The pursuit of a top two spot remains the top priority for Saints when they visit Warrington on Friday night (September 15, kick-off 8.00pm).
Paul Wellens’ side are on a seven-game winning streak, the latest of which saw them come through an epic encounter with Leigh Leopards at home a week ago. They are still locked in a three-way battle for the League Leaders Shield with Wigan Warriors and Catalans Dragons, although the current points difference situation is likely to mean that Saints would need Matty Peet’s side to lose one of their two remaining fixtures to create an opening to finish top of the pile. The Dragons look more vulnerable and a second placed finish would effectively earn Saints the same reward in the playoffs as that enjoyed by the league leaders. Namely a home semi-final against one of the teams placed between third and sixth.
Meanwhile Warrington are still not certain of their place in the top six. Last week’s golden point loss - a rare golden try in fact - at Salford has left the Wolves in a precarious position. Defeat in this one coupled with a win for the Red Devils over Hull KR would leave Warrington’s fate out of their own hands going into next week’s final round of regular season games. Missing out on the end of season knockout jamboree would be a disaster for a team which started the campaign with eight consecutive league wins. Wire need to make the playoffs as much to save face as to stay in with a genuine chance of getting to and maybe even winning at Old Trafford on October 14.
Wellens has made only one change to his 21-man squad for the trip. He welcomes back Curtis Sironen following a hamstring injury which has kept the Australian back rower out of the last five matches. He has not featured since the 18-15 win at Salford on August 6. He returns to further bolster a back row group which already boasts Sione Mata’utia, Joe Batchelor, Morgan Knowles and James Bell. Sironen may have to begin his comeback on the bench but will be a handy option for Wellens if fully fit.
The problems in Saints’ pack lie in the front row. Already without Alex Walmsley and Agnatius Paasi, Wellens also has to plan for this one without George Delaney. The teenage prop failed an HIA during the win over Adrian Lam’s Leopards last time out and has to stand down for the mandatory 11-day period. This could mean a more prominent role for the Super League record holder for substitute appearances Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook although Knowles has been making a more than decent fist of starting at prop in Saints’ last three outings.
He could again form part of the front row from the outset alongside Matty Lees and James Roby. Dan Norman is another suffering the effects of a concussion to the extent that he has been advised by medical staff that he should sit out an extra game. He has already missed the Leigh game due to a head knock picked up at Wakefield on September 3.
There should be no need for changes in the back line. Konrad Hurrell is still not ready to return from a recurrence of a calf injury so centre Mark Percival gets to play on the same side as form winger Tommy Makinson once more while Ben Davies should get another opportunity inside Jon Bennison. Jack Welsby shoulders an often overly heavy attacking burden at fullback while both Jonny Lomax and Lewis Dodd have played every Super League game together in the halves in 2023.
The main headline from Warrington’s squad selection is the omission of George Williams. The former Wigan and Canberra star misses out with a thigh injury with youngster Leon Hayes set to be included. That looks like great news for Saints but this writer is not so enthused about the hamstring issues which rule out Peter Mata’utia and Gil Dudson. Sione’s brother’s continued selection at Super League level still beggars belief and his absence removes one potential weak link from the Wolves ranks. As does that of ex-Wigan penalty machine Dudson, a man who has yet to encounter a routine a situation that he can’t make worse with his ill discipline.
Warrington’s interim head coach Gary Chambers has others in his party who - while gifted - have a nasty habit of turning things pear shaped. Matt Dufty was persistently linked with Saints before pitching up at the Halliwell Jones Stadium with predictably mixed results. He has scored 12 tries and managed 12 assists in his debut season in England, yet defensively continues to resemble the metaphorical fish up a tree. His willingness to buy Bennison’s dummy in Saints’ 28-6 win when ex-coach Daryl Powell brought his still high-flying side to St Helens in April remains a treasured memory from the 2023 season. Dufty has talent but is not to be trusted.
Greg Minikin and Connor Wrench appear to be the main candidates to replace Mata’utia in the centres alongside Stef Ratchford while Hayes will most likely be partnered by Josh Drinkwater in the halves should the 19 year-old get the nod to start from Chambers. Josh Thewlis and Matty Ashton offer plenty of threat on the wings with the latter having crossed for 18 tries so far this term.
Prop forward Paul Vaughan was a revelation during Warrington’s false dawn blistering start to the season and will again be charged with leading the pack from the front. The return of Thomas Mikaele has been welcome after he initially left the club for family reasons. Behind those two are one time Catalans Dragons giant Sam Kasiano and 2019 GB Lions tourist (no, really) Joe Philbin.
The talented Danny Walker starts at hooker backed up by a former Man Of Steel winner. Daryl Clark will be a Saint next year but for now the 30 year-old will try to plot the red vee’s downfall in a key role off the bench either at nine or at loose forward. Ben Currie’s stock has lowered a little since his form of a few years ago but he will still be one to watch alongside another ex-Wigan man in the shape of Matty Nicholson. James Harrison - son of former Great Britain international Karl - locks the scrum.
This is the third meeting of the season between these sides. Along with that Bennison inspired win at home in April Saints also won at Warrington in a much closer encounter in July. Tries from Lomax, Dodd, Percival and Bell helped your world champions to a 24-20 win that night. Saints have a particularly good record at the Halliwell Jones in recent years having last tasted defeat there back in 2020. Saints were beaten 19-0 in that one which took place just weeks before the competition suspended for five months due to Covid-19.
Another three Grand Final wins later that’s still the last time that Saints failed to register a single point over a full 80 minutes. Curiously given their awfulness, Wire also have the distinction of having held Saints to their next lowest points total in a game since then when they won 6-2 in St Helens in June 2021.
The need of Chambers’ side is genuinely desperate and there may be a concern that Saints’ worsening front row situation will eventually see the dam burst and a defeat flow through it. Yet probably not this week. The Wolves showed at Salford how adept they still are at imploding spectacularly. A trip to St Helens - even a slightly weakened St Helens - is not the fixture they would have chosen for the position they are in.
That’s especially true given Saints’ own motivations at the top of the table and the fact that they are in the winning habit despite the challenges they have faced. It’s very hard to see a Williams-less Wire doing anything but adding to one of Super League’s poorest head-to-head records and leaving their playoff hopes hanging by a thread as a consequence.
Squads;
Warrington Wolves;
1. Matt Dufty, 2. Josh Thewlis 4. Stefan Ratchford 5. Matty Ashton 7. Josh Drinkwater 8. James Harrison 9. Daryl Clark 10. Paul Vaughan 11. Ben Currie 12. Matty Nicholson 14. Sam Kasiano 15. Joe Philbin 16. Danny Walker 18. Thomas Mikaele, 20. Connor Wrench 21. Greg Minikin 24. Luke Thomas 25. Leon Hayes 26. Adam Holroyd 36. Jordy Crowther
St Helens;
1.Jack Welsby, 2. Tommy Makinson, 4. Mark Percival, 5. Jon Bennison, 6. Jonny Lomax, 7. Lewis Dodd, 9. James Roby, 10. Matty Lees, 11. Sione Mata’utia, 12. Joe Batchelor, 13. Morgan Knowles, 15. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, 16. Curtis Sironen, 19. James Bell, 21. Ben Davies, 22. Sam Royle, 24. Lewis Baxter, 25. Tee Ritson, 28. Matthew Foster, 34. Wesley Bruines, 35. Moses Mbye.
Referee: Jack Smith
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