Unbeaten Saints bid to make it four wins out of four to start the 2024 campaign when they host Salford Red Devils on Friday night (March 8, kick-off 8.00pm).
It’s been an impressive start for Paul Wellens’ side. They sit top of the table at this admittedly early stage of proceedings, the only team to have recorded three league wins out of three so far. In the process of achieving that Saints have only conceded a measly eight points and their try line has been breached just twice. They’ve also scored more tries than any other side in Super League through the first three rounds. It couldn’t really be going any better for Wellens and his troops.
Though they were tipped to struggle by many - yes including me - Salford have also made a fine start to the season. They lost narrowly to Leeds Rhinos in their opener but since then Paul Rowley’s men have beaten Castleford and Hull KR at home. They are one of five teams with two wins and one defeat from their first three. They now face arguably their toughest test yet as they visit the home of the nine-time Super League champions.
Wellens has been forced into one change to his 21-man squad for this one. Konrad Hurrell will serve a one-match suspension for some fairly unavoidable head contact on Leigh centre Ricky Leutele as the Leopards man went close to scoring a try in Saints’ 12-4 win last week. Hurrell’s challenge was unremarked upon by anyone at the time except to be praised by the TV commentary team. It was not penalised by referee Liam Moore, yet the state of things at the moment mean that it is still worthy of a ban.
Tee Ritson is the man drafted in to replace Hurrell, though it may not be be the Thai-born ex-Barrow winger who takes Hurrell’s spot in the 17. Waqa Blake missed out last week’s due to illness despite having been named in the initial 21-man selection. If the ex-Parramatta Eel is sufficiently recovered then expect him to step into Hurrell’s right centre berth alongside Mark Percival with Jon Bennison keeping his place on the wing opposite Tommy Makinson. Jack Welsby should continue to pull strings from fullback. He has made a fast start to the season with tries in each of Saints’ three league games so far.
Wellens was quick to praise halfback Lewis Dodd for his performance against the Leopards. The 22 year-old is starting to find some of his best form again, aided by having the knowledge, experience and considerable skills of skipper Jonny Lomax alongside him.
Matty Lees is still not fit to play after sustaining a chest injury at Huddersfield which saw him head to hospital. In his absence Sione Mata’utia stepped up from the bench against Adrian Lam’s side, forming a starting front row which also featured Alex Walmsley and hooker Daryl Clark. George Delaney and Jake Wingfield are the main options to fill in there from the bench, though youngster Noah Stephens makes the squad again. A first team debut can’t be that far away for Stephens but it may not happen for him quite yet.
Despite Mata’utia’s move into the front row there is still plenty of strength elsewhere in the pack. Matt Whitley has made a fantastic start to his Saints career with three tries and two assists in his first three outings. Curtis Sironen has ensured that the hole left by the injured Joe Batchelor has been more than adequately filled. Morgan Knowles has seemed an automatic choice at loose forward for a long time but it seems there is now a genuine decision to be made between him and the excellent James Bell. Both stood out in the win over Leigh and both are likely to feature again. Figuring out how to best use the differing strengths of the pair is a nice problem for Wellens to have. The Head Coach also reintroduced Moses Mbye as a back-up hooker last week, indicating that there are good options all over the park at the moment even with Hurrell, Lees and Batchelor unavailable.
Rowley has also made just the one alteration to his initial party from that which took on and beat the Robins last time out. Ethan Ryan - picked up from Rovers as ex-Wigan flyer Joe Burgess moved in the opposite direction - is drafted in for a potential debut on the wing. He replaces former Wests Tigers man David Nofoaluma who racked up a century of tries in the NRL but is yet to make his Super League bow.
Ryan Brierley was a late withdrawal from the side which beat Hull KR after being injured in the warm-up. Chris Atkin deputised to great effect, but Brierley returns for this one to give Rowley a choice to make at fullback. Ryan should occupy one wing berth with perhaps Deon Cross getting the nod over Chris Hankinson on the other flank. Ex- Leigh and Leeds man Nene McDonald has caught the eye so far at centre while his partner Tim Lafai is always an exciting player to watch and a genuine threat. In the halves Marc Sneyd put on a kicking clinic on a heavy surface in the win over Rovers but his partnership with ex-Manly and Wigan man Cade Cust is still in its infancy.
Former Leeds pair Jack Ormondroyd and Brad Singleton could again be the starting props with Amir Bourouh now the first choice hooker since Andy Ackers’ move to Headingley. Another former Rhino features in the back row in Kallum Watkins alongside one time Gold Coast Titan Sam Stone. Joe Shorrocks - acquired from Wigan at the end of last season - operates at loose forward. King Vuniyayawa, Shane Wright and Ben Hellewell could be involved from the bench and it will be interesting to see if Rowley finds a place there for the versatile Atkin if the former Rovers man doesn’t get the nod to start at fullback.
Saints won both encounters between the sides in 2023. They ran out 26-12 winners at home in May before edging it 18-15 at the AJ Bell in August. Salford’s last win over Saints was the 44-12 shellacking they handed out to Kristian Woolf’s side at the AJ Bell in July 2022. It was a game notable for being the last in the red vee for Regan Grace as he left the field with what turned out to be a ruptured achilles. Yet it was Saints who had the final say in battles with Salford that year, beating them 19-12 in the Super League semi-final before seeing off Leeds to win a fourth successive Grand Final.
That run started with victory at Old Trafford over the then Ian Watson coached Red Devils in 2019, but Saints enter this one having seen their title ripped from their grasp by Wigan at the end of last term. Motivation looks high among Wellens’ men to take it back if the start they have made to 2024 is anything to go by. That, and the monstrously strong defence being played by the three-time world champions leads me to believe that they will have too much for Salford, albeit that they are currently performing better than expected. Saints by 16.
Squads;
St Helens;
1. Jack Welsby, 2. Tommy Makinson, 3. Waqa Blake, 4. Mark Percival, 5. Jon Bennison, 6. Jonny Lomax, 7. Lewis Dodd, 8. Alex Walmsley, 9. Daryl Clark, 11. Sione Mata’utia, 13. Morgan Knowles, 14. Moses Mbye, 15. James Bell, 16. Curtis Sironen, 18. Jake Wingfield, 19. Matt Whitley, 20. George Delaney, 21. Ben Davies, 22. Sam Royle, 25. Tee Ritson, 31. Noah Stephens.
Salford Red Devils;
1. Ryan Brierley 2. Ethan Ryan 3. Nene McDonald 4. Tim Lafai 5. Deon Cross 6. Cade Cust 7. Marc Sneyd 8. Brad Singleton 9. Amir Bourouh 10. King Vuniyayawa 11. Sam Stone 12. Kallum Watkins 14. Chris Atkin 15. Shane Wright 16. Joe Shorrocks 17. Jack Ormondroyd 19. Ben Hellewell 20. Andrew Dixon 21. Matty Foster 22. Kai Morgan 23. Chris Hankinson
Referee: Tom Grant
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