Derby disappointment must be left behind as Saints travel to what we are this week calling Sewell Group Craven Park on Friday (April 14). There they will face a Hull KR side who enjoyed a very different Rivals Round experience, swatting away city rivals and long time basket case Hull FC by an eye-popping 40-0 scoreline.
Saints’ defeat at Wigan was a third loss in seven league games under first year Head Coach Paul Wellens. It leaves them fifth in the table, two points behind fourth-placed Rovers albeit with a game in hand on Willie Peters’ men. A win by 12 or more points will see Saints go above the Robins and into the top four. Only, it’s complicated. Not only because of the champions’ unconvincing form but also due to to an injury and suspension list that can now be justifiably classified as ‘alarming’.
By contrast Rovers are flying high having opened their season doing what Saints couldn’t and handing Wigan a 27-18 defeat. They backed that up with an impressive win at Salford but then seemed to revert to the mean with a three-game losing streak. Leigh, Warrington and Catalans all got the better of KR during that period. Yet they have not lost since, earning victories over Wakefield, Leeds and FC. They will be confident of getting the win against what looks a fairly diminished Saints line-up especially at a ground where the visitors haven’t always sparkled.
Much of the damage to the Saints personnel is in the forward pack. Just back from suffering a concussion at Huddersfield Sione Mata’utia threw himself at Ethan Havard late in the derby and picked up another head knock. On the second occasion he was stretchered from the field amid fears of a neck injury. Wellens has already vowed to be very careful with the ex-Newcastle Knight so we should not expect to see him for a few weeks at least.
All of which is particularly awkward with Joe Batchelor still out and now Curtis Sironen absent from the 21-man squad with injury concerns of his own. James Bell looks likely to hold down one starting second row berth with maybe Sam Royle getting what would be only a sixth start for the club since making his debut at Salford in September 2021.
If that seems more likely than the nod going to Jake Wingfield - who hasn’t played since the home win over Hull FC in mid-March - or than Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook breaking a streak of 11 straight appearances off the bench - then starts for at least one of those two are made ever more possible by another suspension for Morgan Knowles. And this time it is is a biggy. The disciplinary panel have handed the Cumbrian a five-match ban for an alleged hip drop on Mike Cooper. The ex-Warrington prop will not play again this season having sustained an ACL injury.
As regrettable as that is it came as news to me this week that the extent of an injury has a large bearing on the length of suspension for the player involved in the incident. This doesn’t add up given that we know that some seriously grubby tackles can luckily result in no injury while sometimes the most innocuous contact which may otherwise not even warrant a penalty can cause massive season or even career ending damage.
However I am prepared to accept the panel’s findings on Knowles’ guilt. Judging by the chat on social media all of us - including me - could do with a great deal more education and clarity on what constitutes a hip drop and what factors dictate the severity of any suspension. I very much doubt it is as simple as the notion that all hip drops warrant X number of games. I have watched the tackle Knowles made on Cooper several times and I have to be honest and say that I don’t know what I am looking for. I suspect there are many others in the same boat, though some seem to be choosing to style it out in order to fit the narrative of their chosen tribe.
The upshot is that Knowles has been up before the beak again and I’m as sick of it as you are of reading of my intolerance to Knowles on these pages. If it turns out he has been hard done by on this occasion it doesn’t erase all of the other grubbery he gets up to these days. Late hits, arm-twists, you name it, he’s been caught doing it over the last 12 months.
Only in previous instances he has had Mr Rush in his corner, waving his brief case about like the lovechild of Alan Shore and Barry Sheck before getting Knowles off on a technicality. Meanwhile the likes of Mata’utia and Sironen are hung out to dry and serve multiple bans for very similar offences. What is it about Knowles that we can’t do without? What does he have on the club that forces them to go the extra mile in his defence every time he transgresses? Which is often. I just don’t get it. All I’m seeing is a player who is fast becoming as grubby as that other Morgan who plays at 13 over the lump.
It’s not all on Knowles. Saints have a wider disciplinary issue which is costing them at the moment. If they are going to improve that it starts with proper analysis of what Knowles and others are doing wrong and taking steps to eradicate those flaws. Denial at all times and at all costs just isn’t going to cut it.
Back at the ranch we have a gap at 13 then. Again both Wingfield and McCarthy-Scarsbrook are candidates to fill it but as we have seen both come with reasons not to be selected. Lewis Baxter is in the squad but he too represents a gamble having made only two first team appearances to date. Still, everybody has to start somewhere.
Perhaps another option would be to start Joey Lussick at 9 and slot James Roby in at 13 for as long as his ageing limbs will carry him. If you squinted you could see some understandable cracks appearing in the 37 year-old’s performance at Wigan but it would be unwise to write him off. He could just as easily start here at either 9 or 13 and produce another stellar performance that leaves us wondering what we are going to do without him when he eventually calls it a day.
Talk of Roby or Lussick at 9 brings us to the front row which is equally banged up. Alex Walmsley had already been ruled out for a month with a hamstring injury and now it transpires that Agnatius Paasi won’t make it this week either. Could that mean that the much trumpeted 19 year-old George Delaney gets a first start for Saints alongside the one remaining regular Matty Lees? It would be bold but then there are those who take the view that if you are good enough you are old enough. Why put a bloke in your 17 - as Delaney has been for the last two matches - if you don’t believe you can rely on him to step up? Let’s see what he can do at this level over a slightly longer stint.
The problems up front could make it a long day for the backs but at least all of the preferred personnel are on deck. The only selection decision for Wellens seems to be whether to restore Jon Bennison to the line-up. He’s missed the last three as the coach has preferred the experience of Will Hopoate. But if the Tongan starts again that would be four in a row which seems like a stretch for a man made of ice cream wafers.
The rest of the back line should pick itself with Jack Welsby at fullback and Tommy Makinson on the wing outside centres Konrad Hurrell and Mark Percival. Jonny Lomax and Lewis Dodd should get another opportunity to iron out the creases in what looked the best halfback pairing in the league 12 months ago. Tee Ritson is hovering just in case the kind of disasters seen up front happen to befall any of the backs in the coming days.
Our hosts look in slightly better health with Peters making just three changes to his 21-man squad. Sauaso Sue misses out through injury along with James Batchelor while centre Sam Wood has a hamstring problem. Goal-kicking winger Ethan Ryan is also unavailable but in triple Grand Final winner Lachlan Coote, ex-NRL stars Shaun Kenny-Dowall and Tom Opacic as well as Super League legend Ryan Hall Rovers have plenty of quality in the backs. Corey Hall is also included for the first time since Peters put on his mask and plundered him from Wakefield in exchange for Super League’s most under siege fullback Will Dagger.
All of these weapons are currently being expertly guided around by arguably the form halfback in Super League in Jordan Abdull. Throw in the lively and unpredictable Mikey Lewis alongside him and you can see why this is a side seemingly on the up.
Ordinarily you would expect Saints to nullify some of the threat by winning the forward battle but the four-in-a-row champions’ problems in that department will make life easier for the likes of George King, Kane Linnett, Elliot Minchella, Frankie Halton, Rhys Kennedy and Matty Storton. At hooker there is the excellent Matt Parcell too. He might only be the second best 9 on the field at times but he is nevertheless capable of causing a variety of problems.
This is looking like a genuinely problematic assignment for Saints. Yet it is the kind of game which if you can win despite the steaming pile of adversity you find yourself buried under it could provide the confidence boost required to help go on a much needed winning run.
Saints have fared quite well at Craven Park in all of its many guises in recent years. Last year the world champions came out on top 42-8 and haven’t lost to Rovers in Hull since a 24-22 reverse back in 2015. Though they didn’t travel there in either 2020 or 2021 due to Covid restrictions.
Saints being Saints there will still be an expectation to win despite the battered forward line. And it is not out of the question given their resilience and champion pedigree. And Rovers, for all their talent, are not yet the model of consistency that Peters would no doubt like them to be. There is hope, but a defeat would not be the seismic shock that outsiders might try to portray.
Squads;
Hull KR;
1. Lachlan Coote 3. Tom Opacic 4. Shaun Kenny-Dowall 5. Ryan Hall 7. Jordan Abdull 9. Matt Parcell 10. George King 11. Frankie Halton 12. Kane Linnett 13. Elliot Minchella 14. Jez Litten 15. Rhys Kennedy 17. Matty Storton 18. Jimmy Keinhorst 20. Mikey Lewis 21. Rowan Milnes 22. Dean Hadley 23. Louis Senior 26. Sam Luckley 29. Phoenix Laulu-Togaga’e 33. Corey Hall
Saints;
1. Jack Welsby, 2. Tommy Makinson, 3. Will Hopoate, 4. Mark Percival, 5. Jon Bennison, 6. Jonny Lomax, 7. Lewis Dodd, 9. James Roby, 10. Matty Lees, 14. Joey Lussick, 15. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, 18. Jake Wingfield, 19. James Bell, 22. Sam Royle, 23. Konrad Hurrell, 24. Lewis Baxter, 25. Tee Ritson, 26. Dan Hill, 30. George Delaney, 33. McKenzie Buckley, 34. Wes Bruines.
Referee: Ben Thaler
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