Saints 10 Huddersfield Giants 12 - Review

It wasn’t like this with Justin. Actually it was occasionally. In August 2018, on their way to winning the League Leaders Shield by 10 points Saints went down 16-12 at home to Huddersfield Giants. Bad performances happen. Judging by some of the teeth-gnashing responses to the defeat on social media it would appear that there is a good portion of the support not prepared to accept that fact.

Notwithstanding the propensity of some for hysteria the difference here is credit in the bank. While the people calling for the removal of coach Kristian Woolf are very likely the kind of people currently racing down the aisle at Tesco panic buying toilet roll and paracetamol like Richard Madeley on an episode of Celebrity Supermarket Sweep, there are causes for concern here that were not evident in 2018. Back then Holbrook had been improving Saints for almost a year. He lifted them out of the doldrums of the Cunningham Energy Battle era and though he fell short of winning the big one that year even the most negative fan could see that progress was being made. That is more difficult to see when we analyse the evidence of Woolf’s tenure so far. But I’d ask you to remember that it’s a very small sample size.

Woolf has had six competitive games in charge so far. Five of those have come in Super League and the other in the World Club Challenge against back-to-back NRL Premiers Sydney Roosters. Holbrook’s two-year reign has taught us that we dominate Super League. With that in mind two defeats in five league outings represents a crisis for many. Not only that but the 2020 Saints have gone through long periods of impotence in their attack that would disappoint even Roy from Eastenders or that beardy dancing twat from the Viagra advert. They were nilled and humiliated at Warrington. They went 40 minutes without scoring a try in the first half at Hull FC before recovering to win 32-18. They butchered several opportunities in drawing another blank in the second half against the Roosters, though at the time most were happy to put that down to the quality of the opposition rather than any major shortcomings in the Woolf game plan. A solid if unspectacular nilling of pseudo North American comedy club Toronto Wolfpack had raised expectations that everything would be just fine and we would once again return to our rightful place atop the Super League tree.

And then this. It was undeniably awful. Largely the problems were tactical but individual mistakes were a significant factor also. Woolf cannot be blamed for the usually reliable Tommy Makinson botching his attempt to diffuse Aidan Sezer’s bomb which led to Adam O’Brien’s opening score. Nor can the coach be blamed for Jack Welsby’s token attempt to get a hold on Jacob Wardle as the Huddersfield centre streaked down the north touchline for the try which sealed the win. But Woolf is responsible for the often dire conservatism that defined Saints’ attacking approach and rendered Makinson, Regan Grace and Kevin Naiqama spectators for much of the evening. I can recall two moments of involvement for the Welshman. On one occasion he just failed to hang on to an interception that would have seen him go the length of the field untouched and in the other he flapped desperately at a Jonny Lomax pass that was several feet too high even if Grace were not vertically challenged.

Woolf is also responsible for team selection. Who didn’t glance at the Saints line-up on their way to the stadium and allow themselves to entertain the thought - just the thought - that this could be one of those nights? With Mark Percival out injured for the foreseeable future and James Bentley absent with an ankle injury Morgan Knowles was selected to play at left centre. This must have been jarring news for Matty Costello. Under Holbrook any injury to Percival immediately led to the selection of Costello. Employing Knowles there made no sort of sense and for me smacked of a loud and clear message from Woolf to Costello that he is not going to figure heavily in his long term plans unless something changes dramatically.

It looks as though Woolf has seen something in Costello - something that we are not privy to that happens away from the public glare - that he does not like. It will not have helped the young centre’s cause that after finally entering the fray 20 minutes from time he dropped the ball over the line destroying what would have been a certain try. From my position in the north stand I thought referee Gareth Hewer had given a forward pass in the build-up. Yet as everyone on the south and west sides will have seen at the time the highlights showed the true picture. It was ugly. Individual mistakes rearing their head again.

Knowles’ shift into the backs meant a start at loose forward for Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook with Kyle Amor coming on to the bench. Even the Londoner’s biggest fans would accept that his presence there rather than Knowles’ makes Saints demonstrably weaker. Aaron Smith’s suspension along with Bentley’s injury meant that James Roby had to go it alone at hooker without the opportunity to be spelled. These things are unfortunate but if anyone can explain to me why Alex Walmsley and Luke Thompson spent so much time off the field at the same time then I’d be interested to know. A rudimentary grasp of Saints squad shows you that the level of the pack drops off considerably without one let alone both of those two in the action. Matty Lees is not yet the superstar that his biggest advocates think he is while Amor is on the downward slope of what has been a fine career without ever reaching elite levels. Those two combined for 132 metres between them on 15 carries which is one metre fewer than Thompson managed on his own from 18 and only two metres more than Walmsley managed on his 18. We must have greater output from our back-up props if we are to afford the luxury of sitting Walmsley and Thompson down at the same time. When the pair were on at the same time they were over relied upon in Woolf’s safety first structure.

Injuries play a part and could be cited in defence of Woolf and of his team’s performance. We have already seen the effect of Percival’s absence but there was another significant hole in the side that Saints struggled to fill. Lachlan Coote was named in the 21-man squad for this one but didn’t make it. This further exposed a wobbling Welsby who is showings signs that he needs a spell out of the first team firing line. You are likely to get inconsistent performances from young players with so little experience but Welsby has not looked comfortable since the opening night win over Salford. Yet if Coote is not 100% fit then Woolf does not have the option of protecting Welsby. The Australian fullback’s long term fitness cannot be risked. It is a long season and Coote is going to be a key figure if Saints are involved in the big games that come around in late summer.

Despite all of these problems this was a desperately close if fairly tedious contest. Like a recently unmasked villain in an episode of Scooby-Doo Saints could have got away with it had they managed the game better. Were it not for that pesky game management. Sezer put on a clinic in how to protect a lead in the final quarter, consistently kicking Saints into positions that their limited attacking approach was always going to struggle with. Contrast that with Theo Fages who has been praised recently by Woolf but who from where I am sitting has launched the same last tackle bomb 732 times already this season. I know, who’s counting? He’s industrious and he defends as well as any half but his lack of guile places an undue creative burden on Lomax at times, particularly in what looks a more rigid system under Woolf than under his predecessor.

We cannot move on to next week’s assignment at Castleford without addressing the very real concerns about Hewer’s performance. There is a certain truth to the notion that you spend 80 minutes inside a stadium screaming at the referee like Gordon Ramsey bellowing at an unsuspecting apprentice chef on his first day, only to go home and watch the footage and find that the referee got 95% of the calls correct. Still there was one decision in particular which is still arguable no matter how many times you view it.

Lomax had a try disallowed for an obstruction by Roby which could have proved the difference. Roby does stand between the would-be tackler, Jordan Turner, and Lomax as he receives the ball. There is a good argument that Roby raising his hands does not absolve him of responsibility if he is still in the way. Yet there is also a good argument that Turner makes no attempt to make the tackle, or that he would have made it had he made the effort. For too long now defenders have been allowed to take the easy option of doing nothing but throw their arms up in anticipation of a decision. Ordinarily this is more common in televised games because defenders know that the video referee will often find a reason to disallow a slightly contentious try even if it takes 62 looks at the replay. It is rarer and bolder for this to be called in a non-televised game. While I would hesitate to back Hewer’s decision 100% it was not the scandalous, terrible call that it has been branded by legions of understandably disappointed fans.

No. If we are looking to apportion blame then we ha e to point our fickle fingers at Woolf and the players. Just remember that it is too soon to make any overall judgements and that, contrary to what your filtered memory tells you, it was like this under Justin.

Well....once or twice anyway.