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