Oblivious to the clear and present danger of derby fatigue Saints are charged with facing the old enemy again as they take on Wigan at Magic Weekend at Leeds United’s Elland Road on Saturday (August 17, kick-off 5.00pm).
These two have been paired together for the seventh time since the Magic Weekend monster was created in 2007. It will be the third meeting between the two so far in 2024 as loop fixtures work their own kind of magic.
We’ll look at that later but for now let’s take a gander at what’s on the line this time around. Wigan are still in contention for the League Leaders Shield. Only points difference keeps them off top spot with Hull KR perhaps a surprise leader at this stage of the season. Willie Peters’ side have capitalised on a dodgy run for Wigan which has seen them lose three of their last five league fixtures since edging Saints 16-12 at home in July.
Wonderfully, Matty Peet’s side have fallen in a hole since. Their fans - no doubt brains addled by the celebrations that followed winning their cup final - declared that a win at Hull would just about seal the deal in terms of the League Leadership. And then Hull beat them. The worst Hull side we’ve probably ever seen in Super League were still too good for the champions on that day.
Meanwhile Saints have bigger problems. Wins over Hull FC and Salford looked to have steadied the ship after five league defeats in a row had them on the brink of missing out on the six. Yet with Rovers to follow after this one Paul Wellens’ side could easily find themselves staring over the edge again by the end of August. Saints have never missed a playoff series in the Super League era. They are the only team who can say that. But if there is ever a year when they are going to miss out it will be this one.
Optimism had returned after a good performance at Hull and an epic golden point triumph over Salford. However, just as the fixture planners start to get medieval on our arse half of the team becomes unavailable, most of them for over a month. Some of it is self inflicted with suspension ruling out Morgan Knowles and Jonny Lomax but the injuries announced this week to Mark Percival, Lewis Dodd and Daryl Clark are a painful knee to the mid-section.
With Jack Welsby already out it means Saints will go in without their first choice 1, 6, 7 and 9 as well as both starting centres. It’s not looking great, and not just for this one given the expected timescale for a return for the newly crocked.
In dealing with this Wellens has made four enforced changes to the 21 on duty for Salford’s visit. Percival, Dodd, Clark and Knowles all make way while in come Will Roberts, Jonny Vaughan, Leon Cowen and George Delaney. If fit and available the latter provides a boost to a pack which - despite missing Knowles and Sione Mata’utia - was able to welcome back Joe Batchelor and Matt Whitley in recent weeks.
So with all that what will Saints’ lineup look like? There are a number of combinations, none of which fill you with masses of confidence. Harry Robertson looks set at fullback in place of Welsby while Waqa Blake’s recent move to centre will surely continue with both Percival and Konrad Hurrell missing. Blake’s partner will either be Ben Davies or Vaughan. Tommy Makinson occupies one wing with Tee Ritson favourite to be on the other.
Moses Mbye is the only player we can name in the halves with any real certainty. James Bell moved alongside him when Dodd was injured in the win over Salford. However, some have suggested we may see Davies there as he has some first team experience in the role. That experience extends to five of his 32 starts there. The last of these was in a 30-10 loss at Wigan in August 2022. My own memory of his spell at six is of rave reviews from the fan base after two games and then rants about how he should never play there again after three. Yet here we are.
Despite the loss of Knowles to another of his now legendary acts of dismal grubbery the pack is looking in reasonable shape. Alex Walmsley returned last week, used from the bench but having his usual big impact. Wellens may prefer that approach again although with Knowles out and Bell possibly moving to the halves we may see Walmsley start at prop alongside Matty Lees with Agnatius Paasi at 13. Jake Burns has been involved in the last two wins and stood out at times. Any attempt to awkwardly shunt anyone else but him into the hooking role will bring about feelings of severe dismay.
The second row is the one area in which Saints are still blessed. Even with Mata’utia still missing. Any time you can pick two starters from Curtis Sironen, Batchelor and Whitley you are doing ok. One of those three should also make the bench. If they are joined there by Delaney and Noah Stephens then there is certainly still depth in the pack.
Before my Wigan followers - and I do have some - pile on to social media to point out that they too have some absence I will explain. The Peety Pies will still be without their top man Bevan French, while halfback Harry Smith’s recent run of poor form has culminated in a three-game suspension. This was the verdict handed down at a tribunal after Smith was sent off against Leeds last week. Unwisely he planted a forearm into the kipper of no less a nutcase than ex-Saint and doggedly determined moustache wearer James Bentley.
Other than Smith Ryan Hampshire is the only member of the 21 for the Leeds game not included this week. That still leaves Peet without ACL victim and hooker Brad O’Neill and veteran shithouser Willie Isa as well as ex-Warrington front rower Mike Cooper. Backup props Tiaki Chan and Sam Eseh are on loan at Hull FC but silver chasing former Saint Luke Thompson, ex-Rhino Sam Walters, Tyler Dupree, Harvie Hill , Liam Byrne and Patrick Mago are among Peety Pie’s pack options.
Liam Farrell is still one of Wigan’s better forwards if not the whole league’s. His experience should provide a great blend in the second row alongside Junior Nsemba. Kaide Ellis is the likely candidate to fill the prop forward masquerading as a loose forward role that modern coaches so adore.
With French out Jai Field is key to the Wigan attack. It’s possible he may be used in the halves alongside youngster Jack Farrimond with another fledgling at fullback in Zach Eckersley. The three-quarters contain more experience with centres Adam Keighran and Jake Wardle flanked by Abbas Miski and Super League’s top try scorer Liam Marshall.
In the six previous Magic Weekend fixtures between these two Saints have a slight edge with three wins to Wigan’s two with one match drawn in 2011 in Cardiff.
More recently both sides have a win apiece against each other in 2024. Saints edged it 12-4 at home on Good Friday in a game which saw Liam Byrne sent off while a patched up Saints performed admirably at Wigan a month ago but came out on the wrong end of a 16-12 loss. If Saints can hang on to their top six status then there’s every chance there could be a fourth edition of this rivalry before it all ends.
As well as forcing us into an unwanted meeting with the League Leaders - although some fans would watch this fixture every week - the concept of Magic Weekend becomes ever more questionable. Originally it was meant to be an attempt to take the game on the road to be showcased in front of audiences not normally accustomed to it. Staging it in Leeds does nothing to fulfill that particular remit.
Then there was the fact that it offered the broadcaster an opportunity to fill a weekend’s schedule and the viewer a chance to gorge on an unusual amount of live action. Only now every game is broadcast live in one format or another and - until last week - they have all been available on regular Sky channels. So if we’re not trying to impress new audiences, and if a bumper weekend of TV coverage is no longer a novelty, what’s it for? Essentially it is there to allow existing rugby league fans to make a weekend of it and consume Olly Reed levels of alcohol. After which those same people will ask why nobody goes to the Challenge Cup final anymore.
Regardless of the futility of Magic and of the fans’ ire at being bundled out of Newcastle and forced into Leeds the matches are still worth two points. It may turn out to be something of a phoney war if these two meet again in the playoffs but for now both sides are desperate for a win for slightly different reasons.
Given the carnage that has rained down upon Saints’ back division since the win over Salford it is hard to see how Wellens men will pull this one off. Wigan must surely produce an improvement on the lamentable showing which saw them pumped 30-4 by Leeds last time out. If Wigan are anywhere near their best then the hill looks too steep to climb for a threadbare Saints team.
Squads;
Wigan Warriors;
1. Jai Field 2. Abbas Miski 3. Adam Keighran 4. Jake Wardle 5. Liam Marshall 8. Ethan Harvard 10. Liam Byrne 12. Liam Farrell 13. Kaide Ellis 15. Patrick Mago 16. Luke Thompson 17. Kruise Leeming 19. Tyler Dupree 20. Harvie Hill 21. Junior Nsemba 22. Sam Walters 26. Zach Eckersley 27. Tom Forber 28. Jacob Douglas 30. Jack Farrimond 36. Taylor Kerr
Saints;
2. Tommy Makinson, 3. Waqa Blake, 5. Jon Bennison, 8. Alex Walmsley, 10. Matty Lees, 12. Joe Batchelor, 14. Moses Mbye, 15. James Bell ,16. Curtis Sironen, 17. Agnatius Paasi, 19. Matt Whitley, 20. George Delaney, 21. Ben Davies, 22. Sam Royle, 24. Jake Burns, 25. Tee Ritson, 29. Will Roberts, 30. Jonny Vaughan, 31. Noah Stephens, 32. Leon Cowen, 33. Harry Robertson
Referee: Jack Smith
Video Referee: Liam Moore
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