at the back end of the season when there are no second chances. Except the one you get in the slightly convoluted but effective top five playoff system. But you know what I mean? If Saints captain James Roby holds aloft the Challenge Cup and/or Super League trophy come the end of the season then nobody is going to remember the day we went to London, played like a drain and got the nothing we deserved. Super League history is littered with examples in which sides have slipped to chastening defeats, sometimes taken severe hammerings, yet peaked at the right time to leave with the silver at the end of the year.
Morgan Bites Back
One of the main reasons for Saints' defeat was a Saints player. No, I'm not going to harp on about a certain knock-on in extra time. It happens. It just happens to some more than others. I refer, of course to Ryan Morgan, whose two tries played a huge role in helping the Broncos secure what could be a vital two points in their fight against an immediate return to the Championship. Morgan was sent out on loan to the Broncos when Kevin Naiqama arrived at Saints from Wests Tigers at the start of this season. Since then he hasn't done an awful lot to suggest that Holbrook's decision to upgrade to the Fijian captain was a bad one. Yet he was clearly motivated for this one, first seizing on a Laurel & Hardy moment from Welsby and Regan Grace before knocking the normally defensively reliable Theo Fages into a week next Thursday in crashing over for his second.
Morgan also managed a couple of offloads, a pair of tackle busts and a clean break but it wasn't just in attack where he contributed. His 23 tackles were more than all but five of his team mates managed and more than any other back in Broncos black. Along with Luke Yates who managed a quite stupefying 58 tackles and the always industrious James Cunningham Morgan was one of the better performers for Danny Ward's side.
Yet that is not to say that Holbrook made a mistake in loaning Morgan out or that he should have insisted on a clause preventing Morgan from playing against his parent club. Even with the impending departure of Adam Swift it is highly unlikely that Morgan will feature again in a Saints shirt, so you can effectively call his move to the capital a permanent transfer with the proviso that the Broncos have their own decision to make on what to do with him once his initial loan period ends. Naiqama has not convinced everyone in the short time that he has been at Saints but he remains a better bet than Morgan on that right edge. Even if there are plans for Morgan to return my feeling is that if you loan a player to another club for a full season you should honour that and not start inserting conditions into the deal about who he can and cannot play against. If you want him, keep him. If you don't let him play elsewhere without any restrictions. Holbrook did that and the decision has taken a little nibble out of his backside on this occasion. But again, nobody will be mentioning that if the top prizes head to St Helens in 2019.
The Long Goodbye
Things change quickly in sport. It turns out that this insipid, disappointing display was the last in which Sean Long would be involved for Saints. After more than a decade as a player putting up ridiculous statistics and almost redefining the scrum-half position and then five years as an assistant coach Long has left the club with immediate effect to take on a similar role with Harlequins in rugby union. He spoke of always harbouring a desire to coach in the other code and will now get that opportunity with the London-based outfit. Reports that he did not get back on the team bus for the journey back north are unconfirmed.
It is sad to see a club legend depart. We all remember our mixed feelings when Keiron Cunningham's time as a Saint came to an end. We all knew it was the right thing for him and the club but there was nevertheless a sadness attached to the prospect of facing the future without an iconic figure who has been part of the very fabric of the club over a sustained period of time. The same applies to Long. Not being privy to exactly what goes on in the Saints camp in terms of their preparation I cannot sit here and say that he will be as irreplaceable as an assistant coach as he has been as a halfback, but the indisputable truth is that he has been there through the last two years of vast improvement under Holbrook and that his work at Saints has obviously caught the eye of the cash-rich rah-rahs. Long must have been doing something right.
I loathe rugby union with all of my being. If I had the choice between getting rid of it or Michael Gove I would agonise over it for days before finally, reluctantly agreeing to let Gove off the hook. Yet for all he has done for Saints over the last 22 years on and off I can only wish Long nothing but the very best of luck in his new role. His departure does though raise yet more questions for our game on how we can work to stop the very best talent that we have crossing the divide. The recent Shaun Edwards saga at Wigan highlighted sharply how union is viewed by even the greats among rugby league as a more favourable career option. If they are not leaving league to play union they are leaving league to coach in union. We must do something and we needed to do it yesterday.
Trailfinders - It's Not For Everyone
Huge numbers of Saints fans travelled south for this one and the general consensus is that, despite the defeat, a fabulous time was had by all. The Broncos have been lauded by many fans and writers for their hospitality and the quality of their set-up at Trailfinders Sports Club in Ealing. However, those people want to try experiencing it while having to use a wheelchair to do so.
The only thing that the Broncos got right in this regard was the parking. Having booked well in advance I had a car park pass which allowed me to park directly outside the clubhouse. Access to the bar from there could not have been easier. Yet I had come to see a rugby league match, which is where the problems started. The stewards there tried their level best to be helpful but the awful truth is that Trailfinders is not an accessible venue for wheelchair users. Not unless they are eight foot six inches tall and can therefore see over large crowds of people who are standing in their way at ground level. If you can find a gap between the people then you are met with a barrier which is too high to see over and which is filled in beneath with advertising boardings so that you cannot see through it either. I had to go all the way around to the other side of the ground to a raised patch of grass to get an elevated view. It was not dissimilar to my memories of watching my friends and family play under-11s football in Sherdley Park 30 years ago.
Adding to the whole wretched scenario was the fact that even from the raised area there were obstacles which rendered large parts of the pitch invisible to me. If it were not my fellow Saints standing on the grass in front of me blocking my view it was what can only be described as a whacking great shed which houses the benches and the scoreboard.
Now if this sounds moany consider this. We are not talking about an amateur club here. If these were the facilities at my local amateur side I would probably grin and bear it. Those clubs do not have the resources to insert viewing platforms or lifts. But this is Super League. I wasn't expecting Wembley stadium but I was expecting to at least have an unobstructed view of more than half of the pitch. Surely in 2019 we cannot have this at a top flight club? If this were not London or some other expansion area which we are led to believe that Super League 'needs' then it simply wouldn't be allowed. It is inadequate for top class sport in this country and far from praising its quaint little nod to amateur rugby league someone should be asking the top brass at the Broncos what the merry hell they think they are doing excluding disabled people in the 21st century.
For more on what it is really like to be a rugby league fan with access issues please click here. to read Hull FC fan Rachael Tomlinson's blog.
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