Sean Long’s Saints departure all happened so quickly. Last weekend it was announced that the legendary half would be leaving his role as Justin Holbrook’s assistant to take up a similar position in rugby union. By Monday, just hours after the disappointing loss to London Broncos, it became apparent that Long would be making the move with immediate effect.
Almost as quick was Saints’ move to replace Long. On Wednesday it was revealed that former Halifax Head Coach Richard Marshall will be the new man. Marshall was appointed Head Coach of Saints’ Coral Challenge Cup semi-final opponents in 2015 but left the role earlier this year in fairly controversial circumstances. After it became clear that he would not be offered a new deal by Halifax Marshall announced his departure from the club having led them to three top three finishes during his four seasons at the Shay. It is ironic that he could now play a part in bringing to an end his old club’s incredible cup run. Not that there is any chicken counting going on at That Saints Blog You Quite Like.
Marshall has also spent time as an assistant at Warrington during Tony Smith’s time at the Wolves and has coached England’s Academy squad. His track record is impressive, with an emphasis on youth that should see him excel at working with the great many youngsters who come through to first team level at Saints. He’s got off to a fine start, taking up the role for the first time for this rather routine dismissal of a disappointing Giants outfit. His contract runs to the end of 2020, by which time we should have some idea of whether he is a Saints Head Coach in waiting or just passing through.
Long Moves On
Long was rightly afforded the opportunity to say farewell to the Saints fans before kick-off of this one. As he recalled the great moments of his time with the club, most of which were as a player if truth be told, his departure suddenly became a little more real. All at once it sunk in that one of the club’s greatest ever players, one of the best of the Super League era despite being laughably discarded by his hometown club across the lump, would no longer be part of the furniture. I personally will rue losing the opportunity to shout ‘get your boots back on, Sean’ whenever some unfortunate halfback successor doomed to a career in Long’s shadow throws an errant pass or shanks an attempted 40/20 straight into the back of the South Stand. We may be seriously good at the moment but we shall not see a halfback as good as Long in the Red Vee for an awfully long time to come.
Recounting those great memories from Wide To West to the winning drop-goal in the 2002 Grand Final against Bradford Bulls every pause was met with a standing ovation from a clearly appreciative and emotional crowd.
Coote For GB
At the end of this season there is something a little bit different to look forward to. For the first time since 2007 there will be a GB Lions tour as Wayne Bennett’s side take on Tonga and Papua New Guinea either side of two tests against New Zealand in the autumn. Wherever you stand on the issue of selecting players born outside the British Isles there is nevertheless a compelling case for the inclusion of Lachlan Coote at fullback.
Coote qualifies through his Scottish heritage, having made three appearances for Scotland in 2016. Like the original character in the song now used by the Saints fans to celebrate his brilliance Coote was electric against Simon Woolford’s side. He scored the first try of the game after the Giants had taken the lead through an Oliver Russell penalty before helping himself to no fewer than four assists. He now leads the league in assists with 19 and has also reached double figures for tries. He ripped off another 128 metres on 15 carries against the Giants and made five of his seven goal attempts for a personal tally of 14 points. Only Warrington’s Stefan Ratchford and Hull FC’s Marc Sneyd have landed more than Coote’s 64 goals in Super League in 2019.
Not so long ago Saints had a real balance problem in attack. The potent strike threat of Zeb Taia, Mark Percival and Regan Grace on the left was scarcely matched on the opposite flank. That has all changed this year thanks to Coote, whose ability to pass accurately from left to right may sound like a fairly basic requirement among Super League playmakers but is actually something of a rare commodity. If Bennett is looking for a player who reads the game well defensively, scores tries, makes tries and is equally adept passing to either side he should take a look at Coote. There isn’t a British-qualified fullback in better form right now.
The Rotation Continues
Undeterred by last week's blush-inducer at Trailfinders Holbrook continued his policy of resting players for the visit of the Giants. Although he welcomed back all of Coote, Tommy Makinson, Jonny Lomax, Alex Walmsley and Zeb Taia Holbrook decided he could do without Regan Grace, Matty Lees and Dominique Peyroux this week. The latter two make a lot of sense. Those semi-final defeats from last year seem to have persuaded Holbrook that shuffling the pack in order to peak at the right time of the season is the way to go. Peyroux has played a lot of minutes in 2019 and at 30 years of age he is at a time of his career where he could really benefit from the odd week off.
Lees is much younger at just 21 but it won't do him any harm to be taken out of the firing line for a week or two. And Saints have plenty of options at prop. Kyle Amor came in for this one and ended the game just a few metres short of a 100-metre performances while Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook and Luke Thompson have returned to fitness to give Holbrook yet more front row options even in the absence of James Roby. Lees has been playing more minutes in recent weeks due to the injuries to Thompson and McCarthy-Scarsbrook so perhaps he will benefit from a breather now that his more experienced colleagues have returned to the fold.
Perhaps the most surprising decision was the omission of Regan Grace. Something that has irked me for a long time now is Saints' insistence on using their smaller wingers and centres to cart the ball out of their own end early in a tackle set while the big men stand around with their hands on their hips, ambling back onside if the mood takes them. This is particularly difficult for the slightly built Grace and while we still have Adam Swift on the books ahead of his move to Hull FC for 2020 we have the luxury of being able to sit the Welsh star down for a week and not have it impact too much on results and performance.
A break might be of benefit to Grace but I'm yet to be convinced that a winger needs a rest in quite the same way that a forward does, even taking into account the extra work that is demanded of Saints' backs. They might have to muck in while in possession deep in their own half, but they still don't have to make anywhere near as many tackles on defence as the men up front. With Mark Percival recently returned to action after his injury there's an argument that he and Grace need as many games together as possible to reignite that spark between them that was just beginning to light after a couple of years of looking as though they had only met each other a few minutes before kick-off.
Can Anyone Catch Saints?
Irrespective of whether Holbrook chooses to continue resting players it may well be that Saints have already done enough to secure a second consecutive League Leaders Shield. Their lead at the top of the Betfred Super League table was cut to just four points when they went down at London last weekend but this victory, coupled with Warrington's surprise and some might say hilarious defeat by Hull KR at the weekend means that Holbrook's side have re-established their six-point buffer. With eleven games to go, the meeting between Saints and Warrington at the Haliwell Jones Stadium in a fortnight's time looks like a potentially pivotal moment. Like the climactic battle between Anakin and Obi-Wan in Revenge Of The Sith. Just as there are another 97 Star Wars films thereafter there will be another nine games remaining in the endless meh-ery of the weekly rounds after the top two collide. Yet if Saints win that and stretch the lead to eight points the fat lady will not quite be singing, but she will be in the aisles warming up the vocal chords. It would leave Wire with only those nine games to claw back the deficit on a Saints side that hasn't looked like losing often this term.
If Saints keep wining they will sew up the League Leaders Shield at Leeds Rhinos on August 15 regardless of what Warrington do between now and then. However, should Saints lose at Steve Price's side then the gap will be four once more and the Wolves may have the scent of something. The first priority for Holbrook will be to beat Leeds this weekend as they arrive in St.Helens on the back of some improved form despite their narrow defeat by Wigan on Friday night. Leeds were one of only two teams to beat Saints last season in the regular season and pushed them very close earlier this year when they lead 22-10 at the break only to capitulate in the second half as Konrad Hurrell's batteries ran out.
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