I don’t normally do friendlies. I don’t attend them as a rule and I don’t normally write about them. Witness the lack of material on these pages about recent pre-season skirmishes with Swinton Lions and Widnes Vikings. But this was different.
Having come out to Australia 18 days before the World Club Challenge date with NRL champions - premiers, whatever - Penrith Panthers Saints acclimatised with a tune-up against home shirt lookalikes St George-Illawarra Dragons. For Saints the match provided decent preparation for taking on the back-to-back NRL Grand Final winners. For the Dragons it was another step towards their NRL opener against Justin Holbrook’s Gold Coast Titans on March 12. New NRL franchise the Dolphins make it 17 teams in this year’s competition, hence no game for Anthony Griffin’s side in the opening round. Those of us not fortunate enough to be travelling to Australia feel your pain there. Regardless, both these sides needed the run out for their own reasons.
Yet the team selections probably showed that it is the Super League champions who need to be at full tilt sooner. Apart from Morgan Knowles who was withdrawn through illness, this was a virtually full strength outfit selected by first year head coach Paul Wellens. With Lewis Dodd now back from his long term injury Jack Welsby was able to revert to fullback while Will Hopoate filled the left wing spot vacated by the departed Regan Grace.
Up front Knowles’ loose forward role was occupied by James Bell. Alex Walmsley was back after missing out on the back end of 2022 with a foot injury. James Roby - entering a 20th season - continues to keep Joey Lussick kicking his heels on the sidelines while in the back row Joe Batchelor and Sione Mata’utia got the nod although Curtis Sironen would feature prominently. Pretty much every other Saints player you can name other than Knowles also made appearances from the bench as Wellens got a little experimental after the break.
Griffin was more cautious with his line-up. Aaron Woods, Ben Hunt, Francis Molo, Jaydn Su’a, Josh Kerr, Cody Ramsey, Zane Musgrove, Jack Bird and Rookie Of The Year Talatau Amone were among those not involved for the team who finished an underwhelming 10th on what Australians like to call the ladder in 2022. That’s the league table to you and me. Saints skipper Roby was 100% right when he observed post game that next week’s clash with the Panthers will be contested on a different level. Even when others are at full strength the Panthers are currently the cream of the NRL by a distance. During their two title-winning seasons they have lost only seven of 49 regular season games. They are the Saints of the NRL you might say. Meanwhile the Dragons are more like the Warrington Wolves of the NRL.
Viewed in that context it isn’t massively surprising that Saints dominated the early going. Konrad Hurrell has mixed it with the great and the good of the NRL before and it took him only six minutes to stamp his mark on proceedings. His damaging run forced Zac Lomax into a mental error as he stole the ball from the Tongan centre after the tackle was complete. That penalty set up the position for Saints to open the scoring. Mark Percival went close with a run typically devoid of any regard for his own safety. He was held up short but Roby’s perfectly weighted dab from dummy half saw Dodd react first and touch down. Makinson added the extras and Saints led 6-0 eight minutes in.
The Dragons had 21 year-old Treigh Stewart at fullback. That’s his age according to the Dragons website. Not to doubt the validity of their info but as far as I can see he could easily pass for 36. Being diplomatic - he is something of an enigma. His contributions were often outstanding but not all of them were particularly useful. His first one of this contest fell into the latter category as he flapped at a Dodd bomb to give Saints the field position from which they stretched the lead. It was a well crafted effort too, as Dodd’s long ball out to Tommy Makinson saw the England man find a great inside offload to Welsby who just managed to squeeze over with defenders hanging off him. Makinson could not tack on the two this time but Wellens’ men seemed in control at 10-0.
They could and probably should have extended that lead three minutes later but from a good attacking position Dodd came up with an uncharacteristically poor, low pass to Jonny Lomax. Even then the Saints man had an opportunity to make something of it as the ball bounced reasonably kindly but it somehow slipped out of his grasp. Makinson would probably have had a stroll to the line had Lomax made the catch. Had he done so Saints might have threatened to run away with it. Instead they endured a difficult period soon after as the narrow escape seemed to stir the Dragons into action.
They were further helped by Saints who were beginning to make errors in quick succession. Makinson couldn’t handle a Moses Mbye bomb and when Saints were pinged for a repeat set they compounded that error by straying offside deep in their own territory. Dragons stand-off for the day Connor Muhleisen emulated Dodd with an ugly, bouncing pass but whereas Jonny Lomax had failed to gather Dodd’s effort Muhleisen’s was snaffled by former Salford and Warrington battering ram Ben Murdoch-Masila.
He attacked the space left by Makinson as the Saints man sniffed a chance to take possession of the loose ball and shot out from his defensive post. Murdoch-Masila had the simple task of handing on to Zac Lomax who strolled in for a try which he converted himself to bring the deficit back to only four at 10-6. There was perhaps a suspicion of an obstruction on Makinson by Stewart but it was not deemed necessary for the video official to examine it any further,
Percival was next to put his side under pressure. He tore out from inside his own half but when he was met with equal enthusiasm by the defence the ball squirmed away from his possession. It was picked up by Tautau Moga and from there Stewart showed us his good side. Picking the ball up 20 metres out from the Saints line he slithered between the ordinary defensive efforts of Dodd and Percival before holding off Welsby to finish a superb solo try. It was touched down wide out on the right hand side of the Dragons’ attack but still no problem for an accomplished goalkicker such as Zac Lomax. Suddenly, from a position of strength with a 10-point lead Saints found themselves trailing narrowly at 12-10. That despite having been fairly dominant in the opening quarter of the game.
When they flipped it back around again it was Welsby at the centre of things. Dodd popped a little drop-off pass to Mata’utia whose perfectly timed ball saw Welsby slice through the defence. The Saints fullback was dragged down by the ubiquitous Stewart. When Hurrell’s attempted pass to Makinson on the next play could only find the first row of the stand it looked as though the chance had vanished. Yet the play was brought back for what was described by the official as a suspected hip-drop by Stewart on Welsby. Stewart was put on report while Makinson slotted over an easy two points to tie the scores at 12-12.
It was indicative of how underdone these two teams still are that the pendulum swung again almost immediately. Agnatius Paasi lost the ball running it back from the kick-off, but was let off the hook when Zac Lomax dropped a simple pass on the first play of the ensuing set. Perhaps there was a touch of justice at play there as it looked like Blake Lawrie’s challenge on Paasi which dislodged the ball was executed with the shoulder.
Not that it affected the big prop all that much. He was a willing runner again soon after, winning a penalty for interference which set up the position from which Wellens’ side wrestled back the lead. At the end of the set Roby, Jonny Lomax and Sironen combined to find Makinson who stepped inside the cover to score. It is also worth mentioning the part played by Sironen earlier in the set as his powerful run edged Saints into an attacking position. Makinson could not find a conversion again but Saints were back in front by four at 16-12.
To this point Hopoate had remained anonymous but the former Manly, Parramatta and Canterbury man was about to take centre stage. For a short period only, you understand. Only he will know how he hung on to the kick-off following Makinson’s try. He juggled it behind his back then seemed to roll it along his person before finally and gratefully clutching it. He thought he had followed up that piece of inexplicable wizardry with a try two minutes before the break. Dodd’s high ball had Stewart in all sorts again, this time under pressure from Mata’utia. As the ball bounced away from the pair it was tipped by Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook straight to Hopoate for an easy walk-in.
The fact that the referee pointed and whistled for the try might have fooled some non-NRL-watching UK fans. In Super League if the referee points and whistles for a try then that’s that. Add four to the score. But this is the NRL folks, a place where a try can still be reviewed even after the referee has awarded it. When the good people in the booth got around to it they noticed that the ball had made contact with Mata’utia’s arm and gone forward before McCarthy-Scarsbrook got involved. The try was chalked off and Saints had to be content with just a four-point lead at half-time at 16-12.
Saints came out aggressively in the second half and though the Dragons matched them set for set it was the Super League champions who went close again six minutes in. Makinson was caught high by Jaiydn Hunt to get Saints down the field before Welsby’s kick on the last was shuttled dead by Mikaele Ravalawa. That gave Saints another crack at the line but the Dragons stubbornly held on as Joey Lussick was held just short.
The message from Griffin had been clear at half-time. Cut out the errors. His side had 100% set completion in the opening exchanges of the second half but it was not until Mbye’s 56th minute break that they threatened to score. He sliced between Matty Lees and Bell before finding Dan Russell in support. He made it inside the Saints 20 before he was hauled down. In the end though, textbook tackling from Dodd and Mata’utia saw off the danger as they brought down Billy Burns on the last.
Makinson left the scene shortly after, replaced by the new signing from Barrow Raiders Tee Ritson. Makinson didn’t look comfortable when he came off but not much has been made of it so hopefully there is nothing to see there. Joe Batchelor also picked up a knock and with Knowles unwell there are a few concerns in terms of personnel ahead of next week. You need all hands on deck if you’ve got designs on knocking off Penrith Panthers in their own back yard. Makinson is particularly important, as another 155 metres gained in not much more than an hour’s playing time demonstrates.
By contrast another key player was having a difficult day. Jonny Lomax made a couple of uncharacteristic errors in the first half and was reprieved from enduring another one by the first ever captain’s challenge in Saints history. In the NRL you have one opportunity per game to challenge a referee’s decision. If you are successful you keep your challenge to use again at some point during the rest of the game. If you’re wrong and the challenge is not successful then you lose it.
Lomax had been adjudged to have knocked on from Welsby’s pass but replays showed that it had been brushed forward by Mbye before it reached its target. That gave Saints a second bite at the small, soft stone fruit, and they got yet another when Dragons winger Matthew Feagai got fingertips to a Lomax pass intended for Ritson. Yet the raid on the St George line ended when the Saints stand-off mistimed a pass to Davies which went forward as a result. Lomax will have better days than this one. This performance was no sort of illustration of his qualities.
The Dragons committed one of the most basic sins in the game in not finding touch with a penalty awarded when Bell was deemed to have interfered at the play-the-ball. They also lost Toby Couchman to a head injury assessment when he had the misfortune to find his face directly in line with Paasi’s head. At the end of the set Dodd’s grubber was fluffed by Stewart under pressure from McCarthy-Scarsbrook. That allowed Welsby to take possession but he was halted short of the line. Yet it merely delayed Saints’ quest for points as Lussick went over from dummy half on the next play. Davies took over the kicking responsibilities and couldn’t miss from in front, pushing Saints out to a 22-12 lead. Dodd was the regular goalkicker before his injury but it seems clear that there is still an element of caution being applied to his return.
Lussick could have added a second try in the space of five minutes. Ritson was caught high by Ryan Couchman but after good work by Paasi and Dan Norman the final pass to Lussick from Davies travelled forward. Two minutes later Saints were in however. Davies forced a goal-line dropout with a deft kick. From short range the ball was moved right through Bell, Sironen and Hurrell before Ritson raced down the right touchline and went over with a diving flourish. It wasn’t the most difficult finish for the ex-Barrow man but the speed with which he executed it provided real excitement for what he might be able to achieve given the service. Davies’ goal all but settled the issue at 28-12 with less than 10 minutes to play.
Saints needed that insurance since they gave up a third try almost immediately. Davies got into a muddle at the restart to concede a goal-line dropout. That enabled Savelio Tamale to stretch out and score, finishing off a movement involving Moga, Russell and Haele Finau. With Zac Lomax by now off the field Alexander Robb nailed the conversion to bring the Dragons back to within 10 at 28-18. Yet it was Saints who fittingly had the last word. They capped a dominant performance when a knock on against Walmsley was reversed after another challenge which showed that the ball had been stripped by Jaiydn Hunt. Davies slotted over an easy penalty with no time left on the clock to cement a 30-18 victory.
Statistically Welsby was a standout for Saints, leading his side with 200m with ball in hand. Walmsley was close behind on 197 with Paasi (142), Bell (116), Sironen (109), Hurrell (109) and Mata’utia (107) all breaking the 100 barrier. Defensively the numbers are modest owing to the fluid nature of the interchanges with both sides using well over 20 players. Both sides made a raft of changes particularly in the second half, slightly diluting any argument that Saints were only beating a reserve side. All of Norman, Sam Royle, Lewis Baxter, Davies and Wingfield saw playing time for Saints. They will no doubt all see action throughout the long campaign to come but if everyone in the squad is fit it is by no means certain that these names will be in the 17. For the record Lussick was Saints top tackler with 21.
For the Dragons Stewart was unsurprisingly the most progressive with 136 metres but it is perhaps telling that only Lawrie (118) and Nick Lui-Toso (106) topped the century for the merged club. They NRL outfit had a little more defensive work to do due to Saints’ weight of possession meaning Muhleisen (35), Jacob Little (34) and Jaidyn Hunt (31) reached the 30-mark.
And so, five days from the time of writing Saints face the Panthers, bidding to win a first world title since 2007. The test they face is formidable but there was plenty in this display to suggest that Wellens’ troops will give a reasonable account of themselves.
Saints starting 13: Welsby, Makinson, Hurrell, Percival, Lomax, Dodd, Walmsley, Roby, Lees, Mata’utia, Batchelor, Bell.
St George starting 13: Stewart, Feagai, Suli, Lomax, Ravalawa, Muhleisen, Mbye, Lawrie, Liddle, Coric, Murdoch-Masila, Burns, Hunt.
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