If it’s positivity you’re after you might not have come to the right place. It’s still 48 hours away but it’s hard to feel anything other than trepidation ahead of the visit of Warrington Wolves on Friday night (July 19, kick-off 8.00pm).
Saints go into this one on a three-game losing streak. But there is losing and there is losing. A 16-12 defeat at Wigan had an awful lot more going for it than either the 8-6 home defeat to Castleford of the previous week or the 20-18 loss at Salford which preceded it. There was an energy and an application about the performance at Wigan which had been absent for the visit of the Tigers. But then so there should have been. If you don’t get some sort of response from a display as miserable as the one against Craig Lingard’s side - particularly in a derby - then it’s time to dust off the cliches about packing up and going home.
Despite the improvement against the champions and league leaders the mathematics of it are that it was still worth zero points on the Super League table. That means that Saints enter this weekend in fourth place, two points worse off than Sam Burgess’ Wolves and Hull KR above them. And six behind the Warriors who still have that game in hand. A fourth consecutive defeat could see Saints end the weekend in sixth place should Catalans Dragons beat Castleford as expected and Salford win at Huddersfield Giants. No time to panic but if there is anxiety about Saints’ position there could be an escalation on the horizon.
Warrington moved ahead of Saints into second place by virtue of their 30-18 home win over Leeds Rhinos last Thursday (July 11). It was their third win in a row after overcoming Hull FC 24-18 on the road and handing the Giants the 48-0 walloping which finally convinced the board to put their Wattoball project out of its misery. So you might say Wire are on an upward curve. Coming to town when injury hit Saints are in a bit of a rut it is hard to see either scenario changing this week. Things might get worse for Saints before they get better.
I offer you this doomsaying assessment because Head Coach Paul Wellens is not able to call any of his injured stars back into his 21-man squad. The only established player returning having missed the short journey to Wigan is Moses Mbye who was serving a one match suspension. Wellens does have the option of reintroducing Lewis Dodd who he dropped from the 17 last week but I sense that the fan base are somewhat divided on whether he should or not.
Wellens told us that there were things that Dodd needed to improve on to get back into the side. Has a week been long enough for the soon to be South Sydney Rabbitohs man to have done that to the boss’ satisfaction? Or was it all just a smoke screen for the fact that Wellens was making a point both to his young half about his form while telling the fans that he will make big selection decisions if players aren’t performing? If it’s the latter you can probably expect Dodd to reclaim his place in the side this week.
Which I wouldn’t be opposed to. I felt that Dodd was slightly scapegoated by both Wellens and the fans who backed the move to leave him out and who have been bemoaning his form all year. Particularly since his decision to head to the NRL at the end of the year was announced. Yet you don’t become a bad player overnight. Certainly the recruitment team at South Sydney see a player who could potentially cut it in what is an even tougher competition than Super League. That would suggest that Dodd’s recent struggles - and I’m not trying to pretend he’s been playing well - are at least in part down to the coaching he is currently receiving.
If Dodd does come back in it will be a shame if a place is not found for Harry Robertson. The teenager made a big impact on his debut at Wigan where he slotted in at fullback. Jack Welsby then moved to stand-off as Jonny Lomax covered Dodd’s halfback role. If we’re picking on form then perhaps the decision for Wellens is between Dodd and Lomax, rather than Dodd and Robertson. Not to scapegoat Lomax but he is not currently shining any brighter than Dodd. Though in mitigation he has only just returned from a fractured hand. If we’re picking on experience then Dodd and Lomax will reunite and Welsby will revert to fullback. I’m glad it’s not my decision. Still, I’m sure Wellens is both pleased and surprised to have any selection decisions to make with so many out of action. Hats off to Robertson for that.
Wellens has given a number of youngsters a taste of what it’s like to be included in the initial 21 for a Super League game and there’s another new name this week. That belongs to Owen Dagnall, an 18 year-old outside back. Along with Mbye he replaces Will Roberts and Leon Cowen. Roberts has linked up with Rochdale Hornets on a two-week loan deal so should hopefully see some action when they take on Midland Hurricanes in League One on Sunday (July 21).
Dagnall’s inclusion and that of Jonny Vaughan possibly throws some doubt about whether Tee Ritson and Ben Davies will keep their places. Both made similar and costly errors in allowing themselves to be bundled into touch by Wigan defenders in their own half which stick in the memory. Yet aside from that Ritson had one of the better of his 19 games in a Saints shirt and ended up leading the team in metres made. If either Vaughan or Dagnall are going to be drafted in then it is Davies who looks more vulnerable. Jon Bennison is still included but looks to have been frozen out by Wellens for the foreseeable. Waqa Blake has scored 10 Super League tries from the left wing and looks a certainty to continue barring any late disasters.
The back division is a bit iffy then but perhaps nothing compared to the state of the forward pack. Alex Walmsley, Sione Mata’utia, Joe Batchelor, Matt Whitley and Morgan Knowles remain out. Mbye will help give a credible alternative to Daryl Clark at hooker given that Wellens had no faith in Jake Burns at Wigan but Sam Royle - the other unused man alongside Burns - will probably make the 17 again. He probably won’t start though now that Wellens has hit upon the idea of moving James Bell into the second row and having Agnatius Paasi at loose forward.
Wellens has already commented on how teenagers George Delaney and Noah Stephens are getting far more first team experience than planned and both will have to be relied upon again here. Delaney is likely to start at prop while Stephens has been on the bench for the last six since making his debut in the 60-4 thrashing of Castleford in May.
Warrington made a key addition to their squad this week. Luke Yates had already agreed to a two-year deal from the start of 2025 but the loose forward makes the move early. He comes straight into Burgess’ 21-man squad which is missing three-quarters Josh Thewlis, Toby King and Connor Wrench, back rower Lachlan Fitzgibbon and prop Joe Philbin through injury.
Stefan Ratchford has been a part of Warrington’s first team squad for seemingly longer than Big Bird has been in Sesame Street and has extended his stay by another year this week. He is likely to fill in at centre with Papua New Guinean Rodrick Tai. Youngster Aaron Lindop could occupy one wing spot but the really frightening pace among the Wire backs belongs to winger Matty Ashton and fullback Matt Dufty. George Williams will try to run the show in the halves where he is again assisted by Josh Drinkwater following the unfortunate season ending injury suffered by Leon Hayes just as he was becoming established.
Matty Nicholson went full Dodd this week by announcing his departure to the NRL. The back rower - who reduced that nice Matty Peet to a gibbering trough of bitterness when he left Wigan in 2022. Nicholson was contracted to Warrington until the end of 2025 but like Yates has managed to wangle a way out. Which if nothing else just makes me feel nervous about Welsby. It is said that Warrington received a significant transfer fee. For now he remains in the Wolves’ back row alongside. With Yates now on board you wonder whether Ben Currie will revert to second row to partner Nicholson.
Paul Vaughan and James Harrison - at opposite ends of their careers - could start at prop with Lucas Green, Tom Whitehead, Adam Holroyd, Jordy Crowther and Max Wood competing for bench spots.
It was Saints who confirmed that 2023 would not be Warrington’s year - that reference has to be included a minimum of once per article by law - when a 16-8 success took Wellens’ side through to a Super League playoff semi-final with the Dragons in Perpignan. That win came only a fortnight after an 18-6 victory at Warrington in the penultimate game of the regular season.
The epic dummy sold by Bennison to Dufty on his way to the try line was an obvious highlight of a 24-20 win at the Halliwell Jones in July of that year while the exiled winger was also a try scorer in a comfortable 28-6 home win in April. Oddly - and at a time when loop fixtures ensure five clubs bump into Saints three times during the league campaign - this is the first Super League meeting between these two. The only other clash was that chastening 31-8 cup defeat witnessed by a free-to-air TV audience on a bleak April Sunday for Saints. To understand why is to try to get inside the minds of the decision makers of a sport in which very little seems to make sense at times. Best not to think about it too much.
Warrington’s last last league success on St Helens soil was a 6-2 defeat in June 2021. Only four of the Saints 17 on duty that day have a shot at being involved in this one. Saints lost to Castleford at home in the league that year too. And they blew an 18-point lead in the final five minutes of a Magic Weekend clash with Catalans Dragons to lose by a point in Newcastle. It all ended well enough though as Saints won the Challenge Cup - beating Castleford at Wembley - and the Grand Final against their Magic Weekend conquerors from Perpignan.
I can’t in all honesty offer you a good argument that Saints will be doing any conquering this week. Even without the injuries this looks like a Warrington side well crafted for exploiting the weaknesses in the Saints defence. The way they moved the ball to the edges so quickly and just outran Saints in the cup tie set a blueprint for breaking down a miserly defence which Hull KR soon followed. Unless the youngsters come in and they all have blinding pace and the kind of composure and sense of belonging displayed by Robertson last week then it’s going to be a long night for the home side.
But it will get better. Honest.
Squads;
Saints;
1. Jack Welsby, 3. Waqa Blake, 4. Mark Percival, 5. Jon Bennison, 6. Jonny Lomax, 7. Lewis Dodd, 9. Daryl Clark, 10. Matty Lees, 14. Moses Mbye, 15. James Bell, 16. Curtis Sironen, 17. Agnatius Paasi, 20. George Delaney, 21. Ben Davies, 22. Sam Royle, 24. Jake Burns, 25. Tee Ritson, 30. Jonny Vaughan, 31. Noah Stephens, 33. Harry Robertson, 34. Owen Dagnall.
Warrington Wolves;
- Matt Dufty 4. Stefan Ratchford 5. Matty Ashton 6. George Williams 7. Josh Drinkwater 8. James Harrison, 9. Danny Walker 10. Paul Vaughan 11. Ben Currie 13. Matty Nicholson 17. Jordy Crowther 25. Lucas Green 28. Adam Holroyd 29. Tom Whitehead 32. Sam Powell 33. Aaron Lindop 34. Max Wood 39. Cai Taylor-Wray 41. Luke Yates
Referee: Chris Kendall
Video Referee: Liam Moore
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