Saints reeled off a third straight win to start their Super League campaign with an ultimately comfortable success over Daryl Powell’s Wakefield Trinity on Saturday afternoon (March 1).
Head Coach Paul Wellens was forced into one change from the 17 which routed Castleford Tigers a week previously. Morgan Knowles picked up a head knock at The Jungle so his place went to the returning James Bell. Knowles had this week announced that he will leave Saints at the end of 2025 to join up with former coach Kristian Woolf’s Dolphins outfit in the NRL. The news comes at the start of Knowles’ testimonial year having made his first team debut in a Challenge Cup win over York City Knights in May 2015.
Knowles will be missed. He’s been one of the most consistent performers throughout Saints’ recent period of success. If Saints were to win nothing this year he would still end his spell with four Grand Final rings and winners medals in both the Challenge Cup and the World Club Challenge. Throw in three League Leaders Shields and it’s a fair collection for a decade’s work.
Regular readers will know that I have never subscribed to the idea that he is a great loose forward in the Paul Sculthorpe mould - and he has had moments of grubbery which have drawn my criticism. Yet his work rate, willingness to scrap for everything and do whatever it takes for the team to win have been invaluable to Saints during his stay.
Wakefield are now coached by former Leeds, Castleford and Warrington boss Daryl Powell. Powell’s side have opened the season with a hard fought 14-12 win over Leeds and a defeat by the same score to 2024 Grand Finalists Hull KR. Having been brought back into Super League this term by our Lord and Saviour IMG they have been more competitive than many might have predicted. Powell’s selection for this one saw Jake Trueman return to the halves as Olly Russell dropped to the bench. The same fate befell Tommy Doyle as Liam Hood returned to the starting hooker’s role.
The decision to go for goal from a penalty early in games - even one awarded at close range and bang in front of the posts - is always a source of great debate among fans. The modern philosophy is predominantly that the option to kick at goal should be reserved for the last knockings of the game. And even then only if the scores are close. Saints sparked the argument again when Mike McMeeken was guilty of stealing the ball from Alex Walmsley 10 metres out.
Mark Percival stepped up to open the scoring as Saints opted to start the scoreboard ticking over early. If that annoyed anyone they saw 10 minutes later what can happen if you turn down your opportunity. Trinity could have levelled the scores when Saints were caught offside but an error by Trueman on the first tackle saw them come up empty.
It was a pretty error strewn opening quarter for both sides. Jake Wingfield suffered more than most as he first had it stolen one one one by Hood before losing possession in the tackle having been put clear by a Tristan Sailor pass. Within minutes he had another opportunity to break clear from Jack Welsby’s pass on halfway but couldn’t take it in, though to be fair the pass from the fullback was slightly behind him.
Errors were a problem for both sides. Saints’ tally of 10 isn’t catastrophic in itself but it represents almost half of their total throughout the first three rounds of competition. This is frustrating but I can’t be too downbeat about it since I’ve been crying out for more risks to be taken in possession. The early going has definitely shown a willingness to do so more often in order to create more opportunities. Sailor’s passing game has been a key to that. On more than one occasion on the night he was able to poke through the defensive line and pop an offload off around the corner of the defence. It’s a subtle change but one which should make the Saints attack a more dangerous proposition than it was for much of 2024. His extra speed helps too.
Of more concern was Saints’ discipline. Wellens’ side have conceded 14 penalties so far in 2025, eight of which occurred in this game. Foul play wasn’t the issue, but instead a tendency to be too eager to get off the line quickly resulting in an offside or a reluctance to release the tackled player to the cost of either a penalty or another set of six. It helped that Wakefield were also pinged eight times, contributing to their early season total of 18. That’s the fourth highest in the league at this embryonic stage.
That eight should almost certainly have been nine when referee Liam Rush made a perplexing call to inflict another early turnover on Saints. McMeeken had been injured completing a tackle and lay prone in the ruck preventing Daryl Clark from scooping the ball up from dummy half. Trinity prop Caleb Hamlin-Uele fell on the ball and was allowed to retain possession. It was a bit of a head scratcher and did nothing to help the flow of an already scrappy game early on.
Despite the conspiracy theories on officiating it cuts both ways. A poor call helped Saints take the lead. Welsby found Jon Bennison on the left touchline but he found himself running out of space as the Trinity defence scrambled over. He threw a desperate pass back into the field of play which was significantly forward. As it rolled towards the in-goal Curtis Sironen tried to collect it but only succeeded in toeing it forward. Fortunately Welsby had continued to support and was first to the loose ball to touch down for his second try of the season. Percival tacked on the extras and Saints led 8-0.
The league’s leading try scorer in the opening three weeks is none other than Harry Robertson. Currently playing at centre, he has five so far. Yet three minutes before he notched his fifth - more on which soon - it was his error which gave the home side the chance to register their only four-pointer of the day. He lost possession on his own 10 metre line setting up the position from where Isaiah Vagana - son of former Bradford Bulls prop Joe - crashed over from Hood’s pass from dummy half. Jowitt’s conversion narrowed the gap to 8-6.
Robertson wasted no time making up for that mistake. Tom Johnstone - enduring one of the most mistake ridden days of his career - was unable to hang on to Trueman’s pass which may or may not have been tipped by Kyle Feldt. Feldt tip, anyone? Bad jokes aside young Robertson hoovered up the loose ball and streaked 70 yards down the right hand touchline to score. He even had time to adjust his headgear along the way. Percival could only hit the post with the sideline conversion but Saints led 12-6.
Before the hooter to end the first period there was a video review for a penalty try. Agnatius Paasi was all set to give chase to Jonny Lomax’s grubber when he was blocked off by Matty Storton. In truth the whole thing was a waste of everyone’s time. The replay confirmed what looked obvious from the start. Namely that there were two or three Trinity defenders in covering positions who looked far more likely to get to it before Paasi. Let’s be honest the Tongan’s pace is not his greatest asset. Still it was a foul and with no time left Percival stepped up to notch his second penalty goal to put Saints 14-6 up at the break.
We saw more of what Sailor offers to the attack when Saints stretched their advantage just before the hour mark. Another fine offload found Clark in space and he was able to go the distance to touch down under the sticks. There was another review as the Wakefield defenders had obscured the referee’s view of the grounding in their desperate attempts to deny the hooker the ninth try of his 27-match Saints career. The cameras couldn’t get any further proof that Rush’s on-field call of try was wrong, so the score stood. Another two from Percival effectively sealed the win as it put the red vee three scores clear at 20-6.
Now I know I and others have asked for a bit more razzle dazzle from Saints’ attack. We’ve all been quite excited by the arrival of Lee Briers who has already had an impact as an assistant coach during spells with Wigan - which despite his Warrington association still felt wrong - and Brisbane Broncos. Whatever he has instilled into the Saints players Clark perhaps took it a little too far when having made it to his own 40 metre line he hurled a wild offload which hit the ground and was picked up by Storton. Woolf would have had a blue fit if this had happened on his watch and I can’t imagine Wellens was too comfortable with it either. It’s great that Saints are looking to play a bit more but perhaps that’s taking things a little too far.
Saints came up with 16 offloads in this one. That’s almost twice their average per game during last term. Only Catalans Dragons have more through the first three rounds. Woolfball advocates could reasonably point out that the Dragons have made a dreadful start to the season with defeats to Hull, Warrington and Leigh so maybe it’s not the way to go. Perhaps a better balance can be found by Briers than was in evidence in this case but the counter argument is that it’s working for Saints so far. Yet you wouldn’t want to be conceding possession on your own 30 metre line due to an ill advised offload against stronger opposition. It’s fair to say that because of the Salford debacle Wellens’ men have had a favourable set of fixtures to start the year. It will get tougher this week with the visit of Rovers.
Saints added one more score to put the exclamation mark on the victory 15 minutes from time. Feldt had been having a quiet game offensively, mainly dealing with high balls and making hard yards. But he got his try scoring opportunity when thunderous drives by Walmsley and George Delaney set up the position from where Sailor and Clark combined with Welsby whose pinpoint pass gave the Australian winger just enough room to squeeze in at the corner. Quietly, Feldt has three tries in his first three Super League appearances for the club. A sensational touchline conversion by Percival completed the scoring at 26-6.
A look at the numbers shows Welsby leading the way in metres made in this one with 135. That’s just four ahead of Walmsley’s 131 while Feldt managed 128. Robertson (124) and Sailor (115) also passed the century mark. Trinity’s best was surprisingly Johnstone’s 117. Wakefield fans may wonder how many he would have made without the four errors he committed with ball in hand.
Clark topped Saints’ tackle count with 40, closely followed by the 37 racked up by Joe Batchelor. The back rower has come under some scrutiny from some fans even before he agreed to join Hull FC for 2026. Yet he is still putting in a shift at a time when he has often been hampered by injuries amid the transfer speculation. The other Saint to register more than 30 tackles was Delaney. For Powell’s men McMeeken and Hamlin-Uele had 39 stops, Storton 38, Jay Pitts 36, Renouf Atoni 32 (Renouf and Sailor reunited?) and Hood 30. It was a busy afternoon for the home defence.
So Saints welcome Rovers to town this weekend for what should be a real test. Willie Peters’ side have faced the same three opponents as Saints so far in 2025 and also have three wins. Yet it was touch and go against the Tigers where Mikey Lewis’ golden point scraped a 19-18 win. The reigning Man Of Steel is named in their 21-man squad despite a recent injury which required the boot treatment. Knowles returns to the Saints squad for this one with Ben Davies dropping out.
Something has to give between these two unbeaten sides so it should make for a cracking match which might…just might…tell us more about Saints than we have learned from the gentle fixtures to this point.
Saints: Welsby, Feldt, Robertson, Percival, Bennison, Lomax, Sailor, Walmsley, Clark, Lees, Sironen, Batchelor, Bell. Interchanges: Paasi, Whitley, Delaney, Wingfield.
Wakefield: Jowitt, Walmsley, Pratt, Hall, Johnstone, Trueman, Lino, McMeeken, Hood, Hamlin-Uele, Storton, Vagana, Pitts. Interchanges: Doyle, Russell, Atoni, Croft
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