Just four days on from their last outing Saints are back in action when they travel to Warrington on Monday (August 30, kick-off 7.30pm).
Kristian Woolf’s side produced a clinical last 20 minutes to despatch bottom club Leigh Centurions, but now face one of their main rivals for the Super League crown. Warrington are one of only three sides to beat Saints in 2021, prevailing 6-2 after a dismal spectacle in mid-June. Both sides are chasing down Catalans Dragons in the race for the League Leaders Shield. A defeat here for either could be a potentially fatal blow to those hopes.
Saints have developed a slight halfback problem coming into this one. Theo Fages was ruled out for the season after breaking his shoulder in the Challenge Cup final win over Castleford Tigers, and he is now joined on the sidelines by Jonny Lomax. The England man remains of one of Saints’ talismen and key attacking threats but he will not feature here after being helped off the field during the win over Leigh due to a hamstring injury.
While we all nervously await the results of Lomax’s scan the void will be filled by the youthful pairing of Lewis Dodd and Jack Welsby. Dodd has begun to establish himself as a key figure in the absence of Fages and was a try scorer for Saints on Thursday night. Welsby’s move to stand-off perhaps presents slightly more of a gamble but he has played there before and has shown in his short career so far that he is able to adapt to any position in the backs. He has even thrown in the odd showing at loose forward. We should have no worries about these two in the short term but if Lomax were to be ruled out for the remainder of the season it would be a big ask for the two youngsters to consistently guide Saints around the park in the very biggest games. Historians will point to Nathan Brown’s 2014 Saints who won a Grand Final without any recognised halves. It is certainly possible to repeat that success especially with players as talented as these two. Yet it is probably something that all concerned would rather not have to prove.
There is better news for Woolf elsewhere in the team. Through a mixture of Woolf’s own choice, injuries and suspensions Saints faced Leigh without seven regulars. Some of them will return, most notably Tommy Makinson and James Bentley after bans and Mark Percival who was not risked against Kurt Haggerty’s side given his troublesome hamstrings. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook and Joel Thompson were also given the night off against the Centurions and could return, while James Roby will almost certainly be restored to the starting line-up after beginning the Leigh game on the bench.
Makinson’s return is particularly timely as it will allow Welsby to move into the halves and Kevin Naiqama to switch back to the centres after filling in on the wing last time out. Percival is in line to replace Josh Simm in the other centre slot with Regan Grace and Lachlan Coote completing the back line.
Alex Walmsley leads the pack along with Roby, and they will be joined in the front row by one of McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Matty Lees, Kyle Amor and Agnatius Paasi. Two of those four are likely to occupy a bench spot along with Aaron Smith and whoever is the odd one out among Woolf’s second row options. Joe Batchelor has made it difficult for Woolf to leave him out in recent weeks while Sione Mata’utia was in excellent form against Leigh. You get the sense that one of those two may miss out on a start to accommodate Bentley, and they may both be unlucky if Woolf chooses to go back to Thompson. The trees are fairly safe from any prospect of being pulled up by Thompson since his move from Manly but he is a player that Woolf seems to trust and who particularly suits the coach’s conservative philosophy. Jake Wingfield saw his first action since the end of April when he came off the bench on Thursday night and will hope to have done enough for another run out. The only member of the back row about whom there seems little argument in terms of selection is loose forward Morgan Knowles.
Warrington come in to the game in rather patchy form. A 26-6 win at Huddersfield last time out was convincing enough against a side which has a history of troubling the Wolves, but that followed a disappointing defeat to Wakefield Trinity in the immediate aftermath of Chris Chester’s departure from the West Yorkshire club. Defeat to Saints would just about put Steve Price’s side out of the running for top spot and perhaps leave them feeling grateful that Wigan - the team immediately below them in the table at the time of writing - have suffered a complete meltdown in recent weeks.
Price’s main injury absentee this week is Leeds-bound stand-off Blake Austin. Yet in Gareth Widdop and George Williams Wire have two halves who have been good enough for the NRL and the international stage in recent years. Stefan Ratchford can slot into the fullback role although Matty Ashton is also included. There’s no Josh Charnley so Josh Thewlis may get another opportunity on the wing opposite Tom Lineham. The latter has somehow agreed to join Wakefield for 2022 and will be looking to add that elusive Grand Final win to his CV before moving east. Jake Mamo is another on the move in 2022 as he has agreed a deal with Castleford, but for now he partners Toby King in the centres.
Old stagers Chris Hill and Mike Cooper carry the fight in the front row alongside the much sought after Daryl Clark at nine. Ben Currie will be playing his 200th game for Warrington, while other back row options include Jason Clark, Jack Hughes, Joe Philbin and Matt Davis. Sitaleki Akauola adds plenty of impact from the bench along with former Leeds and Hull KR man Robbie Mulhern.
As well as the untried halfback pairing of Welsby and Dodd Saints recent form against Warrington is reason to feel nervous. Wire have won the last four meetings between the sides, knocking Saints out of the Challenge Cup in both 2019 and 2020. You have to go back to August 2019 for Saints last win over Warrington although that poor record is mitigated somewhat by the fact that the teams only met once in the league during the Covid-hit 2020 season. With little conviction I’m backing Welsby to step up to another challenge to help Saints to a narrow win. Saints by four.
Squads;
Warrington Wolves;
Sitaleki Akauola, Matty Ashton, Daryl Clark, Jason Clark, Mike Cooper, Ben Currie, Matt Davis, Eribe Doro, Chris Hill, Jack Hughes, Toby King, Tom Lineham, Ellis Longstaff, Jake Mamo, Robbie Mulhern, Joe Philbin, Stefan Ratchford, Josh Thewlis, Danny Walker, Gareth Widdop, George Williams.
St Helens;
- Lachlan Coote, 2. Tommy Makinson, 3. Kevin Naiqama, 4. Mark Percival, 5, Regan Grace, 8. Alex Walmsley, 9. James Roby, 10. Matty Lees, 11. Joel Thompson, 12. James Bentley, 13, Morgan Knowles, 14. Sione Mata’utia, 15. LMS, 16. Kyle Amor, 17, Agnatius Paasi, 18. Jack Welsby, 19, Aaron Smith, 20, Joe Batchelor, 21. Lewis Dodd, 23, Jake Wingfield, 29. Ben Davies.
Referee: Liam Moore
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