The biggest sporting news to emerge on Sunday (May 19) was not Manchester City’s 75th tainted title. Nor was it Jurgen Klopp’s hoodie ridden Anfield farewell.
It even wasn’t Oleksandr Usyk’s defeat of homophobic pretend boxer and Eddie Hearn cash cow Tyson Fury. Or even Warrington taking a step closer to proving that their year comes around much more often in the Challenge Cup, using old fashioned concepts like speed and skill to all but eradicate Wattoball.
It was none of these. It was the news that after 14 seasons with Saints Tommy Makinson will leave the club at the end of the 2024 season. In that time he has made 325 appearances for Saints, winning five Super League Grand Finals, a Challenge Cup and a World Club Challenge. His next try in our colours will be his 200th for the club, 183 of which have come in Super League making him the eighth highest try scorer in the competition’s history.
That’s an impressive highlight reel from which I have picked out just five of my favourite memories. You may have your own which you should absolutely feel free to let me know all about in the most forceful terms in the comments.
Saints 14 Leeds Rhinos 10 March 2014
Nathan Brown’s Saints welcomed the Rhinos for a top of the table clash in March. Both sides were undefeated in Super League in the early weeks of the season with Saints just a point better off thanks to the Rhinos’ 12-12 draw at Huddersfield three weeks earlier.
This was Brian McDermott’s Leeds side which - one year away from a domestic treble - boasted Super League legends Kevin Sinfield, Jamie Peacock, Danny McGuire and Rob Burrow. Not to mention Zak Hardaker and a young centre named Kallum Watkins. Both Makinson and McGuire had been among the try scorers as the teams were locked at 10-10 with less than three minutes to go.
At which point Lance Hohaia chipped over the defensive line for Jonny Lomax to regather halfway inside the Leeds half. The 2024 skipper looked over towards Makinson’s wing and placed an exquisite crossfield kick towards the winger. Yet there was still work to do as Makinson had to judge the bounce, waiting for exactly the right moment for it to sit up kindly before collecting and grounding it just before Hardaker could get across to cover.
Saints 14 Wigan 6 - Super League Grand Final October 2014
Saints came into this one having not won at Old Trafford for eight years. They had been there often enough in that time but had incredibly lost five in a row from 2007-11. One of those was against Wigan in 2010 and Brown’s side were coming into this meeting decimated by injuries in the halfback department.
Brown had already been forced to pick coffee shop entrepreneur Mark Flanagan at halfback before Hohaia was forced out of the game just two minutes in by Ben Flower’s infamous, sickening assault. The concussions suffered that night by Hohaia - who was already motionless on the Old Trafford turf when Flower aimed another brutal blow to his face - would lead to his retirement from the game just six months later at the age of 32.
Hohaia’s exit on the night meant that winger Makinson would finish the game at fullback from where he made two telling contributions. Joe Burgess had put Wigan ahead but Saints led 8-6 when Sia Soliola forced his way over. It looked like Wigan would retake the lead when Liam Farrell broke free and raced towards the Saints line. There was only Makinson in his way but that turned out to be enough. The makeshift fullback effected a textbook cover tackle to preserve his side’s lead.
He wasn’t done there. Struggling to create without Hohaia and the injured Lomax and Flanagan’s fellow coffee peddler and part-time halfback Jon Wilkin, Saints went aerial as current Head Coach Paul Wellens sent a bomb up into the Manchester night sky. Timing his run to perfection Makinson out-jumped one of Wellens’ current assistants and Saints Women’s Head Coach Matty Smith before grounding the ball on landing. Much to the delight of a Saints supporter who also happened to be a Sky Sports cameraman finding it difficult to surpress a smile as his director mercilessly outed his loyalties. Mark Percival’s conversion pushed Saints out to a 14-6 lead which they hung on to to end the years of waiting.
Saints 45 Hull FC 0 - Magic Weekend May 2017
Some things haven’t changed during Makinson’s storied career. Hull FC are still atrocious. Seven years ago Saints were paired with the black and whites for the annual Magic Weekend jamboree at Newcastle United’s St James’ Park. It made a refreshing change from yet another derby with Wigan or Warrington but it wasn’t exactly competitive. Hull were…well…atrocious.
Justin Holbrook was in charge for the first time after the sacking of club legend Keiron Cunningham. The Australian’s new side already led Lee Radford’s men 29-0 when Marc Sneyd placed a chip over the Saints defensive line which looked set to land about five metres from the red vee try line. That was until Makinson - again playing at fullback due to yet another injury to the unfortunate Lomax - scurried across to take it on the full. He wound across the field towards the left wing, bumping off Carlos Tuimavave and stepping inside Albert Kelly and charging down the field.
FC hooker Danny Houghton - a man who has yet to encounter a moving entity which he will not attempt to tackle - desperately tried to haul Makinson to the ground and almost succeeded. That was until our man slipped out of his clutches with a shrug before just managing to roll over the line as he fell. After a 53-10 shellacking in the Challenge Cup the previous week and a 40-18 defeat at Warrington prior to that Saints’ eventual 45-0 win was quite the way to start the Holbrook era.
Saints 26 Castleford Tigers 12 - Challenge Cup Final 2021
Despite having served 10 years at Saints since joining from the junior ranks of Wigan St Judes there was still one medal missing from the Makinson collection. Saints took on the Tigers in the 2021 Wembley showpiece in front of a reduced capacity crowd due to lingering Covid-19 restrictions. They did so looking to end a 13-year wait for Challenge Cup success. They - and Makinson - had had an opportunity to end the drought two years earlier but suffered heartbreak in an 18-4 defeat to Warrington. I told you that lot win the cup occasionally.
Lachlan Coote was perhaps one of the finest all round fullbacks to pull on the Sainted shirt but he’d had a stinker in that loss to the Wolves. The mind filters out a lot of rubbish but that remains the only time in his three seasons with the club - during which he was a Grand Final winner in every one - that I can remember him having a truly bad 80 minutes.
I mention Coote firstly because he was awesome but secondly because he had a key role in Makinson’s big moment in this one. The teams were level at 12-12 and my pre-kidney transplant body was baking in the oppressive London heat. As those lucky enough to be there with me boiled, Coote’s attempted offload scruffily found its way to Jack Welsby.
In a manner which is now familiar the then 20 year-old Welsby crabbed across the Tigers defensive line, daring them to guess what he was going to do next. What he did was draw in a confused defender or two before zipping a pass out to Kevin Naiqama on the Saints right edge. The Fijian - who like Coote won three Grand Finals in three seasons at Saints before retiring but then getting bored enough sitting at home to play for Huddersfield - instantly caught it and moved it on to Makinson in one movement.
That created just enough space for Tommy to produce a trademark flying finish at the corner to break the deadlock. Saints added a penalty through Percival before Kyle Amor barged his way over to delightedly seal the win after the customary delay for a footage review. The 13 year-old monkey was off Saints backs and the Makinson medal collection was complete.
Saints 48 Huddersfield Giants 6 June 2023
It’s back to Newcastle for our final Makinson moment as the 2018 Golden Boot winner scored four tries and added a quite sumptuous assist as Watson’s philosophy took another pounding. With pleasing symmetry Makinson scored seven minutes before and seven minutes after half-time as Saints came from behind to eventually rout the Giants. Sporting their chocolate brown and sky blue heritage shirt new Head Coach Wellens’ side had fallen behind when Naiqama was first to Tui Lolohea’s perfectly weighted kick.
Yet it was all Saints from then on as Makinson added his third and fourth both courtesy of Lomax’s gift for timing a pass. Tommy’s four tries were the most he has ever scored in one game for the red vee, though there is still time for him to improve that stat before he departs at the end of the year. They were also part of a purple patch Prince would have killed for in which the England winger scored nine tries in five games. He ended the year with 22 in Super League.
Yet it could be his assist in this one which he is most proud of. Lolohea’s kick wasn’t so accurate on this occasion. His Giants teammates were soon running back to their own posts as Welsby collected it and set off on an odyssey through some ordinary tackling. When the Giants defenders finally got a grip of him he found Makinson in support. He made for the right hand corner flag but when several defenders focussed their efforts on stopping him scoring a fifth try he produced a divine flicked offload to Joey Lussick.
Joey Lussick! Remember him? For all his other qualities he also had a bit of a step as he showed when he rounded the remaining Giants Leroy Cudjoe and Chris McQueen to finish off the undisputed try of the season.
So those are my top Tommy moments. What are yours?
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