A detailed analysis of this one seems superfluous. This was not a real game. Not at Super League level at any rate. The competition’s launch had much to like about it. Leigh’s 1-0 win at Wigan after Super League’s first ever 80-minute 0-0 draw. Ok so it was stupefyingly boring but very exciting for history buffs and people who don’t like seeing the ball passed. Aside from that there was another golden point thriller as Hull KR sneaked past Castleford, a very promising performance for Hull FC in beating Catalans Dragons and Leeds going down 14-12 to the division’s new old boys Wakefield Trinity.
Sadly Saints’ 82-0 rout of what was basically a Salford reserve side could not provide its share of the drama. The result was never in doubt once Salford boss Paul Rowley had named a 17-man squad of virtual unknowns on Thursday lunchtime. In the event only 16 were named on the day. The more observant among you will note that a match day squad consists of 17 players. Eighteen if you count the concussion sub who can take to the field if a team loses a couple of players to failed HIAs. This was a side which had seemingly been selected to make a point and not with the intention of competing for the win.
Accompanying the selection was a club statement explaining that a reserve side would be fielded due to salary cap restrictions placed on the Red Devils. Salford have had a tumultuous winter plagued with financial issues. Those issues seemed to have disappeared when Swiss business man Dario Berta cleared the debts and - so we thought - completed a takeover of the club. There would be no need to sell off the likes of Nene McDonald, Tim Lafai, Kallum Watkins and Marc Sneyd after all. Unfortunately the league’s authorities decided that as Berta’s takeover of the club had not quite been ratified by Thursday the cap restrictions would still apply.
On the face of it it looks like Rowley has taken particular umbrage to this ruling and emptied his pram of its toys. Salford played a much stronger team in beating Midland Hurricanes 46-10 in the Challenge Cup last week. Nobody seems able to explain why they couldn’t have at least played a side of that sort of strength at St Helens. In his pre-match interview Rowley cited not only the salary cap situation but also injuries for his selection. He made the claim that his job is to protect his players. That’s a bold position to take when you’re sending a group of novices out to face one of the most successful teams in the game. There is a very reasonable argument to be made that this game should not have been played. Always destined to be a miss match - it also presented serious questions about player welfare.
Rowley’s choices ruined this game - whoever is at fault - and have sparked an RFL investigation into whether his decisions constitute bringing the game into disrepute. Salford and Rowley have very likely not heard the end of this.
As any fan knows - and according to the old maxim - you can only beat what is put in front of you. Saints did that alright, scoring 15 tries on their way to establishing a record margin of victory for a Super League game. In his post game offering Saints head coach Paul Wellens tried to make us believe that his side had played the game in exactly the same way they had planned to before they knew of Salford’s team selection.
Fifteen offloads tell a different story. The 2024 version of Saints - before the arrival of Lee Briers and Eamon O’Carroll as assistant coaches and before Rowley’s apparent meltdown - managed an average of 8.5 offloads per game. We can all believe that the figure doubled because the two new coaches have persuaded Wellens that off the cuff rugby is the way forward, or we can put it down to the fact that the opponents were catastrophically out of their depth.
The main intrigue in this Saints performance once the competitive edge had been removed was the performance of the new signings. Tristan Sailor, Kyle Feldt and Lewis Murphy all made their Super League debuts for Saints and all found a way over the try line. Sailor helped himself to four of the 15 scores. He looked on a different planet at times but given the Salford selection he was on this day. Yet it can be safely said that he provides a badly needed injection of pace. You can see that even relative to his new teammates he is lightning fast. Murphy too looked fairly swift on the left wing before a tight hamstring saw him withdrawn after around an hour.
These two can give Saints an extra dimension in 2025 while Feldt was every bit the reliable presence he was in all those years at North Queensland Cowboys. In many ways you could not have found a player who does all the things we saw mastered by the now departed Tommy Makinson.
Among the rest the squad is looking deeper than it seemed at times last year. Then, injuries bit and an uninspired Saints limped into the playoffs in sixth place. There’s no legislating for injuries (ask Rowley?) but as we start the season the squad is strong enough so that Agnatius Paasi, Moses Mbye, and Noah Stephens all missed out. There is serious competition for places for now. The only area of weakness looks to be scrum half where 34 year-old Jonny Lomax - a man who has suffered countless injuries especially to his knees - will still be relied upon. With that in mind it was perhaps a slight surprise to find that George Whitby did not make his way into the 17. It was arguably the perfect game for him to gain experience and hone his undoubted talents. You get the feeling that at some point we’re going to need him.
But that’s nitpicking. Konrad Hurrell’s centre berth went to Harry Robertson who managed to score his third and fourth tries of his 11-game Saints career. Like Jack Welsby before him he is currently able to fit in at almost any position as he learns the game at this level. There were mistakes but even taking into account the opposition you wouldn’t worry about picking him at centre again when Saints visit Castleford at the weekend.
Another whose contribution was notable was Jake Wingfield. Out with persistent shoulder problems since May of last year he has come back in at the start of the new season and showed some very encouraging signs. As the old adage would have it he may be like a new signing in 2025. If he can stay fit. He looked very lively here but again - he would. If he keeps his place in the 17 for the trip to Castleford it’s going to be fascinating to see how he goes given that he hasn’t faced top quality competitive opposition for the last nine months.
As well as Sailor’s four-try display there were doubles for Robertson and Morgan Knowles along with further efforts by Murphy, Lomax, Feldt, Joe Batchelor, Mark Percival, Curtis Sironen and George Delaney. Percival added 11 goals to take his personal points tally to 26 on the night. It was nothing but a procession, the only apparent upside of which is that Saints’ points difference has enjoyed a major boost. That was important last year in the playoff qualification permutations and it could very well be again.
On the flip side - and leaving all the politics of it aside - it does leave Saints a little less than battle hardened going into the Castleford game. Wellens’ men have officially played two competitive games in 2025 but last week’s Challenge Cup win over the amateurs of West Hull and this fiasco haven’t come close to providing a proper test. The Tigers are a team Saints should beat but we’d all be happier to face the rabble that were knocked out of the Challenge Cup by Championship Bradford than the outfit who took 2024 Grand Finalists Hull KR all the way to an extra period.
The stats from this one should probably be taken with the same large helping of salt applied to pretty much every other facet of this win. But for the record Alex Walmsley led Saints in metres made as he does so often. Walmsley made 215 and was one of eight Saints to break 100 metres. Salford’s best was the 83 made by former Wigan and Warrington man Joe Bullock.
Defensively Saints were scarcely challenged. The busiest defender in the red vee was Wingfield with 24 tackles. Bullock was again Salford’s best in this category with 34 stops. That’s a decent individual effort but the 79 missed tackles by this scratch Salford outfit tell the story of their struggle.
Struggling on and off the field, it is to be hoped that the Red Devils’ takeover and financial issues are resolved before they take on Leeds Rhinos this weekend. A repeat of the thrashing handed out by Saints to a team so obviously outclassed could be very damaging for the game.
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