Saints are just 80 minutes away from a 13th Grand Final appearance as they prepare to take on Leeds Rhinos in Friday’s Super League semi-final (October 1, kick-off 7.45pm).
Such is the structure of the competition you can basically forget everything that has gone before this season because it all comes down to these last two weeks. It’s not quite Bobby Ewing rocking up in the shower after returning from the dead but suffice to say that not much of what has gone before is going to help you now. Win and Kristian Woolf’s side can prepare for a shot at a third consecutive title. Lose and they can start thinking about 2022. Unlike in Dallas, there’s always another series. We just don’t want to have to contemplate it yet.
Woolf has brought an entire arsenal of ten gallon-hatted big guns back into his squad for this episode. A whole host of star names were rested for the 26-14 defeat at Salford in the last week of the regular season. None of them have played since Saints last meeting with Leeds, a 40-6 blowout home win on September 10. Lachlan Coote, Tommy Makinson, Mark Percival, Kevin Naiqama, Morgan Knowles, James Roby and Joe Batchelor all return to the fold. Jonny Lomax is also included after making his return to action during that Salford loss.
Coote is likely to come back in at fullback in place of Jonathan Bennison, who scored on his debut at the AJ Bell but is one for the future. Regan Grace is perhaps the only member of the starting back line at Salford likely to start this one. Tommy Makinson should replace Shay Martyn on the opposite wing to Grace, with Josh Simm and Ben Davies probably missing out to make way for Naiqama and Percival. Lomax is in contention for another start at stand-off but this is one area where Woolf has a genuine selection dilemma. Jack Welsby has made the Super League Dream Team (albeit as a centre, strangely) and a place in the line-up will surely be found for him. Besides, his halfback partnership with Lewis Dodd has arguably made Saints’ attack much more potent. On the flip side of that, Lomax has made the Dream Team as a stand-off and is one of five nominees for the Steve Prescott Man Of Steel award. It is perhaps a testament to Dodd’s quality that the one option I haven’t considered here is playing both Lomax and Welsby in the halves and leaving Dodd out.
Last time Alex Walmsley ran into Leeds he did not so much run into them as run over them. The former Batley man ripped in for 275 metres in one of the most dominant prop forward performances in recent years. He will return to lead the pack, with one of Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook or Matty Lees starting in the front row alongside him and hooker James Roby. Living legend Roby announced his retirement from international rugby league this weekend but remains vital to everything that Saints do. Sione Mata’utia injured an ankle in that Leeds win but has been passed fit to play. He should partner Batchelor in the second row. The former York man seems to have established himself as a first choice in that position ahead of Joel Thompson with James Bentley now officially ruled out for the season and – consequently – the remainder of his time at Saints. The former Bradford Bulls man has agreed to join Leeds for next season and beyond. He misses the opportunity to face his future employers for one last time before his move. Another Dream Teamer will complete the line-up in the shape of Morgan Knowles.
Leeds arrive here by virtue of an 8-0 win over Wigan in one of the most dire games of rugby league if not in living memory then certainly since the last time Leeds played Wigan. The Rhinos final league placing of fifth has their fans talking up the prospect of a repeat of their successes of the past from that position. This has spooked a few Saints fans who - abandoning all rationality in the way that sports fans must - have seemingly forgotten that this Leeds side does not possess four or five all time greats as those sides did. In fact it has no such players. It doesn’t even have Luke Bloody Gale. This is a very ordinary Leeds side and to lose to it at home even in the high pressure environment of a playoff semi-final would be an underachievement of European Ryder Cup team proportions. In that respect there is probably more pressure on Saints than on Leeds.
Rhinos coach Richard Agar has named an unchanged 21-man squad following last week’s borefest at Wigan. Aside from Gale the only major absentees are young fullback Jack Walker and Sutcliffe brothers Liam and Alex. Without Walker Ritchie Myler has been the regular choice at fullback behind a three-quarter line that includes quality in the shape of Ash Handley and Harry Newman and which may feature another set of brothers in Tom and Luke Briscoe. Trying to crash that party will be fit again and allegedly Saints-bound Tongan bulldozer Konrad Hurrell. Creativity in midfield will be the responsibility of makeshift scrum-half Kruise Leeming and the man who is seemingly the world’s oldest playmaker Robert Lui. The former Salford man has made only nine appearances this season but the Rhinos recent upturn and subsequent surge of optimism has a lot to do with his return to the side.
The forward pack have it all on to stop Walmsley and company. This is the area where Leeds fell so short against Saints three weeks ago. The likes of Mikolaj Oledzki, Alex Mellor and Zane Tetevano will help make sure it is not quite the same turnstyle-mimicking rabble that turned up that night and in Matt Prior, Brad Dwyer and Rhyse Martin they have other consistent performers. Their challenge - like that of many others this year - will be to hold Saints powerful ball carriers for the duration of the game. So often this year Saints have controlled games without looking particularly fluent or dangerous, only to pull away late when opponents have defended one set too many. Leeds will hope to hang in there, minimise opportunities for Saints’ array of attacking weapons and hope that their own backs can take their opportunities when they come.
Frankly it doesn’t seem all that likely. Saints are fresh from a week off - arguably two when you consider the team selection at Salford - while Leeds have been playing for their playoff lives for well over a month now. There is an argument that this offers them an edge in as far as they will be more battle hardened than their hosts but it is not a theory I’m buying. Their desperation at Wigan was just as heightened as it will be in this one but that is not a fact which managed to inspire them in attack. If they play that conservatively and make that many mistakes against Saints they will find points hard to come by. After all, this is a Saints defence which conceded an average of only 10.9 points per game during the regular season. By contrast the Rhinos shipped in almost twice as many at 18.3 per game. If Leeds make this a defensive grind they will fall over first while we all stifle a yawn. If they make it a shoot-out, well then they will be more JR than Bobby Ewing. Only the identity of the shooter could be anyone of nine or 10 of Saints’ skilled assassins.
As I write Catalans Dragons have just secured the first place in the Old Trafford Grand Final. Over to Saints then to set up the ending to this soap opera of a season that many have been anticipating for some time.
Squads;
St Helens;
1. Lachlan Coote, 2. Tommy Makinson, 3. Kevin Naiqama, 4. Mark Percival, 5, Regan Grace, 6, Jonny Lomax, 8. Alex Walmsley, 9. James Roby, 10. Matty Lees, 11. Joel Thompson, 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.
Leeds Rhinos;
2. Tom Briscoe 3. Harry Newman 4. Konrad Hurrell 5. Ash Handley 6. Rob Lui 8. Mikołaj Oledzki 9. Kruise Leeming 10. Matt Prior 11. Alex Mellor 12. Rhyse Martin 13. Zane Tetevano 14. Brad Dwyer 16. Richie Myler 17. Cameron Smith 18. Tom Holroyd 19. King Vuniyayawa 20. Bodene Thompson 24. Luke Briscoe 25. James Donaldson 27. Jack Broadbent 31. Morgan Gannon
Referee: Chris Kendall
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