I am sure many of you share my sadness at the news of the passing of former Saints coach Mike McClennan at the age of 75. McClennan was Saints coach from 1990-93, arguably laying the foundations for a decade and more of success when the old first division morphed into Super League in 1996.
The early 90s were a time of Wigan dominance. They were in the midst of their run of eight successive Challenge Cup final wins between 1988-95, adding eight first division titles in the decade before summer rugby. Yet was Saints who were as close as anyone to breaking down that dominance until the advent of full-time professionalism across the league finally levelled the playing field.
Among the highlights of the McClennan reign were the run to the 1991 Challenge Cup Final in which Saints were beaten 13-8 by Wigan in a tense Wembley encounter, and the 1992-93 first division title race. That saw Saints lose out to the cherry and whites again but only by virtue of Wigan's superior points difference after both teams finished level at the top of the table. The Good Friday draw at Central Park was one of the epic derby encounters of the winter era as the teams drew 8-8. The game saw Kevin Ward suffer a career-ending injury and also meant that Saints would ultimately come up just short in their quest to win a first title for what was 18 years at that time.
That they only had another three years to wait is down in no small part to the work of McClennan. His Saints sides were not only regular contenders but they were probably the most entertaining side to watch in the UK at that time also. George Mann, one of several of McClennan’s fellow Kiwis who underpinned the side along with the brilliant Tea Ropati and the equally masterful Shane Cooper, once scored a try after rangy forward John Harrison headed the ball into the in-goal area. The practice was outlawed soon after by the killjoys in suits but it was a sublime moment that still sticks in the mind and proves what an innovator McClennan really was. His solitary trophy with Saints was the 1992 Lancashire Cup as Saints beat Rochdale in the final, but his approach to the game and his hard work in trying circumstances deserved much richer rewards.
It is slightly speculative, but perhaps if Saints had been able to compete with Wigan financially at the time as they do now, McClennan could have ended their title drought. Shortly after the end of that thrilling 1992-93 season Wigan came along with a large sack of cash which they exchanged for the services of Gary Connolly. Then only in his early 20s, Connolly had been starring for Saints at both fullback and centre for five years by that point and was probably the side's outstanding performer. Logic dictates that if you have two equally matched teams and you take the best player from one and put him in the other then a gap will open up. Sure enough Saints made a bit of a dog’s dinner of the 1993-94 season, limping home in eighth place as Wigan marched off with another title. The gap was still miniscule between them and the rest, however, with both Warrington and Bradford Northern (remember them?) matching Wigan in terms of points on the table as Wigan claimed the prize on points difference for a second consecutive season. Their grip was loosening.
By then McClennan was gone, replaced eventually by Eric Hughes whose two year spell was followed by that of Shaun McRae as the inaugural Super League crown finally arrived. It had been 21 years since Saints last title at that point. Men like Alan Hunte and Steve Prescott were still a part of the set-up at that time having also been involved under McClennan. Not only did Saints win the Super League and Challenge Cup double in 1996 but they did so with a philosophy that was not very far removed from the off-the-cuff style favoured by McClennan. Where once there was Connolly and Hunte teaming up to cause havoc on the edge, by 1996 it was Paul Newlove and Anthony Sullivan who terrorised opposition defences.
After he left Saints McClennan coached Tonga at the 1995 World Cup before enjoying a spell as an assistant at Auckland Warriors alongside fellow Kiwi and former Wigan coach Graham Lowe. Mike's son Brian went on to coach Leeds Rhinos between 2008-10, beating his dad’s old club in two Super League Grand Finals. Yet Mike remained a Saint, with chairman Eamonn McManus this week remembering how Mike would call from New Zealand to wish his former club well ahead of a big game. Once a Saint, always a Saint, McClennan will always have a place in the hearts of Saints fans who spent many a heart-stopping Sunday afternoon watching his side play.
Weekly comment and analysis on all things Saints with perhaps the merest hint of bias...
Danny Does One
Forget about Brexit with its warring factions, the issue that is dividing opinion the most among Saints fans this week is the departure of Danny Richardson.
The 23-year-old half has signed a three-year deal with Castleford Tigers which brings to an end a promising but some might say all too brief stay at St Helens. Richardson was an ever-present in 2018, enjoying a superb breakthrough season which culminated in his selection for the Super League Dream Team. It was a consolation prize given that Saints fell in the semi-finals of both the Challenge Cup and the Super League but it was what it promised for the future which stirred the imagination. Some got totally carried away, wittering on about the second coming of Sean Long, but there was no doubt that the potential was there for a successful career.
Fast forward to the start of 2019 and the picture changed somewhat. Coach Justin Holbrook cited a pre-season groin injury as the reason for leaving Richardson out of the opening Super League encounter at home to Wigan. At that point it was felt that a few weeks rehabilitation would see Richardson return to the fold. The form of Theo Fages and the fact that the team kept winning in the absence of Richardson rather poked a spanner in the works. As Richardson toiled to regain his place in the team speculation grew that his attitude might not be what you would expect from a player at the highest level. When he was fit he invariably found himself shipped out to Leigh Centurions on dual registration.
This sort of shit never happened to Sean Long. Actually it did. Released by Wigan in 1997 Long had to play nine games for Widnes in the Championship before Saints snapped him up and set him on his path towards legendary status. We will never know now whether Richardson could have made the same transition from Championship cast-off to Saints immortality. Many fans have already claimed that the loss of Richardson could come back to haunt Saints, but in truth recent history is not littered with examples of players who have left the club and become greats of the game elsewhere. Lee Briers is the closest, but although Warrington managed to win the Challenge cup three times during the former Welsh international's time with the Wolves it was not enough to stop Saints picking up a few pots of their own. We still managed to win four Super League Grand Finals and five Challenge Cups during Briers' 15 years at Warrington. If we have to suffer a couple of Castleford Challenge Cup victories between now and 2034 I will take it if it means we increase our Super League title tally to 11 and our Challenge Cup haul to 17 then that will be just fine with me.
In any case, can we be certain that the decision to let Richardson move to the Tigers was made by the club? Along with the criticism of his attitude from certain quarters there were also murmurings about his disquiet about having been left out of the first team squad during the majority of Saints' Grand Final winning 2019 campaign. Richardson played just 12 times for Saints in 2019, bringing his total with the club to 59 appearances in which he scored 10 tries and kicked 175 goals. That is just not enough for him to properly develop or to fulfil the potential that he obviously believes he has, and that Daryl Powell has identified to the extent that he now sees Richardson as a quality replacement for Leeds-bound Luke Gale. It is not inconceivable that Richardson is the one who has driven the move, though whether or not he discussed it with incoming coach Kristian Woolf first is another unknowable factor in all of this.
Arguably Richardson's most memorable contribution to the Saints cause was the 50 metre penalty goal that he landed to help Saints beat Warrington 14-12 in July of 2018. This was enough to persuade some fans that Richardson should be included in the team ahead of Fages irrespective of who was the better all-around player. The theory was that goal-kicking is becoming ever more important but this was probably based on the painful memory of losing the 2017 Super League semi-final at Castleford on a night when Mark Percival got the rugby league goal-kicker’s equivalent of the yips. In reality Richardson did not fully convince. Perhaps it is something to do with the Holbrook style of play in which the scrum-half tends to play second fiddle to the stand-off and fullback at times in terms of playmaking, but games would often pass Richardson by.
Fages has had that problem too at times but the key difference which might have compelled Holbrook to stick with the Frenchman at Richardson’s expense is defence. Fages can and will tackle anything or anyone, whereas Richardson is often targeted by opposition coaches who see his defence as a major weakness in not only his game but the entire Saints team when Richardson is in it. It only takes one weak link to open up opportunities at the highest level. Countering this argument we return to Long, who was never the best defender, often shifting out to the wing when the opposition had the ball. If he could be hidden, why not Richardson? The key is that Long’s all around brilliance at half-back, his speed, his guile, the masterful kicking game he developed, were all things that no coach could ignore. Richardson was and is a fine player, he’s just not so good that you can tolerate the weaknesses in his defence or justify his selection above Fages because he can land goals from half way.
If we can agree that letting Richardson go is a fair enough call from the club thoughts turn to what will happen now in terms of competition for places in the halves. Richardson’s exit leaves only Fages and Jonny Lomax as experienced first team halfbacks with Jack Welsby having impressed more at fullback than in the halves when he has got his chances this year. There is a lot of talk about Lewis Dodd from the academy side breaking into the first team over the coming year or two. It might be that Woolf will try to get by with what he has in the meantime while slowly introducing Dodd to first team action as Holbrook has with Welsby. Certainly there don’t seem to be too many obvious candidates to replace Richardson that are ready made. If you are a first choice half at another Super League club are you going to Saints to back up Fages and Lomax and with the threat of Dodd emerging behind you? It would be a hard sell.
Richardson showcased his ability in England Knights' win over Jamaica at the weekend and he may yet go on to make the senior England and GB 7 shirt his own over the next decade. His partnership with Jake Trueman at the Tigers will never be dull, but Cas fans must have reservations about whether two younger guys are quite the right blend to lead the team around the park in the short term. Saints will march on regardless. This isn't like losing Gary Connolly or Andy Platt in the pre-Super League days. I wish Richardson the best of luck in West Yorkshire while also looking forward to the next chapter for Saints without him.
The 23-year-old half has signed a three-year deal with Castleford Tigers which brings to an end a promising but some might say all too brief stay at St Helens. Richardson was an ever-present in 2018, enjoying a superb breakthrough season which culminated in his selection for the Super League Dream Team. It was a consolation prize given that Saints fell in the semi-finals of both the Challenge Cup and the Super League but it was what it promised for the future which stirred the imagination. Some got totally carried away, wittering on about the second coming of Sean Long, but there was no doubt that the potential was there for a successful career.
Fast forward to the start of 2019 and the picture changed somewhat. Coach Justin Holbrook cited a pre-season groin injury as the reason for leaving Richardson out of the opening Super League encounter at home to Wigan. At that point it was felt that a few weeks rehabilitation would see Richardson return to the fold. The form of Theo Fages and the fact that the team kept winning in the absence of Richardson rather poked a spanner in the works. As Richardson toiled to regain his place in the team speculation grew that his attitude might not be what you would expect from a player at the highest level. When he was fit he invariably found himself shipped out to Leigh Centurions on dual registration.
This sort of shit never happened to Sean Long. Actually it did. Released by Wigan in 1997 Long had to play nine games for Widnes in the Championship before Saints snapped him up and set him on his path towards legendary status. We will never know now whether Richardson could have made the same transition from Championship cast-off to Saints immortality. Many fans have already claimed that the loss of Richardson could come back to haunt Saints, but in truth recent history is not littered with examples of players who have left the club and become greats of the game elsewhere. Lee Briers is the closest, but although Warrington managed to win the Challenge cup three times during the former Welsh international's time with the Wolves it was not enough to stop Saints picking up a few pots of their own. We still managed to win four Super League Grand Finals and five Challenge Cups during Briers' 15 years at Warrington. If we have to suffer a couple of Castleford Challenge Cup victories between now and 2034 I will take it if it means we increase our Super League title tally to 11 and our Challenge Cup haul to 17 then that will be just fine with me.
In any case, can we be certain that the decision to let Richardson move to the Tigers was made by the club? Along with the criticism of his attitude from certain quarters there were also murmurings about his disquiet about having been left out of the first team squad during the majority of Saints' Grand Final winning 2019 campaign. Richardson played just 12 times for Saints in 2019, bringing his total with the club to 59 appearances in which he scored 10 tries and kicked 175 goals. That is just not enough for him to properly develop or to fulfil the potential that he obviously believes he has, and that Daryl Powell has identified to the extent that he now sees Richardson as a quality replacement for Leeds-bound Luke Gale. It is not inconceivable that Richardson is the one who has driven the move, though whether or not he discussed it with incoming coach Kristian Woolf first is another unknowable factor in all of this.
Arguably Richardson's most memorable contribution to the Saints cause was the 50 metre penalty goal that he landed to help Saints beat Warrington 14-12 in July of 2018. This was enough to persuade some fans that Richardson should be included in the team ahead of Fages irrespective of who was the better all-around player. The theory was that goal-kicking is becoming ever more important but this was probably based on the painful memory of losing the 2017 Super League semi-final at Castleford on a night when Mark Percival got the rugby league goal-kicker’s equivalent of the yips. In reality Richardson did not fully convince. Perhaps it is something to do with the Holbrook style of play in which the scrum-half tends to play second fiddle to the stand-off and fullback at times in terms of playmaking, but games would often pass Richardson by.
Fages has had that problem too at times but the key difference which might have compelled Holbrook to stick with the Frenchman at Richardson’s expense is defence. Fages can and will tackle anything or anyone, whereas Richardson is often targeted by opposition coaches who see his defence as a major weakness in not only his game but the entire Saints team when Richardson is in it. It only takes one weak link to open up opportunities at the highest level. Countering this argument we return to Long, who was never the best defender, often shifting out to the wing when the opposition had the ball. If he could be hidden, why not Richardson? The key is that Long’s all around brilliance at half-back, his speed, his guile, the masterful kicking game he developed, were all things that no coach could ignore. Richardson was and is a fine player, he’s just not so good that you can tolerate the weaknesses in his defence or justify his selection above Fages because he can land goals from half way.
If we can agree that letting Richardson go is a fair enough call from the club thoughts turn to what will happen now in terms of competition for places in the halves. Richardson’s exit leaves only Fages and Jonny Lomax as experienced first team halfbacks with Jack Welsby having impressed more at fullback than in the halves when he has got his chances this year. There is a lot of talk about Lewis Dodd from the academy side breaking into the first team over the coming year or two. It might be that Woolf will try to get by with what he has in the meantime while slowly introducing Dodd to first team action as Holbrook has with Welsby. Certainly there don’t seem to be too many obvious candidates to replace Richardson that are ready made. If you are a first choice half at another Super League club are you going to Saints to back up Fages and Lomax and with the threat of Dodd emerging behind you? It would be a hard sell.
Richardson showcased his ability in England Knights' win over Jamaica at the weekend and he may yet go on to make the senior England and GB 7 shirt his own over the next decade. His partnership with Jake Trueman at the Tigers will never be dull, but Cas fans must have reservations about whether two younger guys are quite the right blend to lead the team around the park in the short term. Saints will march on regardless. This isn't like losing Gary Connolly or Andy Platt in the pre-Super League days. I wish Richardson the best of luck in West Yorkshire while also looking forward to the next chapter for Saints without him.
Grand Final 2019 - Verdict
We’ve paid our dues. Time after time. We’ve done our sentence, but committed no crime. It’s been no bed of roses. No pleasure cruise. But we are the champions, my friend.
All of which Queenly sentiments are another way of telling you that the monkey has been catapulted from the back of the Saints. The bottlers and chokers that everyone said couldn’t win big games finally brought one home as Justin Holbrook’s side ran out 23-6 winners over Ian Watson’s Salford outfit. It is a sixth Super League Grand Final win for Saints and a seventh title since the summer competition started in 1996. Saints have now won more Grand Finals than they have lost, which when you consider that they lost five in a row from 2007-2011 is a pretty firm indicator of the regularity with which they reach Old Trafford.
This one arrives after a five-year lean period. Seven of the 17 on duty that day made it through to Holbrook’s selection in 2019 with two more on the Salford side in the shape of Josh Jones and Mark Flanagan. For Saints all of Tommy Makinson, Mark Percival, Alex Walmsley, Luke Thompson, James Roby, Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook and Kyle Amor were part of the side both here and on the day when Ben Flower’s thuggery, Matty Smith’s wayward goal-kicking and Makinson’s ability to sniff out a try from nothing secured a 14-6 win over the old enemy of Wigan.
It was a different opponent and a different type of victory this time. Saints were almost totally dominant in the first 30 minutes. Right from the moment that Lee Mossop coughed up possession in Salford’s first set Saints swarmed all over their opponents. When they turned that pressure into possession near the opponents’ goal-line there appeared to be a definite and deliberate policy of running the ball on the last tackle. Old Trafford has unusually small in-goal areas making it hard not to kick the ball dead. To do so under the current rules results in a seven-tackle set so it made sense to turn the ball over on the last if necessary and back the defence. Withered cynics might have been wondering whether the ploy spoke of a lack of faith in the short kicking game of Lachlan Coote and Theo Fages but I prefer the positive spin. Holbrook knew he had the best defensive team in the competition. Why not back that defence to help win the territorial battle? Especially if it means sparing them the need to make that extra tackle that comes from a ball having been kicked dead.
It took 15 minutes for Saints’ early dominance to translate into points. Roby shot out of dummy half to feed Walmsley. With everyone expecting the big prop to try to barge his own way towards the line Walmsley surprised everyone with a beautifully timed deft pass to Morgan Knowles which took George Griffin out of the game and allowed the young Welshman to open the scoring. Robert Hicks was thankfully not on hand to spoil Knowles’ moment this time. Coote’s kicking was a feature of his excellent all-round display and the first of his five goals gave Saints a 6-0 lead.
Eight minutes later Saints second try was a thing of real beauty. Ken Sio had fumbled a cross-field kick and from the resultant scrum Fages peeled away to the short side and looked certain to receive the ball from Roby with a good chance to score. Instead Roby performed a stunning pirouette to plant a wonderful reverse pass straight on to the chest of Zeb Taia running a great line inside Roby. It was such a well designed play, no doubt straight from the training ground judging from the reaction of Holbrook and his assistant Richard Marshall. There were dissenters claiming that Fages was offside having not retreated to the back of the scrum but referee Chris Kendall and his touch judges were happy. Coote’s second conversion made it 12-0 to Saints.
That was one of several allegedly scandalous decisions in what some knicker-wetting and frankly desperate fans of rival clubs called the worst refereeing performance they had ever seen. That is about as hysterical as it gets and for us should do nothing to detract from the fact that the best team in 2019 has tootled off with the title. I’ll address some of the more debatable calls along the way but even if Kendall had turned up with a red vee tattooed on his face Saints would still be worthy and deserving champions. That we were here at all is down to a sportingly perverse, media driven system which exists only to wring much needed cash out of supporters and sate the appetite for manufactured drama of the broadcaster. Doubt about Saints as a credible champion team left the building when they won 26 of their 29 regular season games and topped the table by a record 16 points. Playoffs look silly when a team is this dominant.
Perhaps the most squeal-inducing decision arrived just four minutes after Taia’s try. Salford had been caught in the RL equivalent of a typhoon in that first 25 minutes but thought they were on the board when Tui Lolohea went over. However the try was ruled out by Kendall for obstruction. Now, I hate the modern interpretation of the obstruction rule in RL as much as the next fan but this was textbook obstruction and would always have been interpreted that way. The TV replay clearly showed that Lolohea stopped dead behind Logan Tomkins, creating just enough of a shield from the tacklers to find the space to score. You just can’t do that and that’s not Kendall’s fault. Sure, he could have been more thorough and referred it to video referee Ben Thaler. We all remember what happened to Hicks at Wembley when he had the temerity to back his own judgement. The difference here is that the evidence supported the on-field call. Had it been handed on to Thaler he could not have justified overturning the decision.
The truth that has been somewhat glossed over in all that is that Lolohea actually wasted a great chance to score. If he had shifted the ball left to Jones they had numbers on that edge. In turning back inside he hit all the defensive traffic and had to use Tomkins illegally to plot a route through. Yet if anyone thought Salford heads would drop after that disappointment, that Watson’s side would fade away quietly, they were in for a jolt. Salford were much the better side in the last 15 minutes of the first half and got some reward for that shortly after Lolohea’s disallowed effort.
Again the former Leeds stand off was involved, switching the play back left towards the short side and Jackson Hastings. The Wigan-bound half was fantastic in his final appearance for the Salford club and he used the space well to send fellow future-pie Jake Bibby in for the score. Krisnan Inu gaoled to send Salford in at half-time with a reasonable sniff of glory. They trailed by just six points at 12-6. The next score would be decisive, you felt.
Before it arrived there was a moment of unwanted drama for Saints as Makinson was slow to get up after running into Lolohea and Kris Welham. For a while there it looked as if Makinson may not get up unaided much less continue. He was looking like Rod Tidwell in Jerry Maguire. It turned out that he had dislocated his shoulder and experienced a bit of trouble getting it to return to its intended location. Which makes the fact that he not only got up and played the last 38 minutes with one good arm but also landed a game-sealing drop-goal - the first drop-goal of his career - all the more remarkable.
The bitter nay-sayers have suggested it was an unnecessary bit of trolling (to use modern parlance) given that there were only two minutes left at the time and Saints were already 22-6 to the good. But we should not concern ourselves with such talk. I am certain the rest of the RL community will come around to that way of thinking when the clip is being replayed on Sky Sports Grand Final Gold in years to come. A man with a potentially serious injury potting over the first one-pointer of his career to cap a Grand Final win is storybook stuff from where I am sitting. If anyone wishes to take issue with it they should direct their focus to Salford’s failure to target Makinson in defence. Watson has barely put a foot wrong in what has been a sensational season for him and his team but I feel he missed a trick there. With a bit more thought Salford should have been able to force Holbrook into withdrawing Makinson and so force a tactical reshuffle. If that sounds brutal and harsh just remember it is the Grand Final. Do or die. You have to be ruthless and Salford were not in that regard. If a Salford player had been similarly stricken we would have been screaming for someone in a Saints shirt to run straight at them with as much force as possible.
Those same naysayers will point to a few incidents which took place over the next 10 minutes or to back up their criticisms of Kendall and try to take credit away from Saints. Just a minute after the collective and audible exhale let out by the crowd as Makinson was resurrected, concerns turned to Jack Ashworth. The prop went in heavily on Inu who was in no hurry to get up and get on with it. Ashworth hadn’t used his arms very much in making the tackle, and first contact was suspiciously high. As Inu had fallen Ashworth had toppled forwards on to him, effecting a head movement which was reminiscent of Alan Pardew’s method of dealing with Hull City’s David Meyler in 2014 when the human dance-gif was manager of Newcastle United. Kendall saw no intent, which is perhaps fortunate for Ashworth but hardly the greatest officiating cock-up since the Hand Of God as it was painted by some later. My only issue with it is that Ashworth was the fourth man in on that tackle which is teetering awfully close to overkill. When Wigan send four men into the tackle and use the head to ‘get in tight’ (to use Kendall’s explanation) I slaughter them for shithousing. We paint the image that our players don’t resort to that sort of chicanery so I’m not going to defend it here.
Inconsistencies are one of the fans’ biggest bug-bears so anyone not of a Saints persuasion would have been riled by two other calls during that spell that went in Saints favour. First George Griffin was penalised for a ball steal during a challenge on Coote, while moments later a very similar looking incident saw former Saint Adam Walker whistled for a knock-on despite the dishonourable intentions of Thompson. Yet even these were not terrible decisions. Both could have gone either way and you could make a case for the referee just the same. The problem is that at the moment the rules around what constitutes a ball steal and/or a knock-on at the play-the-ball are still a lottery. Some you get and some you don’t and it was ever thus. Nothing really to see here for the conspiracy theorists.
It is somewhat ironic given Saints general aversion to short-kicking that the try that put them firmly in command and arguably saw off Salford’s resistance came via exactly that route. Percival is often accused by other members of the squad of being a couple of stops short of barking. Game intelligence is not his strength, let’s say. So who else but he would disregard the game plan by dabbing a little kick in-goal at the end of what looked like an otherwise fruitless sideways jaunt across the defensive line? But he knows something the rest of us don’t, because it was an inch-perfect piece of execution allowing him to race past a static line to touch down. The nearest threat to Percival’s ambition to get to the ball first was Amor. The desire and then combined delight etched on the faces of the pair as they successfully hunted the ball down typified Saints under Holbrook. Having the most talented players isn’t enough. You have to work harder than everybody else too. A third Coote conversion of the night put Saints 18-6 up with half an hour to play. Within touching distance of putting the exclamation mark on their season’s work.
There were a couple more big calls that Kendall had to make which, had they gone the way some demanded, could have hauled Salford back into something like contention. Naiqama’s tackle on Inu was armless but also harmless. It should have been a penalty to Salford but there was no contact with the head and therefore no reason for Kendall to get all card-y about it. Nor was there much call for the furore when Dodson was deemed to have knocked on close to the Saints line soon after. Probably a penalty for interference by Aaron Smith who seemed to be holding Dudson as he tried to regain his feet. A lost opportunity for Watson’s side but hardly enough to bridge the gap between the two sides. As Hastings was honest enough to say in his post-match interview with same-as-Angela-but-a-bit-younger Jenna Brooks these were not game changing decisions. They didn’t help Salford who might have had a bit more luck on the night, but the best team are champions.
By the time of the Dudson incident he had already clonked Thompson around the neck in front of the Salford sticks to put them in a 20-6 hole, while there was little doubt that Griffin was offside when he played at a ball knocked forward by Niall Evalds following a Fages bomb. Coote again obliged and Saints led by 16 points at 22-6. There would have been a nice symmetry (for nerds anyway) about winning the Grand Final by 16 points having topped the league by 16 at the end of the regular season. But Makinson wasn’t having any of that as he had the last word for himself with that audacious one-pointer.
We’ve taken our bows and our curtain calls. We are the champions, my friend.
All of which Queenly sentiments are another way of telling you that the monkey has been catapulted from the back of the Saints. The bottlers and chokers that everyone said couldn’t win big games finally brought one home as Justin Holbrook’s side ran out 23-6 winners over Ian Watson’s Salford outfit. It is a sixth Super League Grand Final win for Saints and a seventh title since the summer competition started in 1996. Saints have now won more Grand Finals than they have lost, which when you consider that they lost five in a row from 2007-2011 is a pretty firm indicator of the regularity with which they reach Old Trafford.
This one arrives after a five-year lean period. Seven of the 17 on duty that day made it through to Holbrook’s selection in 2019 with two more on the Salford side in the shape of Josh Jones and Mark Flanagan. For Saints all of Tommy Makinson, Mark Percival, Alex Walmsley, Luke Thompson, James Roby, Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook and Kyle Amor were part of the side both here and on the day when Ben Flower’s thuggery, Matty Smith’s wayward goal-kicking and Makinson’s ability to sniff out a try from nothing secured a 14-6 win over the old enemy of Wigan.
It was a different opponent and a different type of victory this time. Saints were almost totally dominant in the first 30 minutes. Right from the moment that Lee Mossop coughed up possession in Salford’s first set Saints swarmed all over their opponents. When they turned that pressure into possession near the opponents’ goal-line there appeared to be a definite and deliberate policy of running the ball on the last tackle. Old Trafford has unusually small in-goal areas making it hard not to kick the ball dead. To do so under the current rules results in a seven-tackle set so it made sense to turn the ball over on the last if necessary and back the defence. Withered cynics might have been wondering whether the ploy spoke of a lack of faith in the short kicking game of Lachlan Coote and Theo Fages but I prefer the positive spin. Holbrook knew he had the best defensive team in the competition. Why not back that defence to help win the territorial battle? Especially if it means sparing them the need to make that extra tackle that comes from a ball having been kicked dead.
It took 15 minutes for Saints’ early dominance to translate into points. Roby shot out of dummy half to feed Walmsley. With everyone expecting the big prop to try to barge his own way towards the line Walmsley surprised everyone with a beautifully timed deft pass to Morgan Knowles which took George Griffin out of the game and allowed the young Welshman to open the scoring. Robert Hicks was thankfully not on hand to spoil Knowles’ moment this time. Coote’s kicking was a feature of his excellent all-round display and the first of his five goals gave Saints a 6-0 lead.
Eight minutes later Saints second try was a thing of real beauty. Ken Sio had fumbled a cross-field kick and from the resultant scrum Fages peeled away to the short side and looked certain to receive the ball from Roby with a good chance to score. Instead Roby performed a stunning pirouette to plant a wonderful reverse pass straight on to the chest of Zeb Taia running a great line inside Roby. It was such a well designed play, no doubt straight from the training ground judging from the reaction of Holbrook and his assistant Richard Marshall. There were dissenters claiming that Fages was offside having not retreated to the back of the scrum but referee Chris Kendall and his touch judges were happy. Coote’s second conversion made it 12-0 to Saints.
That was one of several allegedly scandalous decisions in what some knicker-wetting and frankly desperate fans of rival clubs called the worst refereeing performance they had ever seen. That is about as hysterical as it gets and for us should do nothing to detract from the fact that the best team in 2019 has tootled off with the title. I’ll address some of the more debatable calls along the way but even if Kendall had turned up with a red vee tattooed on his face Saints would still be worthy and deserving champions. That we were here at all is down to a sportingly perverse, media driven system which exists only to wring much needed cash out of supporters and sate the appetite for manufactured drama of the broadcaster. Doubt about Saints as a credible champion team left the building when they won 26 of their 29 regular season games and topped the table by a record 16 points. Playoffs look silly when a team is this dominant.
Perhaps the most squeal-inducing decision arrived just four minutes after Taia’s try. Salford had been caught in the RL equivalent of a typhoon in that first 25 minutes but thought they were on the board when Tui Lolohea went over. However the try was ruled out by Kendall for obstruction. Now, I hate the modern interpretation of the obstruction rule in RL as much as the next fan but this was textbook obstruction and would always have been interpreted that way. The TV replay clearly showed that Lolohea stopped dead behind Logan Tomkins, creating just enough of a shield from the tacklers to find the space to score. You just can’t do that and that’s not Kendall’s fault. Sure, he could have been more thorough and referred it to video referee Ben Thaler. We all remember what happened to Hicks at Wembley when he had the temerity to back his own judgement. The difference here is that the evidence supported the on-field call. Had it been handed on to Thaler he could not have justified overturning the decision.
The truth that has been somewhat glossed over in all that is that Lolohea actually wasted a great chance to score. If he had shifted the ball left to Jones they had numbers on that edge. In turning back inside he hit all the defensive traffic and had to use Tomkins illegally to plot a route through. Yet if anyone thought Salford heads would drop after that disappointment, that Watson’s side would fade away quietly, they were in for a jolt. Salford were much the better side in the last 15 minutes of the first half and got some reward for that shortly after Lolohea’s disallowed effort.
Again the former Leeds stand off was involved, switching the play back left towards the short side and Jackson Hastings. The Wigan-bound half was fantastic in his final appearance for the Salford club and he used the space well to send fellow future-pie Jake Bibby in for the score. Krisnan Inu gaoled to send Salford in at half-time with a reasonable sniff of glory. They trailed by just six points at 12-6. The next score would be decisive, you felt.
Before it arrived there was a moment of unwanted drama for Saints as Makinson was slow to get up after running into Lolohea and Kris Welham. For a while there it looked as if Makinson may not get up unaided much less continue. He was looking like Rod Tidwell in Jerry Maguire. It turned out that he had dislocated his shoulder and experienced a bit of trouble getting it to return to its intended location. Which makes the fact that he not only got up and played the last 38 minutes with one good arm but also landed a game-sealing drop-goal - the first drop-goal of his career - all the more remarkable.
The bitter nay-sayers have suggested it was an unnecessary bit of trolling (to use modern parlance) given that there were only two minutes left at the time and Saints were already 22-6 to the good. But we should not concern ourselves with such talk. I am certain the rest of the RL community will come around to that way of thinking when the clip is being replayed on Sky Sports Grand Final Gold in years to come. A man with a potentially serious injury potting over the first one-pointer of his career to cap a Grand Final win is storybook stuff from where I am sitting. If anyone wishes to take issue with it they should direct their focus to Salford’s failure to target Makinson in defence. Watson has barely put a foot wrong in what has been a sensational season for him and his team but I feel he missed a trick there. With a bit more thought Salford should have been able to force Holbrook into withdrawing Makinson and so force a tactical reshuffle. If that sounds brutal and harsh just remember it is the Grand Final. Do or die. You have to be ruthless and Salford were not in that regard. If a Salford player had been similarly stricken we would have been screaming for someone in a Saints shirt to run straight at them with as much force as possible.
Those same naysayers will point to a few incidents which took place over the next 10 minutes or to back up their criticisms of Kendall and try to take credit away from Saints. Just a minute after the collective and audible exhale let out by the crowd as Makinson was resurrected, concerns turned to Jack Ashworth. The prop went in heavily on Inu who was in no hurry to get up and get on with it. Ashworth hadn’t used his arms very much in making the tackle, and first contact was suspiciously high. As Inu had fallen Ashworth had toppled forwards on to him, effecting a head movement which was reminiscent of Alan Pardew’s method of dealing with Hull City’s David Meyler in 2014 when the human dance-gif was manager of Newcastle United. Kendall saw no intent, which is perhaps fortunate for Ashworth but hardly the greatest officiating cock-up since the Hand Of God as it was painted by some later. My only issue with it is that Ashworth was the fourth man in on that tackle which is teetering awfully close to overkill. When Wigan send four men into the tackle and use the head to ‘get in tight’ (to use Kendall’s explanation) I slaughter them for shithousing. We paint the image that our players don’t resort to that sort of chicanery so I’m not going to defend it here.
Inconsistencies are one of the fans’ biggest bug-bears so anyone not of a Saints persuasion would have been riled by two other calls during that spell that went in Saints favour. First George Griffin was penalised for a ball steal during a challenge on Coote, while moments later a very similar looking incident saw former Saint Adam Walker whistled for a knock-on despite the dishonourable intentions of Thompson. Yet even these were not terrible decisions. Both could have gone either way and you could make a case for the referee just the same. The problem is that at the moment the rules around what constitutes a ball steal and/or a knock-on at the play-the-ball are still a lottery. Some you get and some you don’t and it was ever thus. Nothing really to see here for the conspiracy theorists.
It is somewhat ironic given Saints general aversion to short-kicking that the try that put them firmly in command and arguably saw off Salford’s resistance came via exactly that route. Percival is often accused by other members of the squad of being a couple of stops short of barking. Game intelligence is not his strength, let’s say. So who else but he would disregard the game plan by dabbing a little kick in-goal at the end of what looked like an otherwise fruitless sideways jaunt across the defensive line? But he knows something the rest of us don’t, because it was an inch-perfect piece of execution allowing him to race past a static line to touch down. The nearest threat to Percival’s ambition to get to the ball first was Amor. The desire and then combined delight etched on the faces of the pair as they successfully hunted the ball down typified Saints under Holbrook. Having the most talented players isn’t enough. You have to work harder than everybody else too. A third Coote conversion of the night put Saints 18-6 up with half an hour to play. Within touching distance of putting the exclamation mark on their season’s work.
There were a couple more big calls that Kendall had to make which, had they gone the way some demanded, could have hauled Salford back into something like contention. Naiqama’s tackle on Inu was armless but also harmless. It should have been a penalty to Salford but there was no contact with the head and therefore no reason for Kendall to get all card-y about it. Nor was there much call for the furore when Dodson was deemed to have knocked on close to the Saints line soon after. Probably a penalty for interference by Aaron Smith who seemed to be holding Dudson as he tried to regain his feet. A lost opportunity for Watson’s side but hardly enough to bridge the gap between the two sides. As Hastings was honest enough to say in his post-match interview with same-as-Angela-but-a-bit-younger Jenna Brooks these were not game changing decisions. They didn’t help Salford who might have had a bit more luck on the night, but the best team are champions.
By the time of the Dudson incident he had already clonked Thompson around the neck in front of the Salford sticks to put them in a 20-6 hole, while there was little doubt that Griffin was offside when he played at a ball knocked forward by Niall Evalds following a Fages bomb. Coote again obliged and Saints led by 16 points at 22-6. There would have been a nice symmetry (for nerds anyway) about winning the Grand Final by 16 points having topped the league by 16 at the end of the regular season. But Makinson wasn’t having any of that as he had the last word for himself with that audacious one-pointer.
We’ve taken our bows and our curtain calls. We are the champions, my friend.
Saints v Salford Red Devils - Grand Final Preview
It all comes down to this. Eighty minutes to decide the Super League champions of 2019 as Saints take on Salford Red Devils at Old Trafford on Saturday night (October 12, kick-off 6.00pm).
If you are not travelling to Manchester to see Super League Coach Of The Year Justin Holbrook try to round off his time at Saints with the biggest prize in the domestic game then you might want to find a safe place to hide behind your sofa. Any time Saints are involved in big knockout games it is usually a fairly terrifying experience. Their obvious superiority over all of the other Super League sides tends to go flying out of the nearest window as nerves jangle, fray, shred and do whatever else it is that all the cool nerves do these days. If, like this writer, you will be at Old Trafford then my advice would be to purchase as much liquid nerve-settler as you can throughout the afternoon, but not so much that you attempt to resolve the dispute physically with the hordes of Salfordians who have sprung up from behind their own sofas upon being reminded that they do have a rugby league team to support.
That memory jog is down in no small part to the brilliance of coach Ian Watson and the miracles performed by his on-field general Jackson Hastings. The former Manly halfback is on his way to humourless dark art merchants Wigan next season and, like Holbrook, will be desperate to leave with a title under his belt. Hastings has been sensational for the Red Devils this season on his way to winning the Steve Prescott Man Of Steel Award. He has displayed a level of skill and humility that will probably be coached out of him before the end of the 2020 pre-season. As much as you might admire Hastings now, get set to absolutely detest him as he makes the transition from good to evil faster than Michael Corleone, Anakin Skywalker or Bernard Hill in Lord Of The Rings. He has been all charm in the build-up, first remarking that our own Jonny Lomax is the best player in Super League and then expressing a desire to get hold of Lomax’s headgear as a souvenir following the hostilities. Best of pals now then, but wait for it to go all Rooney-Vardy once they are on opposite sides of the lump next year.
All of which warring wags doesn’t bring me anywhere near to the team news. Saints have named an unchanged 19 to the one which thumped Wigan out of sight in the Qualifying Semi-Final a fortnight. Similarly, Salford have named an unchanged 19 to the one which thumped Wigan out of sight in the Elimination Final last week. We gain no insight into who might win this one by looking at how they got on against Adrian Lam’s side as both Saints and Salford dismissed them with the minimum of fuss to make it this far through the playoffs. So where else will the game be won and lost?
Saints are formidable almost everywhere on the field. Lachlan Coote has returned to form at fullback after a late-summer wobble, while Tommy Makinson led the league in try-scoring this year with 23. Regan Grace was only a couple behind on the opposite flank and centres Mark Percival and Kevin Naiqama are among the most exciting to watch anywhere. Lomax is partnered in the halves by Theo Fages who has escaped a ban for a dangerous tackle during that victory over Wigan, so Danny Richardson looks to have played his last game for Saints amid suggestions that he will be heading east to fill the Luke Gale-shaped hole in the Castleford Tigers squad after the England half moved to Leeds Rhinos for 2020.
It is in the pack where Saints are expected to really dominate. Luke Thompson is in a class of his own in Super League in 2019, while Alex Walmsley has had another stellar year after recovering from the neck injury which saw him miss most of 2018. James Roby is at hooker, but the fact that Aaron Smith has been included casts some doubt about whether he is fit to go for the full eighty minutes. Holbrook recently alluded to this when he was quizzed on whether there would be any changes to the 17 for the Grand Final. He admitted that if there were any reservations about Roby’s fitness that Smith would play, and if not then James Bentley would probably come in. If Bentley does not make it then it would be unfortunate for him after a fantastic breakthrough year, but would represent a fabulous opportunity for Smith to perform on the very biggest stage when Roby takes his breathers.
The back row picks itself also, with Zeb Taia and Dominique Peyroux in the second row and Morgan Knowles locking the scrum. All of which leaves Smith or Bentley on the bench with in all probability props Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Kyle Amor and Jack Ashworth. Joseph Paulo has missed out on selection while Adam Swift misses out on a farewell appearance before his impending move to Hull FC. Matty Costello, Joe Batchelor and Jack Welsby have all made an impact when required this season but will need to wait for another opportunity to play at Old Trafford. Time is on their side in a developing side which should give them heart, as well as Matty Lees who would have been a certain inclusion but for the perforated bowel he suffered in the run-up to the Wembley defeat by Warrington.
Notwithstanding Phil Clarke’s wayward remarks about the quality of the Salford team before their humbling of Wigan, Watson has assembled a very capable group. Yes there is a reliance on Hastings for creativity along with stand-off Tui Lolohea after he was acquired from Leeds in a deal that saw long-time talisman Robert Lui leave the AJ Bell Stadium, but the support cast is full of solid Super League performers who have had every last drop of quality rung from them by the skilled Watson. Niall Evalds is a fine fullback who is unfortunate not to be included in Wayne Bennett’s Great Britain squad for the forthcoming trip to New Zealand, while former Saints Josh Jones and Mark Flanagan are unflashy, consistent performers who won’t be taking any steps in a backward direction.
A pack featuring previously unwanted souls like Greg Burke, Adam Walker, Gil Dudson and Lee Mossop has performed way above expectations this year especially during the playoff run and will need to do so again if the Red Devils are to emulate Warrington and pull off a knockout shock. Oh and Catalans. And Warrington again. Actually, would it be a shock? Ask any bookmaker they will tell you that it would. Ask anyone who has lived through five consecutive Grand Final defeats and umpteen semi-final disappointments as a Saints fan and nothing would surprise them. This system is quite the leveller.
Apart from the halves and Evalds the rest of the Salford back-line does not strike you as comparable to that of Saints. Krisnan Inu is capable of brilliance and madness in equal measure, while Kris Welham is another who was discarded elsewhere on several occasions before enjoying something of a renaissance with Watson and the Red Devils. Jake Bibby will join Hastings at Wigan next year while on the other wing Ken Sio is an experienced campaigner but not one who would strike fear into the hearts of a side containing such talents as Makinson and Grace in that area. Man for man Saints have it, but this is a team game and Salford have been greater than the sum of their parts for almost the entire campaign. I was one of those tipping them to struggle this year before a ball was kicked, but I doubt whether they will let the fact that it has already been a fairy tale season for them distract them from their mission to go one better and lift the trophy. It may be their one and only shot with this group of players, with not only Hastings and Bibby but also Jones and George Griffin already having agreed deals to play elsewhere next year. If this team are going to achieve immortality then it has to be now.
Previous encounters between the two in 2019 are intriguing. Saints won fairly routinely at the AJ Bell to the tune of 26-4, but trailed 30-16 going into the latter part of the home encounter only to pull off one of those Saintsy comebacks for which they are infamous. Three late tries, including a highly dubious one awarded to Bentley by the video referee, gave Saints the win. Nobody pushed Saints that close on home soil throughout 2019 and that might just be a message that Watson will be reinforcing with his players in the build-up to this one.
So we’re all set then for what is in many ways a classic match-up with a big story waiting at the end of either outcome. A Saints win completes a dominant season in which they have set all kinds of new records and benchmarks and have been truly unstoppable at their best, while a Salford win would make David’s win over Goliath look like a humdrum affair. Not just because they will have beaten the team that everyone perceives to be the best this year, but because they will have overcome incalculable odds to become Super League champions.
How are your nerves?
Squads;
St Helens;
1. Jonny Lomax, 2. Tommy Makinson, 3. Kevin Naiqama, 4. Mark Percival, 5. Regan Grace, 6. Theo Fages, 8. Alex Walmsley, 9. James Roby, 10. Luke Thompson, 11. Zeb Taia, 12. Joseph Paulo, 13. LMS, 15. Morgan Knowles, 16. Kyle Amor, 17. Dom Peyroux, 20. Jack Ashworth, 21, Aaron Smith, 22. James Bentley, 23. Lachlan Coote.
Salford Red Devils
Niall Evalds. Kris Welham, Jake Bibby, Lee Mossop, Josh Wood, Gil Dudson, Josh Jones, George Griffin, Mark Flanagan, Joey Lussick, Adam Walker, Greg Burke, Tyrone McCarthy, Logan Tomkins, Ken Sio, Krisnan Inu, Tui Lolohea, Jackson Hastings, Josh Johnson
Referee: Chris Kendall
If you are not travelling to Manchester to see Super League Coach Of The Year Justin Holbrook try to round off his time at Saints with the biggest prize in the domestic game then you might want to find a safe place to hide behind your sofa. Any time Saints are involved in big knockout games it is usually a fairly terrifying experience. Their obvious superiority over all of the other Super League sides tends to go flying out of the nearest window as nerves jangle, fray, shred and do whatever else it is that all the cool nerves do these days. If, like this writer, you will be at Old Trafford then my advice would be to purchase as much liquid nerve-settler as you can throughout the afternoon, but not so much that you attempt to resolve the dispute physically with the hordes of Salfordians who have sprung up from behind their own sofas upon being reminded that they do have a rugby league team to support.
That memory jog is down in no small part to the brilliance of coach Ian Watson and the miracles performed by his on-field general Jackson Hastings. The former Manly halfback is on his way to humourless dark art merchants Wigan next season and, like Holbrook, will be desperate to leave with a title under his belt. Hastings has been sensational for the Red Devils this season on his way to winning the Steve Prescott Man Of Steel Award. He has displayed a level of skill and humility that will probably be coached out of him before the end of the 2020 pre-season. As much as you might admire Hastings now, get set to absolutely detest him as he makes the transition from good to evil faster than Michael Corleone, Anakin Skywalker or Bernard Hill in Lord Of The Rings. He has been all charm in the build-up, first remarking that our own Jonny Lomax is the best player in Super League and then expressing a desire to get hold of Lomax’s headgear as a souvenir following the hostilities. Best of pals now then, but wait for it to go all Rooney-Vardy once they are on opposite sides of the lump next year.
All of which warring wags doesn’t bring me anywhere near to the team news. Saints have named an unchanged 19 to the one which thumped Wigan out of sight in the Qualifying Semi-Final a fortnight. Similarly, Salford have named an unchanged 19 to the one which thumped Wigan out of sight in the Elimination Final last week. We gain no insight into who might win this one by looking at how they got on against Adrian Lam’s side as both Saints and Salford dismissed them with the minimum of fuss to make it this far through the playoffs. So where else will the game be won and lost?
Saints are formidable almost everywhere on the field. Lachlan Coote has returned to form at fullback after a late-summer wobble, while Tommy Makinson led the league in try-scoring this year with 23. Regan Grace was only a couple behind on the opposite flank and centres Mark Percival and Kevin Naiqama are among the most exciting to watch anywhere. Lomax is partnered in the halves by Theo Fages who has escaped a ban for a dangerous tackle during that victory over Wigan, so Danny Richardson looks to have played his last game for Saints amid suggestions that he will be heading east to fill the Luke Gale-shaped hole in the Castleford Tigers squad after the England half moved to Leeds Rhinos for 2020.
It is in the pack where Saints are expected to really dominate. Luke Thompson is in a class of his own in Super League in 2019, while Alex Walmsley has had another stellar year after recovering from the neck injury which saw him miss most of 2018. James Roby is at hooker, but the fact that Aaron Smith has been included casts some doubt about whether he is fit to go for the full eighty minutes. Holbrook recently alluded to this when he was quizzed on whether there would be any changes to the 17 for the Grand Final. He admitted that if there were any reservations about Roby’s fitness that Smith would play, and if not then James Bentley would probably come in. If Bentley does not make it then it would be unfortunate for him after a fantastic breakthrough year, but would represent a fabulous opportunity for Smith to perform on the very biggest stage when Roby takes his breathers.
The back row picks itself also, with Zeb Taia and Dominique Peyroux in the second row and Morgan Knowles locking the scrum. All of which leaves Smith or Bentley on the bench with in all probability props Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Kyle Amor and Jack Ashworth. Joseph Paulo has missed out on selection while Adam Swift misses out on a farewell appearance before his impending move to Hull FC. Matty Costello, Joe Batchelor and Jack Welsby have all made an impact when required this season but will need to wait for another opportunity to play at Old Trafford. Time is on their side in a developing side which should give them heart, as well as Matty Lees who would have been a certain inclusion but for the perforated bowel he suffered in the run-up to the Wembley defeat by Warrington.
Notwithstanding Phil Clarke’s wayward remarks about the quality of the Salford team before their humbling of Wigan, Watson has assembled a very capable group. Yes there is a reliance on Hastings for creativity along with stand-off Tui Lolohea after he was acquired from Leeds in a deal that saw long-time talisman Robert Lui leave the AJ Bell Stadium, but the support cast is full of solid Super League performers who have had every last drop of quality rung from them by the skilled Watson. Niall Evalds is a fine fullback who is unfortunate not to be included in Wayne Bennett’s Great Britain squad for the forthcoming trip to New Zealand, while former Saints Josh Jones and Mark Flanagan are unflashy, consistent performers who won’t be taking any steps in a backward direction.
A pack featuring previously unwanted souls like Greg Burke, Adam Walker, Gil Dudson and Lee Mossop has performed way above expectations this year especially during the playoff run and will need to do so again if the Red Devils are to emulate Warrington and pull off a knockout shock. Oh and Catalans. And Warrington again. Actually, would it be a shock? Ask any bookmaker they will tell you that it would. Ask anyone who has lived through five consecutive Grand Final defeats and umpteen semi-final disappointments as a Saints fan and nothing would surprise them. This system is quite the leveller.
Apart from the halves and Evalds the rest of the Salford back-line does not strike you as comparable to that of Saints. Krisnan Inu is capable of brilliance and madness in equal measure, while Kris Welham is another who was discarded elsewhere on several occasions before enjoying something of a renaissance with Watson and the Red Devils. Jake Bibby will join Hastings at Wigan next year while on the other wing Ken Sio is an experienced campaigner but not one who would strike fear into the hearts of a side containing such talents as Makinson and Grace in that area. Man for man Saints have it, but this is a team game and Salford have been greater than the sum of their parts for almost the entire campaign. I was one of those tipping them to struggle this year before a ball was kicked, but I doubt whether they will let the fact that it has already been a fairy tale season for them distract them from their mission to go one better and lift the trophy. It may be their one and only shot with this group of players, with not only Hastings and Bibby but also Jones and George Griffin already having agreed deals to play elsewhere next year. If this team are going to achieve immortality then it has to be now.
Previous encounters between the two in 2019 are intriguing. Saints won fairly routinely at the AJ Bell to the tune of 26-4, but trailed 30-16 going into the latter part of the home encounter only to pull off one of those Saintsy comebacks for which they are infamous. Three late tries, including a highly dubious one awarded to Bentley by the video referee, gave Saints the win. Nobody pushed Saints that close on home soil throughout 2019 and that might just be a message that Watson will be reinforcing with his players in the build-up to this one.
So we’re all set then for what is in many ways a classic match-up with a big story waiting at the end of either outcome. A Saints win completes a dominant season in which they have set all kinds of new records and benchmarks and have been truly unstoppable at their best, while a Salford win would make David’s win over Goliath look like a humdrum affair. Not just because they will have beaten the team that everyone perceives to be the best this year, but because they will have overcome incalculable odds to become Super League champions.
How are your nerves?
Squads;
St Helens;
1. Jonny Lomax, 2. Tommy Makinson, 3. Kevin Naiqama, 4. Mark Percival, 5. Regan Grace, 6. Theo Fages, 8. Alex Walmsley, 9. James Roby, 10. Luke Thompson, 11. Zeb Taia, 12. Joseph Paulo, 13. LMS, 15. Morgan Knowles, 16. Kyle Amor, 17. Dom Peyroux, 20. Jack Ashworth, 21, Aaron Smith, 22. James Bentley, 23. Lachlan Coote.
Salford Red Devils
Niall Evalds. Kris Welham, Jake Bibby, Lee Mossop, Josh Wood, Gil Dudson, Josh Jones, George Griffin, Mark Flanagan, Joey Lussick, Adam Walker, Greg Burke, Tyrone McCarthy, Logan Tomkins, Ken Sio, Krisnan Inu, Tui Lolohea, Jackson Hastings, Josh Johnson
Referee: Chris Kendall
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