If you want a metaphor for this game then it’s probably a stag do. Something which convention and tradition dictates you have to endure, the main aim being to get through to the main event without in this case the rugby league equivalent of being left tied naked to a tree in the Forest Of Dean. Saints don’t need the points having wrapped up the League Leaders Shield almost two weeks ago. Meanwhile Leeds’ own need is reduced by their recent upturn in form which has seen them blast both Huddersfield Giants and Catalans Dragons off the park in their last two outings. They no longer look like a side contemplating relegation to the Championship. A win here will all but guarantee their presence in Super League in 2020.
Team selection has been a topic of much-debate among the Saints faithful since it has become apparent that Warrington were no longer interested in offering a genuine challenge for the league leadership. How do you strike that balance between protecting players for Wembley and the playoff games ahead and making sure that they remain sharp enough to perform at their best when called upon? It has been a tricky conundrum for coach Justin Holbrook and he has once again made a couple of changes to his squad to add to the injury problems which already existed in the camp.
First the positive news. Morgan Knowles could return to action after missing the last three with a rib injury. His potential comeback is timely given the fact that Joseph Paulo limped out of last week’s win over the plane-fancying Wolves with a hamstring problem. What is more surprising is that another of Knowles’ deputies Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook is not included in the 19-man party for this one. Now I would love to tell you that this is because Holbrook has seen the light over the former London Bronco, finally realising that without a salary cap in place McCarthy-Scarsbrook would be no nearer to a Saints shirt than I am to becoming Chancellor Of The Exchequer. Yet the unavoidable truth is somewhat different. The likelihood is that McCarthy-Scarsbrook is just enjoying a rest. He is one of the few players who regularly features in the match day 17 who has not yet been stood down by Holbrook without being injured. The jig is up for me and my fellow LMS nay-sayers. McCarthy-Scarsbrook is an absolute shoe-in for the squad on cup final day.
Elsewhere Lachlan Coote remains out of action so Jack Welsby may get the chance to build on his impressive displays of late at fullback. If he does he will sit behind a three-quarter line of Tommy Makinson, Kevin Naiqama, Mark Percival and Regan Grace. Percival missed the win over Warrington - managing to do so without anybody at Sky TV noticing - but looks set for a return here. Theo Fages was another who did not feature against the Wolves but is included. He may battle with Danny Richardson for the halfback slot alongside Jonny Lomax, or else both may play with Lomax shifted to fullback at the expense of Welsby. There are those who would advocate that arrangement for the simple reason that this side needs a goal-kicker, and that means Richardson has to be accommodated somewhere as long as Coote is unavailable.
Alex Walmsley remains out with an eye injury which all of St.Helens will be hoping is just a precautionary measure ahead of Wembley. In the meantime it means another likely start for Matty Lees alongside Luke Thompson at prop forward. James Roby has not been brought back into the fold this week - again all available digits are crossed that this is a protective measure on the part of Holbrook - so look for Aaron Smith and James Bentley to once again perform the number nine duties by committee. They managed this to great effect against Steve Price's side last week to the extent that, if the worst happens and Roby is ruled out of the cup final, we should not worry about either of this pair filling the void.
One area where Saints seem stable and where there has been a good deal less tinkering going on is in the second row where Zeb Taia and Dominique Peyroux continue to rule the roost. Joe Batchelor has been included in the 19 this week and could feature for the first time since that controversial and unspeakable defeat at London in July but his cup final aspirations are tempered somewhat by the suspicion that the Sainted Louie is merely being wrapped in cotton wool for next week.
And so to Leeds who under Richard Agar are starting to resemble…..well…….Leeds. Those victories over the Giants and Dragons were achieved in some style and they have allowed the Rhinos to open up a four-point gap between themselves and the bottom-placed London Broncos as the games run out and posteriors begin to make funny squeaking noises. Agar is without Tom Briscoe who was helped off during the win over Huddersfield, while Brad Singleton is suspended having been dismissed in the win over Catalans last time out. Briscoe could be replaced by his brother Luke, while Nathaniel Peteru, James Donaldson, Ava Seumanufagai and Adam Cuthbertson are among the options at Agar’s disposal to cover the whole in the middle left by Singleton.
Stevie Ward is included too. If the game is notable for nothing else it may well be remembered as one of the rare occasions that the talented forward made of balsa wood actually stepped on to a rugby league field. Trent Merrin will lead the Rhinos and he, along veteran spoiler Brett Ferres, are likely to get more minutes in the back row than Ward. Brad Dwyer has a surname to endear him to Saints fans but a tendency to shred any lazy defenders at marker which will not. When he isn’t at you then former Huddersfield and Hull KR veteran Shaun Lunt might well be.
In the backs Jack Walker’s reputation at fullback grows with each passing week, while Konrad Hurrell has been terrorising defences on one leg if you believe some of the comments coming out of the Leeds club over the last fortnight. He will certainly give Makinson and Naiqama all they can handle if the mood takes him, at least until his rather questionable stamina levels reduce him to being asked by a passing steward whether or not he has bought a ticket to be inside Headingley. On the other flank Briscoe will be helped out by the raw talent that is Harry Newman and/or the not inconsiderable presence that is the recently acquired goal-kicking bruiser Rhyse Martin.
Robert Lui and Richie Myler are improving as a halfback pair since the former’s arrival in a deal that saw the much-maligned Tui Lolohea head for Salford, while Ash Handley is in rich try-scoring form. Saints fans need no reminder of his propensity to plonk the ball down over the whitewash against any opponent brazen enough to turn up wearing a red vee. Liam Sutcliffe and Cameron Smith complete Agar’s 19-man selection.
Loop fixtures are so marvellous that this will be the third occasion on which the Saints and Rhinos have met this season. This is tedious overkill, especially if like me you cannot approach a game against the Headingley side without thinking of the countless Grand Final defeats we suffered at their hands during what some misguided souls refer to as ‘the noughties’. They are a blue and amber nightmare to the Saints fan of a certain age and the fact that they are improving faster than Lance Armstrong after a blood transfusion is of no comfort whatsoever. On the flip side of that they have not beaten Saints in either of the two previous meetings this season, going down 27-22 at St Helens in late February despite taking a 22-10 lead into half-time, and 36-10 when they returned to Merseyside in June.
To return to the strangled stag do analogy the main thing is to keep our main players, the men who will be the key to lifting the Challenge Cup next week, away from that imagined tree in the Forest Of Dean minus their attire. We just have to get through this unscathed. The business of winning and losing is almost secondary. That said, the make-up of Saints’ squad is strong enough to suggest that they can go to Wembley on the back of what would be a 23rd victory in 26 regular season league matches. Saints by 18.
Squads;
Leeds Rhinos;
1. Jack Walker, 4. Knonrad Hurrell, 5. Ash Handley, 7. Richie Myler, 8. Adam Cuthbertson, 11. Trent Merrin, 13. Stevie Ward, 14. Brad Dwyer, 15. Liam Sutcliffe, 16. Brett Ferres, 18. Nathaniel Peteru, 22. Cameron Smith, 24. Luke Briscoe, 25. James Donaldson, 29. Harry Newman, 38. Ava Seumanufagai, 39. Shaun Lunt, 40. Robert Lui, 41. Rhyse Martin.
St Helens;
1. Jonny Lomax, 2. Tommy Makinson, 3. Kevin Naiqama, 4. Mark Percival, 5. Regan Grace, 6. Theo Fages, 7. Danny Richardson, 10. Luke Thompson, 11. Zeb Taia, 15. Morgan Knowles, 16. Kyle Amor, 17. Dom Peyroux, 19. Matty Lees, 20. Jack Ashworth, 21. Aaron Smith, 22. James Bentley, 24. Matty Costello, 25. Joe Batchelor, 29. Jack Welsby.
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