Saints will be looking for a third consecutive Super League win when they entertain Wakefield Trinity on Friday night (March 31, kick-off 8.00pm).
After a sluggish start with two defeats in their first three league outings Head Coach Paul Wellens’ side have had back-to-back victories at home to Hull FC and away at Huddersfield Giants. It still leaves Saints in an underwhelming sixth spot in the Super League table but they have a game in hand on most of the other sides in the competition. That’s because the four-in-a-row champions sat out the opening week of league action so they could swipe the world title away from Penrith Panthers.
Meanwhile the first six rounds of the season have been horrific for Trinity. Rock bottom of the table without a win, they have managed to record a resounding zero points in half of those six fixtures. The nadir was a 60-0 hammering at Wigan on February 24. The closest that Mark Applegarth’s side has come to what used to be known as winning pay was an extra time loss to Salford Red Devils on Mother’s Day. Paul Rowley’s side prevailed 14-13 thanks to the drop-goal prowess of Marc Sneyd. Since then Trinity have lost comfortably again, going down 34-6 at Hull KR on Friday night (March 24).
Wellens has made two changes to the 21-man squad which travelled to Huddersfield. Morgan Knowles returns after a one match suspension while McKenzie Buckley is included also. The 19-year old made his Saints debut with a clutch of other youngsters at Castleford last April as former Saints boss Kristian Woolf stood most of his first team squad down following an Easter weekend double header. Buckley has yet to add a second appearance to his name.
The men to miss out are Sione Mata’utia and Wesley Bruines. Mata’utia lasted only 27 seconds of the win at Huddersfield, and that after returning from a two-game suspension of his own. He fell heavily on the back of his head while being pushed back by Giants defenders and was ruled out shortly after following a head injury assessment (HIA). That meant that he was automatically ineligible for this week too under the concussion protocols. He certainly won’t be overworked by the time he is free to line up against Wigan in just over a week’s time. The other side of that coin is that should he be selected by Wellens he will be going into the derby with very little recent rugby league under his metaphorical belt.
The other man to miss out from last week’s selection is Wesley Bruines who has yet to make his first team debut for Saints after joining from South Sydney Rabbitohs developmental squad.
With only those changes to factor in the line-up on match day should not be massively different to that which edged the Giants 14-12 last week. One perhaps unwelcome distraction was the news which broke yesterday that Lewis Dodd has signed a contract with one of the leading player agencies in the NRL. Dodd - who turned 21 in January - has only managed 40 appearances for Saints following his debut in a 42-0 walloping of the other lot from over the lump in September 2020. Yet his move this week seems to suggest that he is already making plans for an exit when his Saints contract expires at the end of the 2024 season. By rule, a player who is under contract until then can start talking to NRL clubs in November of this year.
Ominous signs with Dodd then, though in truth much like the rest of the Saints squad he has not been playing with the kind of freedom we expect from him. The Saints attack has been underwhelming through their first five league outings. It has all seemed a little too regimented although there is mitigation in the fact that injuries and suspensions have necessitated much more deck-shuffling in the back division than would ordinarily be the case. The cohesion hasn’t quite been there despite the fact that Dodd and Jonny Lomax have been ever present in the halves.
If selected Lomax will make his 300th appearance for Saints. Wakefield were the opposition when Lomax made his debut in March 2009. Were it not for a couple of long term knee injuries the 32 year-old would doubtless have made many more appearances. Yet 300 across a 14-year career at one of the world’s top clubs is not an achievement to be sniffed at. Despite his advancing years Lomax - now playing under his sixth Saints Head Coach - remains pivotal to everything the side does particularly in attack.
Behind those two in the threequarters the key decision for Wellens is whether or not to bring Mark Percival back into the starting line-up. The centre did not feature at Huddersfield despite being named in the 21 for the clash. That he remains in the selection suggests he is fit so should still be an option. If he was to come back into the side it could be at the expense of Will Hopoate - a man for whom appearing in one in every five games is about the limit of his durability. Konrad Hurrell made a real difference to the attack at the John Smith’s Stadium so should hold down the other centre spot with Tommy Makinson outside him on the wing ahead of Jack Welsby at fullback. Hopoate can play on the wing - as can Percival for that matter - but Jon Bennison has been impressing there and deserves to keep his place.
The obvious change to the pack is the reintroduction of Knowles. With Joe Batchelor still missing through injury we may see Knowles operate at 13 behind a second row pairing of Curtis Sironen and James Bell. Sam Royle is the likeliest candidate to interrupt that party with Jake Wingfield out for the second game in a row. The props should be Alex Walmsley and - coming off a tireless 68-tackle effort against the Giants - Matty Lees. Agnatius Paasi and Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook should spell the starting pair with James Roby at hooker and Joey Lussick waiting to replace the 526-game Saints skipper off the bench.
In addition to their miserable run of results Wakefield have heaped further punishment on their fans with a strange personnel move this week. Twenty year-old centre Corey Hall was one of the club’s most promising players but has nevertheless been dealt to Hull KR in exchange for fullback Will Dagger. He is no veteran either at just 24 but most observers would agree that Dagger has been an inconsistent performer throughout his five years as a Robin. Rovers coaches obviously were not convinced given that he has had four loan spells with Championship clubs during those five years. Who knows - it may turn out to be a masterstroke on the part of Applegarth but there are certainly Trinity fans on social media who see it as a cost-cutting exercise in preparation for life in the second tier.
Dagger should come straight into the side at fullback, a position which has already been occupied by former Saint Lee Gaskell, winger and occasional hooker Liam Kay and Robbie Butterworth this season since the regular starter Max Jowitt made his only appearance of 2023 to date in the opening round defeat by Catalans Dragons. Gaskell and Jowitt are still unavailable as is former Warrington Tory spokesman Tom Lineham. Ex-Catalans Dragon Samisoni Langi filled in alongside Mason Lino in the halves against Rovers but one time Wigan man Morgan Smith might get the nod this week after coming back into contention.
Smith is one of three men coming back to the squad with a genuine shot of improving matters. NRL veteran Kevin Proctor is named in the 21 as is the sweetly named Harry Bowes. Langi could revert to centre to fill the hole left by Hall but Trinity will still be without highly coveted speedster Lewis Murphy on the wing. Reece Lyne and Jorge Taufua - a man who scored 88 tries in 164 NRL appearances for Manly Sea Eagles before somehow ending up in Wakefield - offer further options in the backs for Applegarth.
Breaking - But wait. Help is on the way for Trinity. Earlier today (Wednesday March 29) it was revealed that Applegarth has secured a two-week loan deal for Huddersfield Giants wing man Innes Senior. The 22 year-old - who has had two loan spells with Trinity already in his career - returns for a third spell and goes straight into what is now a 21-man squad for the trip west. Senior played for the Giants in the Challenge Cup final defeat to Wigan at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in 2022 and managed 12 tries in his 26 appearances for Ian Watson’s side that year. He has only featured once for the Giants so far in 2023 but will add some much needed pace to the Trinity back line.
The forward pack will be led by another ex-Saint in Matty Ashurst and will likely include Eddie Battye, Jai Whitbread and Jay Pitts as well as Proctor. Liam Hood is still out so either Kay or Bowes could operate from dummy half.
The teams met three times in 2022 thanks to the ongoing fiasco that is loop fixtures. It will not astonish you to know that the champions beat Trinity both home and away. However, what is perhaps more shocking is that after a 20-4 home success at the end of February and a nail-shredding 13-12 victory at Belle Vue in July Woolf’s all-conquering side went down 34-18 in Trinity’s second visit to St Helens at the end of August. Delve a little deeper however and you will see that this was one of Woolf’s ‘we need a week off’ selections. Keane Gilford, Ben Lane, Daniel Moss, Ellis Archer, Lewis Baxter, Taylor Pemberton and George Delaney all featured in the match day 17.
Miracles do happen, and occasionally form does go flying out of the nearest window. Yet it remains very difficult to see anything other than a comfortable Saints win here and another step on the upward ladder after those early season jitters.
Squads;
Saints;
1. Jack Welsby, 2. Tommy Makinson, 3. Will Hopoate,4. Mark Percival, 5. Jon Bennison, 6. Jonny Lomax, 7. Lewis Dodd, 8. Alex Walmsley, 9. James Roby, 10. Matty Lees, 13. Morgan Knowles, 14. Joey Lussick, 15. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, 16. Curtis Sironen, 17. Agnatius Paasi, 19. James Bell, 22. Sam Royle, 23. Konrad Hurrell, 25. Tee Ritson, 30. George Delaney, 33. McKenzie Buckley
Wakefield Trinity;
2. Jorge Taufua, 4. Reece Lyne, 7. Mason Lino, 8. Eddie Battye, 10. Jai Whitbread, 11. Matty Ashurst, 13. Jay Pitts, 14. Jordy Crowther, 15. Liam Kay, 18. Lee Kershaw, 19. Kevin Proctor, 20. Morgan Smith, 21. Samisoni Langi, 22. Rob Butler, 24. Harry Bowes, 25. Sam Eseh, 27. Rob Butterworth. Oliver Pratt, Tom Forber, Will Dagger, Innes Senior
Referee: Chris Kendall
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