Saints 22 Leeds Rhinos 18 - Review

A patched up Saints turned in a gritty if imperfect performance to edge Leeds Rhinos on Friday night (July 28).

It was a win which kept Paul Wellens’ side inside the top four and within realistic striking distance of Wigan and Leigh above them in the fight for what could be a crucial top two spot. Meanwhile the Rhinos suffered an 11th defeat in 20 league outings this term and find themselves four points adrift of a top six playoff spot. 


Wellens had to cobble together a makeshift pack due to all of the injuries and suspensions in that department. Alex Walmsley and Agnatius Paasi have been Asiatad out of contention for the rest of the year, but the second row is currently even more depleted. Joe Batchelor and Curtis Sironen are still out injured while Sione Mata’utia added to the problems by picking up another two-game suspension for a late hit on Ben Reynolds in last week’s Challenge Cup semi-final loss to the Leopards. To add to all that, Joey Lussick is no longer an option for Wellens after the former Salford man chose to head back to Parramatta immediately. 


Teenage prop George Delaney was given a first start while there was also a debut off the bench for Moses Mbye - picked up from St George-Illawarra Dragons as a replacement for Lussick this week. Sam Royle was handed his first appearance since the defeat in Perpignan at the start of May. Joining Mbye on the bench were Lewis Baxter for his third first team appearance, Dan Norman for his first since Saints’ season opening win at Castleford in February, and centre and occasional back rower Ben Davies.


Leeds coach Rohan Smith was able to name the same 17 which went down to a 19-18 golden point loss at home to Hull KR in their last outing a fortnight ago. I say able. Maybe forced would be a better word. 


This was the third meeting between these two in 2023. The previous two had ended in one-point wins for the away side. By the end of this one we had ourselves an epic trilogy. We all hate loop fixtures for all the obvious reasons. Over familiarity with opponents, distortion of the competition, the M62 on a Friday night. But if the concept of loop fixtures has one thing going for it then it’s that just very occasionally it can throw up a narrative between two clubs within the larger story arc of the Super League season.


The star of Act III was undoubtedly Jack Welsby, a man whose universal loathing by opposition fans - especially those of a Wigan persuasion - is all the proof you need that the 22 year-old is a bona fide superstar. There are still doubts about his suitability for the fullback role - and again we saw a few ropey moments to illustrate that - but if you came away from the stadium or stood up from your sofa after the game thinking anything except what an outstanding, generational talent he is then you weren’t paying enough attention.


Even in this most robotic era of must win tactics you can surely find it in you to tolerate the odd kick out on the full or the sight of him being rounded rather too easily by an opposition prop in exchange for what he brings to an otherwise morbidly stunted attack. Welsby notched two more tries and an assist, the latter sending him to the top of the Super League charts in that category with 21. His eight tries in Super League in 2023 make him Saints’ second highest meat pie grabber with eight, two behind Tommy Makinson who’s 10 make him the only Saint in double figures. 


It’s all done with a swagger which further irritates those opposition fans and which makes us enjoy him even more. If Saints have it in their gift to extend his stay beyond the end of his current deal in 2025 then they should do it now. Even if it means Mr McManus cutting his summer holidays short. Of course it may be out of his hands. If a player with Welsby’s talent wants to take his wares to the more lucrative and greater intensity NRL then there is little anybody can do. It will be a sad day for us all if that happens. 


One man who hasn’t always been popular with Saints fans is slowly changing minds. Will Hopoate has had what could most kindly be described as a mixed spell with Saints since arriving at the start of 2022. He has only made 28 appearances in that time thanks largely to a desperate run with injuries. The majority of those appearances have provoked the ire of some fans who complain about his perceived lack of effort while running the ball and his alleged positional lapses in defence. Yet the former Canterbury man has been excellent in recent weeks. He led the team in metres made on two occasions while standing in for Makinson on the wing. Having reverted to centre to replace Mark Percival in this one the Tongan international scored a try and came up with two assists. Even if the first of those - which allowed Ritson to send Saints in level at 12-12 at the break - looked decidedly forward. 


The ex-Bulldog was first to Welsby’s short kick to the in-goal after only three minutes before his offload returned the favour for the fullback to put Saints up 16-12 just after half-time. He also made 15 tackles. Whisper it, but the 31 year-old may just be starting to show why no less a judge than Kristian Woolf brought him in.


With Walmsley, Paasi and Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook out Saints needed Matty Lees to step up and provide more of the go-forward. Those absentees made Lees the senior prop and to his credit he recognised it and upped his game accordingly. He’s been a top defensive player for some time, illustrated by another 36 tackles here. He averaged 34.76 tackles per game coming in. No Saint has matched his tally of 627 during this season. But his work with ball in hand has been mostly understated until this week. It’s perhaps understandable when you play so much rugby next to Walmsley but Lees’ pre-game average of 69.4 metres per game was underwhelming. However, a 112-metre effort in this one raises hopes that he can go some way to filling the void while still maintaining his defensive work rate. Saints will need that from him.


Much of the build up to this one centred around the events at Warrington a week ago. During Leigh’s semi-final win over Saints John Asiata found a new and interesting way to firstly cause a fair percentage of Wellens’ staff shortages and also to make the game’s authorities look like total mugs. His head first assault tackling style caused the injuries to Walmsley and Paasi which have ended their seasons and more minor issues for McCarthy-Scarsbrook and Morgan Knowles. Of those two only Knowles was fit to take his place in the line-up. 


I mention this because - in a more predictable turn of events than Daryl Powell’s Warrington exit - coaches and players have already begun capitalising on the authorities’ refusal to outlaw the ‘technique’ until the end of the season. James Bell wins this week’s top prize for irony by chopping down former Saint and anger management therapy candidate James Bentley early in this one. The irony being that having spent much of the week rightly highlighting its dangers Saints are one of the first teams to fail to resist the urge to join those whom they feel they cannot beat. 


Wellens was very animated in his condemnation of Asiata’s challenges. As such I find it impossible to believe that he has actively instructed his troops to tee off on opponents with armless impunity. This one is probably all on Bell. I’m guessing he took a short cut with his technique, knowing that firstly Leeds were in possession in Saints territory and looking threatening and secondly that given the rules makers’ response in midweek he was not going to get penalised by referee Liam Moore, much less yellow or red carded. And so it proved. 


Bentley was unharmed which I’m pretty sure was Bell’s intention. He just wanted to stop the Leeds man’s progress. But it all serves to highlight the folly of kicking the issue down the road and trusting players and coaches to stamp it out of the game themselves. If you don’t explicitly outlaw something then expect it to continue until you do.  Quite why we can’t all agree that it’s a shoulder charge and penalise it as such I’m not sure. Yet as it is Moore had nowhere to go in terms of sanctioning Bell. One wonders how many serious injuries it will take before action is taken to deter players from partaking in this lazy, dangerous indulgence.


Of course even if you legislate against something it can still produce different outcomes if it is interpreted differently by different officials. Many decisions have a subjective element which cannot be removed so you are going to get variation from week to week. The consistency that fans constantly call for is a pipe dream in reality. 


Saints benefitted from this in the lead up to Ritson’s game-tying try just before the break. Last week at Warrington Ritson appeared to be pushed in the back by Tom Briscoe in the lead up to Zak Hardaker’s crucial try. The Saints man didn’t get the call on that occasion. This week he did. As he and James McDonnell chased an Aidan Sezer kick to the Saints in-goal the Leeds back-rower was penalised for the contact he made with Ritson. That set up the possession from which Saints headed downfield and tied the game through Ritson’s try, suspiciously provided by Hopoate. On another day his pass to the Thai-born winger may have been ruled forward. But that’s subjectivity. It’s here to stay. 


To try and limit the errors made by officials we do of course have our friend the video referee. This week it was Ben Thaler. Perhaps his key intervention was the one which saw a potential second try for Sam Walters chalked off. It came just two minutes into the second half and would have broken the 12-12 tie. An Aidan Sezer skyscraper was allowed to bounce by Welsby and picked up by Blake Austin. He sent it out to Ash Handley who produced a classy no-look offload to Walters who had continued to support and went in at the left corner. The Wigan-bound prop had already had an impact on the game when he took Sezer’s pass and almost floated past Welsby as the last line of defence in the first half. It was pretty average from Welsby but you can’t be good at everything. 


Walters celebrated with the enthusiasm of any future Wiganer scoring against Saints. Yet replays showed that the Leeds chasers were offside from the kick and had not given Welsby the 10 metres grace which is his right. It was a needless breach of discipline which must have driven Smith quite insane but which Wellens was probably hugely grateful for.


It would turn out to be crucial, not least because Saints grabbed the initiative through Welsby’s first try just a minute later, courtesy of that Hopoate offload. Makinson’s missed conversion was genuinely surprising and no small disappointment. Before the end of the night the responsibility for slotting the ball through the aitches would come back to Dodd. 


It remains to be seen whether that is where it will stay. I had always assumed that the nature of the injury which robbed Dodd of 10 months of his career in 2022 was preventing him from resuming the role. If he is fit enough to do it regularly then he should. Makinson has been unfortunate at times - not least in seeing his perfectly good conversion of Hopoate’s try waved away by the touch judges earlier in the evening, or in just failing from the touchline with an effort that would have taken the semi-final to extra time a week ago - but if the option is there the time is probably right to hand the job back to Dodd.   


The introduction of Mbye in place of Roby coincided with a period of Rhino dominance. Not to say there was any blame on Mbye for this. The former Dragon and Wests Tiger enjoyed a perfectly  serviceable debut. It was probably more the absence of Roby as he took his rest which swung the game back in Leeds’ favour. Yet Saints defended superbly for a long time before the dam finally broke. 


The champions had spent 10 solid minutes or more defending in their own half as Leeds twice turned down opportunities to take two easy points. That proved fruitful as eventually Nene McDonald went over in the right corner from Ritchie Myler’s scrappy looking pass which bounced before finding its target. It was checked upstairs to see if McDonnell had got a hand to the ball and knocked it forward before McDonald picked it up and grounded it. Yet there was no Leeds touch. A typically nerveless Martin conversion put Leeds up 18-16 with only just over a quarter of an hour left. It was coming down to the wire between these two again. The end of an epic trilogy neared.


The epicentre of the action changed when Roby was re-introduced. Wellens employed him not in his usual dummy half role but more as a first receiver. His impact was immediate as he found Lomax whose short ball could not have been more perfect for a charging Welsby. He was over for what turned out to be the match winner before the Rhinos defenders could even think about reacting. Dodd’s one and only goal attempt was successful and Saints led for good at 22-18.


Roby was involved again when Saints almost stretched that lead into unassailable territory but Hurrell’s final tip-on pass to Makinson went forward before the former golden boot winner could cross. So Leeds had one more chance, which was promptly taken away from them in the last minute by a fortunate - for Saints at any rate - knock on call by Moore on Sezer. All seemed fine when the former Giant got up to try to play-the-ball in Saints territory and give his side a shot. Yet Moore ruled that the halfback had knocked on in the act of playing the ball. Understandably miffed, Sezer wrapped the game up in a great big bow for Saints when he offered Moore a bit too much of his opinion on the decision and was penalised for dissent.


When it comes to stats we have seen the impact that Lees had but there were two other Saints who travelled further with ball in hand. Knowles had one of his most progressive games in attack for some time with 125 metres, just two ahead of Hurrell on 123. Then came Lees and - as if to further illustrate that he can’t quite do absolutely everything - Welsby fell just short of the century mark on 97. But his contributions were worth more than any number of metres.


The Rhinos top man in the metres category was McDonald with a game high 167. Yet it probably says something about Leeds’ attacking limitations and Saints’ defensive strength that the centre was the only one in blue to break 100 metres. 


Defensively Knowles pipped Lees to the title of Saints’ top tackler with 37 to the prop forward’s 36. Bell weighed in with 34 and there were 31 more for Roby. Perhaps indicative of their spells on top in the game Jarrod O’Connor was the only Rhino required to make more than 30 as he chipped in with 37. 


Next up for Saints is a return to the scene of one of 2022’s worst beatings. In July of last year Woolf’s champions of past and future were run out of town by a scintillating Red Devils attacking display. Paul Rowley’s men hammered Saints 44-12 in the game which would see Regan Grace pick up the Achilles injury which would see to it that he would never turn out in the red vee again having already agreed to switch to rugby union.


Rowley’s team are not quite in that sort of form this time around. They sit seventh at the moment, outside the playoffs and on a five-game losing streak. They were larruped 42-0 by the Dragons in Perpignan just 24 hours after Saints earned their win over Leeds. It’s probably a good time to be playing them, but Wellens should remain wary of the fact that he still has an injury crisis and that the likes of Brodie Croft, Joe Burgess, Deon Cross, Ryan Brierley and Andy Ackers could transform into the cape-wearers they were last year at any time. 


Saints;


Welsby, Makinson, Hurrell, Hopoate, Ritson, Lomax, Dodd, Delaney, Roby, Lees, Royle, Bell, Knowles. Interchanges: Norman, Mbye, Baxter, Davies.


Leeds: Myler, Fusitu’a, McDonald, Martin, Handley, Austin, Sezer, Oledzki, O’Connor, Walters, Bentley, McDonnell, Smith. Interchanges: Sangare, Lisone, Johnson, Holroyd


Referee: Liam Moore




Saints v Leeds Rhinos - Preview

Get thee behind me Challenge Cup heartbreak - we have a fifth Super League title in a row to win. 

This should - but may not be - the message from within the ranks as Saints go back into league action hosting Leeds Rhinos on Friday night (July 28, kick-off 8.00pm).


Paul Wellens’ side crashed out of the cup after defeat to Leigh Leopards in the semi-final last weekend. Yet they still sit fourth in the Super League table and retain hopes of pulling off that much talked about ‘Drive For Five’ - a fifth consecutive Grand Final win. 


The top two - which offers the shortest playoff route to Old Trafford - is out of range for this week but the champions could still leapfrog Wigan back into third should they win and the Warriors lose to the Leopards on Saturday (July 29). Yet as we will see there are reasons to be pessimistic. And if Saints should suffer an eighth Super League loss they could will slip down to fifth if Warrington can rediscover what it’s like to win. 


The fact that the Wolves are playing against Wakefield should help them do that. Trinity are a different beast these days from the side which was getting nilled every other week earlier in the season but you would still expect Wire to prevail in that one. Happily, a sizeable points difference advantage over both Salford and Hull KR should prevent Saints from falling outside the top five for now.


Meanwhile the Rhinos have been busy lately doing what rhinos do. No, not eating 500 carrots for breakfast or shitting in a field but launching a late bid to resurrect their season. It’s been a mostly turgid campaign for Rohan Smith’s side but a run of three wins in their last four league games has them just about within range of a playoff place again. A golden point loss to Hull KR last time out was a big setback but they can still conceivably climb into that coveted top six. A win here coupled with defeats for Rovers and Salford might take them there as soon as this week.


That win is made more likely by the damage done to the Saints squad following the cup clash with Leigh. Wellens was already set to be without Joe Batchelor and Curtis Sironen before five more of his stars ran into problems. Alex Walmsley and Agnatius Paasi have been ruled out for the season after John Asiata’s so far unpunished chop block tackling antics while Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook failed to re-emerge for the second half at Warrington due to a calf problem. 


But that’s not all. Sione Mata’utia - no stranger to a week or two off following some careless transgression or other - has two more such weeks to contemplate. This time for a late hit on Ben Reynolds as the Leopards stand-off kicked downfield. Which brings us to the final member of last week’s squad absent this week. In fact, not just this week. We won’t see Joey Lussick in the red vee again after it was agreed that he could be released from his contract to return to his native Australia. Parramatta Eels have included him in their squad to face Melbourne Storm this week. He has returned to the Eels after his previous stint there in 2021. 


To fill that gap Wellens has signed utility man and occasional hooker Moses Mbye from Wests Tigers on a two and a half year deal. He is already here and could make his debut having been included in the 21. Also in - and this is better news in a week in which hand grenades seem to have been relentlessly going off in our faces - are James Roby and Mark Percival. Both missed the semi-final due to concussion protocols having picked up head knocks in the 14-12 home defeat to Catalans Dragons on July 13. 


The others drafted in can’t quite boast the same level of experience. Lewis Baxter, Matty Foster, Taylor Pemberton and Wesley Bruines only have five first team appearances between them. Bruines has yet to make his senior competitive debut.  


It’s a challenge to predict what the final line-up will look like. The back division should be the least affected area. Percival could just slot into his regular left centre position inside winger Tee Ritson and opposite Konrad Hurrell and Tommy Makinson.  Welsby at fullback, Jonny Lomax at stand-off and Lewis Dodd at halfback are all likely to continue those roles. 


Unless one of them - most likely Percival in the second row or Welsby at loose forward - is tasked with stepping into the pack. Roby, Matty Lees and Morgan Knowles are just about the only regular  starters available although James Bell is kind of in that category having made 16 starts this term. It could be an opportunity for the promising George Delaney to get more minutes under his belt at prop while Dan Norman may get a chance to add to his 15 appearances in his third full season with the club. Sam Royle or Ben Davies could also come into Wellens’ thinking for a spot in the second row. Mbye looks set for a role as a back-up to Roby.


Things aren’t going to look familiar in the pack. While the opportunity to experiment with players in new positions has been forced on Wellens I’d like to see Knowles given at least some time at prop. He has previously proved very effective there in an admittedly small sample size of matches. Delaney could then be a prop interchange along with Norman. 


Smith has a bit more stability within his ranks. His main absentees are England centre Harry Newman and former Penrith prop Zane Tetevano. Newman was injured during Leeds’ 13-12 loss to Saints at Headingley in May and was initially ruled out for 10-12 weeks. Meanwhile Tetevano is still recovering having suffered a stroke in training caused by a hole in his heart. Thankfully he appears to be on the mend and on the road back to fitness.


On the plus side James Donaldson returns to the squad following concussion protocols. He will compete for a back row spot along with former Saint James Bentley and James McDonnell - the man at the centre of the controversy over the punch that never was which saw him red carded on the Rhinos’ last visit. It’s all Jameses in the back row with this lot. Except for loose forward Cameron Smith who is not without his fair share of namesakes either. 


In the front row England man Mikolaj Oledzki and Wigan-bound Sam Walters flank Jarrod O’Connor at hooker. 


Without Newman Rhyse Martin is likely to slot into the centre alongside former Leigh man Nene McDonald. Derrell Olpherts is currently on the outside looking in as David Fusitu’a and Ash Handley occupy the wings. Blake Austin and Aidan Sezer haven’t always been available to Smith but they are for this one, so look for Ritchie Myler to operate at fullback. 


Forwards Sam Lisone, Justin Sangare and Tom Holroyd are among those looking for a chance to make an impact from the bench. 


This is already the third meeting between these two in 2023. In March the Rhinos got Saints’ home campaign off to a disappointing start. Having pipped NRL repeat champions Penrith by the odd point in 25 the newly crowned world champions went down 25-24 thanks to a late Austin drop-goal. It was a game Saints seemed to have in hand until they didn’t. Saints have dominated many games this year without finding the firepower to finish teams off. It has cost Wellens’ side at times and this was a classic of the genre.


In May Saints returned the favour in a lower scoring, more fiery encounter. Dodd came up with the winning point in a 13-12 success after tries from Makinson and Sironen. 


Looking slightly further back it is easy to forget that this is a repeat of last season’s Grand Final. Having lost to the Rhinos at Old Trafford in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2011 Saints finally got the monkey off their backs with a 24-12 win. Lees, Hurrell, Bennison and Percival all crossed for Saints, Makinson adding four goals to seal that fourth consecutive title. Ten of Saints’ 17 on duty that night could feature here despite the changes forced on Wellens, while Smith also has 10 of his Grand Final selection at his disposal.


Wellens’ selection will be interesting, especially in the second row where his preferred combinations have been ripped away. That may be a key area where the Rhinos will feel they can get the better of their hosts. A lot will also depend on how well Delaney and possibly Norman or even Knowles go in relief of Saints’ missing props. Mbye looks the only serviceable back-up to Roby at nine and is set to play a key role. Saints have started to address this problem for next year with the signing of Daryl Clark from Warrington but for the rest of 2023 the burden is all on a 37 year-old in his 20th season and a Jack of all trades who has flown half way around the world this week. 


I have to say I have my doubts about this one. Which is probably a good thing given my record as a tipster. It’s just hard to see a Saints team which has suffered from fluctuating form as it is and which has an attack which is currently anaemic, being able to compensate for all the losses it has suffered in the pack. Let’s hope I’m off the mark here but Leeds by 6.


Squads;


Saints;


1.Jack Welsby, 2. Tommy Makinson, 3. Will Hopoate, 4. Mark Percival, 6. Jonny Lomax, 7. Lewis Dodd, 9. James Roby, 10. Matty Lees, 13. Morgan Knowles, 19. James Bell, 20. Dan Norman, 21. Ben Davies, 22. Sam Royle, 23. Konrad Hurrell, 24. Lewis Baxter, 25. Tee Ritson, 28. Matthew Foster, 29. Taylor Pemberton, 30. George Delaney, 34. Wesley Bruines, 35. Moses Mbye.

Leeds Rhinos:

1 Richie Myler 2 David Fusitu'a 4 Nene Macdonald 5 Ash Handley 6 Blake Austin 7 Aidan Sezer 8 Mikolaj Oledzki 11 James Bentley 12 Rhyse Martin 13 Cameron Smith 14 Jarrod O’Connor 15 Sam Lisone 17 Justin Sangare 18 Tom Holroyd 19 James McDonnell 21 Luke Hooley 22 Sam Walters 24 Luis Roberts 25 James Donaldson 26 Corey Johnson 31 Leon Ruan 


Propped Out - Has Asiata Made The Drive For Five Mission Impossible?

Of all the rubbish things which are happening to Saints right now - and there are a few - the worst has to be today’s news (July 25) that Alex Walmsley and Agnatius Paasi will miss the rest of the season with knee injuries.

As Saints were being dumped out of the Challenge Cup by Leigh in the semi-final at Warrington both Walmsley and Paasi were the victims of reckless assaults on their lower legs by Leopards forward John Asiata. As documented in my review of the game referee Chris Kendall took no action on either occasion and nor subsequently did the Match Review Panel. Which is particularly awkward for the latter who have spent much of 2023 punishing any player whose actions cause a serious injury to an opponent whether intentional or not. 


The name of Asiata appears three times on the MRPs list of possible offenders this week. These are the explanations given for sparing him punishment on each occasion.


Player gets body onto the ground prior to contacting opponent’s legs and actions of players teammate push opponent back towards player.

Player goes to make legitimate low tackle on person who is running towards him and arm is knocked away from wrapping by opponent’s leg.

Player makes legitimate initial contact with upper thigh of opponent who is moving forward. Legitimate actions of teammate with upper body contact force opponent’s body in tow different directions.

I don’t know if the details on which of these relates to the incidents involving Paasi and Walmsley are still out there or whether they have been omitted out of embarrassment. Each of these descriptions seems to suggest that if it weren’t for the actions of his pesky team-mates Asiata would have just been able to effect a perfectly legal tackle in each case. Respectfully I disagree in regards to the tackles on Walmsley and Paasi. Disrespectfully i suggest that these explanations are a load of fetid, rancid, malodorous balls.

As I saw it Asiata could have made either of these tackles in the same manner if he had no arms at all. He clearly and blatantly dived at the legs of both, toppling them with his shoulders and torso. I’m no medical expert but the evidence seems to suggest that this puts undue pressure on the tackled player’s leg joints - in particular the knees. And we have seen the results in the fact that neither Walmsley or Paasi will play again in 2023. Paasi has suffered ACL and MCL damage which looks set to see him miss not only the remainder of this season but also the start of next season. Most reports suggest his injuries will keep him out for at least nine months. 

Which brings us back around to what happens to players whose foul play causes injury of this severity. To pluck one example out of the air, Morgan Knowles copped a five-match suspension for the hip drop which cut Mike Cooper’s season short during the Good Friday derby in April. I agreed wholeheartedly with that sanction. It’s a dangerous tackle which the game can do without, much like its distant cousin the cannonball, brought to our shores by ex-Wigan boss and absolute rodent Michael Maguire. 

The trouble was that subsequent examples of the hip drop and other dark arts began to receive lesser punishments if they did not cause a significant injury. Anyone who has watched rugby league - or any sport - for long enough knows that sometimes hideous challenges fortunately cause minimal or no damage. And also that at other times the most innocuous, nothing incidents can lead to very serious but essentially freak injuries. It is a complete nonsense to judge player discipline on the extent of injury the foul play (or not sometimes) has caused. Why would we operate this way? And if we do, why wasn’t Asiata hit with a weighty suspension? Because even this folly is apparently not applied consistently is my best guess.

According to reports, Saints Head Coach Paul Wellens made sure that the relevant authorities were shown medical evidence of the effects of Asiata’s antics. If that is true and they still saw fit to tell the Leigh man to run along then where are we? In a very bad place according to Wellens who has spoken out today about how the MRP has failed to protect players in ignoring Asiata’s actions, or deeming them acceptable. 

While he may not know what to do with Lewis Dodd Wellens is 100% right about the MRP. Asiata’s ‘technique’ such as it is, risks the health of not only his opponents but himself. Given what we know about head knocks and their relationship with degenerative brain conditions no player should be allowed to target an opponent’s joints and bones with their heads or shoulders. 

Asiata should be sat down for a long time as much for his own safety as for that of any players he is in contact with. If that means he misses Leigh’s first visit to Wembley for 52 years then so be it. My sympathy is in short supply. But that outcome would depend on the MRP reviewing their decision which - given that they have allegedly seen the extent of the injuries and in light of Wellens’ comments - looks like exactly the sort of climbdown that they would strive to avoid.   

Of course for Walmsley, Paasi, Wellens and us fans the fate of Asiata is not the most important issue. The health of the players and just exactly what we are going to do without them the rest of the way are more pressing concerns. Walmsley remains a talismanic presence in the pack, chewing up metres in a quantity and with a regularity that is largely unmatched by any other Saints forward since Luke Thompson headed for Canterbury. Meanwhile Paasi’s impact off the bench - he has started only 11 of his 65 Saints appearances to date - has been invaluable since he joined from New Zealand Warriors in 2021. 

Add these absences to the bizarre decision to allow Joey Lussick to return to Australia and bring in utility man and by no means specialist hooker Moses Mbye this week and there’s an element of chaos around the squad. The team weren’t exactly pulling up Giant Redwood’s as it was but without Walmsley’s go forward, Paasi’s impact and with only one albeit legendary but 37 year-old specialist hooker for the remainder of the year the so-called ‘drive for five’ looks like a mission Ethan Hunt would balk at. You never write off the Saints they say - and how they have proven that maxim to be true over and over down the years - but if there ever was a time to doubt their title credentials then this is probably it. 

Wellens will no doubt look to get previously injured troops back and hope to plug the gaps. Joe Batchelor’s return now becomes crucial. If he can be restored to the back row then maybe Sione Mata’utia can do a job in the front row. He is as solid a player as there is when he is not hitting players late and setting off alarms among the MRP. That won’t happen this week against Leeds as the ex-Newcastle Knight serves the first game of his latest two-match ban. Kudos to the MRP for noticing his late hit on Ben Reynolds by the way.

Looking longer term and beyond Mata’utia the obvious upside might be more minutes for George Delaney in the run-in. The youngster has been making only cameo appearances off the bench to date but may have to up his workload before Wellens would have liked. That’s a difficult balance for the coach given that Delaney is only 19 and still developing physically by comparison with the game’s top front rowers. 

Even Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook is doubtful for the visit of the Rhinos with the calf problem which forced him out at half-time at Warrington. Might that mean we see the lesser spotted Dan Norman? When McCarthy-Scarsbrook recovers he may have a role to play as a senior prop not only in age and experience but in his involvement. Matty Lees is already a regular starter but currently averages fewer than 70 metres a game. Where is the platform for our backs to play off coming from? The back line is often one-paced and predictable when faced with retreating defenders who are gassed from having to constantly handle Walmsley. How are they going to get on against fresher defences who haven’t had to worry about that? 

It probably doesn’t bear thinking about. But Never Write Off The Saints, will you?


Up The Jumper - Are modern tactics killing our game?

I should have written this sooner. In the midst of Saints’ four Grand Final wins in a row between 2019-2022 I was one of the few dissenting,...