Well, hello again. It’s been a while. So long in fact that the first entry on these pages in 2022 focuses on Saints’ BetFred Super League Round 7 visit to Headingley to take on Leeds Rhinos.
These sides have had wildly contrasting starts to the season. Saints sit top of the early table having lost only one of their opening six league games. They are the competition’s leading points scorers with 176 at an average of 29.3 per game, while no team in the top flight have conceded fewer than the 50 given up so far by Kristian Woolf’s men (8.3 points per game).
Compare that to the 10th placed Rhinos who have given up 141 points in their six outings so far at an average of 23.5 per game. Only Toulouse, Castleford and Salford have conceded more points so far this season. No Super League team has posted fewer than Leeds’ 90 points across the first six rounds. That’s just 15 points per game.
If the stats look bad for Leeds then perhaps their main hope can be found in the still significant absences in the Saints 21-man squad. The champions are still without Will Hopoate, Matty Lees and Sione Mata’utia through injury. Regan Grace made his first appearance of the season in last week’s 46-4 Challenge Cup win at Whitehaven but misses out again here after leaving the action early at the LEL Arena. All of which means that Sam Royle and Jon Bennison keep their places in the initial selection as does prop Dan Norman. The former London Bronco has waited an age for his first team opportunities since making the move north at the start of 2021 but has now scored tries in his last two outings.
What will not encourage Leeds so much is the return of Alex Walmsley. The England international has not featured since a 28-2 win over Warrington on March 11 but looks set for a return in this one. That’s especially bad news for Leeds when you consider that the 31 year-old has averaged 229.5 metres in his last two appearances against the Rhinos. In the final game of the 2021 regular season Walmsley shredded Leeds for 275 metres. He followed that up with 184 when the teams met for a place at Old Trafford three weeks later. If he’s fully fit Walmsley is a certain starter leaving Norman, Agnatius Paasi, Kyle Amor and Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook to compete for the starting berth which ordinarily belongs to Lees.
Also set for a return having been rested last week is Morgan Knowles. It is no exaggeration to say that Saints are a different animal defensively with both Walmsley and Knowles on the field. Knowles should get the nod to start ahead of Jake Wingfield who deputised at Whitehaven. With Mata’utia out there may be another starting opportunity for former Manly Sea Eagle Curtis Sironen. The Australian former City Origin representative has managed only four appearances for his new club so far and will be hoping for a run in the side to help build some form. His omission so far has largely been down to the excellent strides made by Joe Batchelor. The former York man has nailed down a regular starting spot this year after initially struggling to establish himself. Sironen has it all on to keep hold of a starting shirt at Batchelor’s expense when the previously in-form Mata’utia returns to fitness.
Which brings us to the hooking role. We’re all set for a special occasion for a very special number nine. James Roby looks certain to make his 500th appearance for the club whether that is from the start or from the bench behind Joey Lussick. Only three other Saints have reached that milestone. Kel Coslett (531), Eric Chisnall (523) and Billy Benyon (514) are the men ahead of Roby on Saints all-time appearance list. He could still surpass one or two of them by the end of what is expected to be his final season in the red vee.
Full disclosure - I’ve always been Team Cunningham in the great debate between Saints two all-time great hookers. Cunningham was an absolute freak of a player in his youth who seemed impossible to tackle with his speed off the mark and his powerful high knee lift running style. I’d argue that he played against better teams too, with the salary cap having by now spread talent around the league and so driven down standards among the very best teams. But that is not to take anything away from the brilliance of Roby who - like Cunningham - can do it all offensively and defensively, has an inexhaustible energy and is a fine leader and tactician. Roby deserves all the accolades and plaudits that will come his way when he retires - even his own statue. For now he remains a key piece of the Saints puzzle and will be fresh having only played a short cameo at Whitehaven last weekend.
Without Hopoate and Grace the back line should have a similar look to it as it had prior to Grace’s brief return last week. Josh Simm should come back into the right wing spot from where he has scored four tries already this season. On the opposite side will be the now veteran Tommy Makinson. His switch to Saints’ busier attacking flank has helped him notch eight tries of his own this term. Yet even when he is not scoring tries Makinson’s qualities as a kick returner, metre-maker, defender and all around inspiration need no further elaboration.
Mark Percival might have expected to be partnered in the centres more regularly by Hopoate but the Tongan’s struggles with fitness have offered former Rhino Konrad Hurrell the chance to show that he can still do it in the three-quarters. Hurrell appears to have a renewed enthusiasm for his rugby under his national coach. That has helped turn Simm into a winger and has meant that Saints haven’t felt the blow of losing Hopoate for so many games too harshly. I will again put my cards on the table and admit to being riddled with scepticism when Woolf brought Hurrell over from Headingley but to this point the former Gold Coast Titan is proving his worth.
In the creative department Jack Welsby is settling into Lachlan Coote’s old fullback role, while Jonny Lomax and Lewis Dodd are establishing a great halfback partnership which justifies the decision to allow Theo Fages to join Huddersfield more with each passing week.
This column priding itself on at least the appearance of balance we need to talk about Leeds. At the start of the season during the 13 Pro-Am season preview shows I was repeatedly firm in my conviction that Leeds would be much better this year and that they should be competing for at least a top four spot. I still look at their squad and wonder why it is not happening for them. The biggest disappointment for them has to be the performance of their new halfback combination of Blake Austin and Aidan Sezer. The two were once deemed good enough to form an NRL partnership with Canberra Raiders so should really be lording it over most of the opposition in Super League. Yet though he starred for Huddersfield when fit Sezer in particular has flitted between flustered, inept and disinterested so far in a Rhinos shirt. Meanwhile Austin’s Powers appear to be waning. Perhaps Daryl Powell does know something about this game after all.
It has all added up to a miserable season so far for Leeds, culminating in a solitary win over Wakefield Trinity and the mutual consenting of coach Richard Agar through the exit door. Pseudo psychologist Jamie Jones-Buchanan is in interim charge at present while Gary Hetherington combs Australia for the right man to take the club forward. If he finds him then all is not lost. It is still early enough in the season for a squad containing the likes of Jack Walker, Harry Newman, Ash Handley, Mikolaj Oledzki, Matt Prior, Kruise Leeming, James Bentley and Zane Tetevano to clamber back into playoff contention. But the turnaround needs to happen soon. A visit from the champions of the last three seasons must be about as welcome as Chris Rock at the Alopecia Society.
For now Jones-Buchanan still has his share of injuries and absentees to worry about. Brad Dwyer picked up a ban after he was sin-binned for tripping in last week’s Challenge Cup hammering by Castleford, while Tetevano will serve the last of his two-match suspension here also. Newman, Ritchie Myler and Tom Holroyd are all still missing as well as winger David Fusitu’a. His return has been delayed for a few more weeks by minor surgery on his knee.
So is there enough quality available to the Rhinos to see them challenge Saints? Handley is the real deal on the wing and is set to make his 150th appearance for the club. The front row is solid in the form of Oledzki, Prior and Leeming although not having Dwyer available to inject into the action at the opportune moment could lessen Leeds’ threat from dummy half. James Bentley’s main challenge will be to keep his marbles in place against his former team-mates long enough to stay on the field. Rhyse Martin is a dependable presence in the back row and an excellent goal-kicker.
Yet it all still seems to come back to that faltering halfback partnership. Can it click into gear against the best side in the competition, with key pieces around it still missing and with morale about as low as it can go? You’d have to say probably not, which is why I expect Saints to run out comfortable winners, Leeds are probably in a false position which I expect to improve if Hetherington gets his coach finding mission right. Saints on the other hand are not in a false position. They will get home by at least 18.
Squads;
Leeds Rhinos;
1 Jack Walker 4 Liam Sutcliffe 5 Ash Handley 6 Blake Austin 7 Aidan Sezer 8 Mikolaj Oledzki 9 Kruise Leeming 10 Matt Prior 11 James Bentley 12 Rhyse Martin 15 Alex Mellor 17 Cameron Smith 19 Bodene Thompson 20 Tom Briscoe 21 Morgan Gannon 23 Jack 24 Jarrod O’Connor 25 James Donaldson 27 Muizz Mustapha 28 Max Simpson 29 Liam Tindall
St Helens;
1, Jack Welsby, 2, Tommy Makinson, 4. Mark Percival, 6. Jonny Lomax, 7. Lewis Dodd, 8. Alex Walmsley, 9. James Roby, 12. Joe Batchelor, 13. Morgan Knowles, 14. Joey Lussick, 15. LMS, 16. Curtis Sironen, 17. Agnatius Paasi, 18. Kyle Amor, 19. Jake Wingfield, 21. Josh Simm, 22. Ben Davies, 23. Konrad Hurrell, 24. Dan Norman, 26. Sam Royle, 27. Jon Bennison.
Referee: James Child