Saints v Warrington Wolves - Preview

It’s a misfiring, injury-ravaged Saints who prepare for the visit of league leading Warrington Wolves on Thursday night (April 20, kick-off 8.00pm).

Paul Wellens won a world title in his first competitive game as Saints Head Coach but it has been a difficult start to the domestic campaign. After conquering Penrith Panthers in Sydney the four-in-a-row Super League champions have won only four of their first eight outings in the latest defence of their crown. Not great form with which to take on a rejuvenated Warrington in their second season under Daryl Powell. The Wolves reeled off eight wins in a row to start 2023, only suffering their first defeat when Wigan came to town and left with a 13-6 win last time out.

Wellens can point to a glut of injuries in the pack as mitigation for his side’s iffy form. Only two of the regular six starting forwards were on deck for last week’s 26-14 reverse at Hull KR and it is a similar story this week. Despite the boost offered by the return to the 21-man squad of Joe Batchelor there is still almost an entire pack missing. 

Batchelor has not played since the Grand Final win over Leeds Rhinos all the way back in September but is in contention once more following his recovery from ankle surgery. He replaces Jake Wingfield who sustained a head knock at Rovers. That this is the only change to Wellens’ selection at least suggests continuity. Yet Batchelor’s return will not be made easier by the absence of Alex Walmsley, Sione Mata’utia, Curtis Sironen and Agnatius Paasi through injury as well as the still suspended Morgan Knowles. Wellens would no doubt make five or six more changes if he could.

As it is we are again likely to see Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook start in the front row alongside Matty Lees and James Roby. The skipper’s fitness was a concern after he only played 25 minutes at Rovers but he is included in the selection. Joey Lussick enjoyed big minutes against Willie Peters’ side and stands by as ever. If Batchelor is fit enough he should come straight back into the second row with perhaps Sam Royle and James Bell completing that back three. 

The backs are in much better health, physically at least. Will Hopoate has shattered his personal best at Saints by managing to appear in four straight games in recent weeks. He was operating at centre at Sewell Group Craven Park as Mark Percival was asked to fill in at second row. Online rumours of a hamstring problem for Percival make it likely that - if he can stay fit - Hopoate will continue in that role. If he does then expect Jon Bennison to stay in the side in a three-quarter line also featuring Tommy Makinson and Konrad Hurrell. 

A combination of some average form and speculation about his future has seen some fans calling for Lewis Dodd to be left out. That school of thought advocates Jack Welsby moving into the halves alongside Jonny Lomax with Bennison operating at fullback and Tee Ritson coming in on the wing. Wellens has addressed the Dodd stories with the straightest of bats. You know the sort of thing? He’s still a Saints player, we can’t do anything about speculation, my job is to get the best out of the players including Lewis. These comments do not suggest that Wellens is ready to freeze the young half out at the moment. 

Beyond the starting thirteen there is a lack of experience available to Wellens. Yes there is Lussick, and prop George Delaney is in line for a Hopoate-esque fourth consecutive first team outing. But the rest of the squad is made up of youth in the shape of Lewis Baxter, Dan Hill, McKenzie Buckley and Wesley Bruines.

Perhaps we can take encouragement from the fact that Warrington have problems of their own in the pack. The headline is that Paul Vaughan picked up a one-match ban for a fashionable but nevertheless grubby hip drop against Wigan and misses out. The former St George-Illawarra and Canterbury man has transformed the Wolves’ front row in the early weeks of the season. He is the top metre maker in Super League so far in 2023 and his go-forward will be missed. 

Powell also has two more props suspended. Joe Philbin serves the second of his two-game ban for dangerous contact in the Easter win over Catalans Dragons while Gil Dudson will be missing for a few more weeks yet after picking up a five-match ban for a quite ludicrous punch on Dragons winger Tom Johnstone in the same game. 

Influential hooker Daryl Clark is included despite the attempts of Wigan grub Kai Pearce-Paul to turn him into a human wishbone. James Harrison returns after injury but there will be a lot on the shoulders of unpredictable giant Sam Kasiano and maybe even Josh McGuire, though the latter has managed only two appearances since making the switch from St George-Illawarra. Ben Currie and Matty Nicholson are currently forming a more than handy second row behind which McGuire operated against Matty Peet’s side.

Like Saints Warrington will be much happier with their back division. George Williams is leading the way in the Steve Prescott Man Of Steel standings and has been further boosted by receiving the England captaincy from coach Shaun Wane. Well…he is his grandad, isn’t he? Fact check that somebody. Josh Drinkwater has also been excellent in Wire’s hot start so you’d have to favour their halfback combination over that of Saints on current form. And neither of them are talking about leaving yet which always helps keep things harmonious. 

There is speed in abundance in the back line in the shape of another ex-St George man Matt Dufty at fullback and in winger Matty Ashton. Stef Ratchford remains a solid performer even at centre but quite how Peter Mata’utia continues to hold down a regular slot in a table-topping team is one of life’s great imponderables. Like how is Pearce-Paul not banned until 2027?

It was awfully close last time these two met in May last year despite the fact that Warrington were in the middle of one of their worst ever Super League campaigns. Tries from Makinson and Walmsley helped edge Saints home 12-10 at the Halliwell Jones. When Powell’s men visited St Helens two months earlier in March they could only manage a solitary penalty goal as another Makinson double added to tries from Welsby, Percival and Lomax gave Saints a dominant 28-2 win. Warrington’s last win at Saints was a tight, low scoring affair. On that occasion it was Saints who could only manage a penalty goal as Lachlan Coote notched their only points in a 6-2 reverse in June 2021. The whole of Warrington celebrated. Saints still won the Grand Final.

Whether or not this is Warrington’s year (it’s not) they still look favourite for this one. The loss of Vaughan is a major blow but on balance the Wolves probably still have more in the pack than your decimated champions, and that is what tends to decide matches at this level. You never write off the Saints but it would be a surprise given not only their injuries but also their underwhelming form if they were to pull this one off.

Squads;

St Helens;

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, 12. Joe Batchelor, 14. Joey Lussick, 15. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, 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. Wesley Bruines

Warrington Wolves;

Matty Ashton, Daryl Clark, Ben Currie, Josh Drinkwater, Matt Dufty, Lucas Green, James Harrison, Leon Hayes, Sam Kasiano, Josh Lynch, Josh McGuire, Peter Mata’utia, Greg Minikin, Matty Nicholson, Stefan Ratchford, Matty Russell, Josh Thewlis, Luke Thomas, Danny Walker, Tom Whitehead, George Williams.

Referee: Jack Smith