Saints always qualify for the playoffs. It’s just a given. A fact of life. Like bad goalkeepers at the women’s Euros, crashes at the Tour De France and my residence at the Royal Liverpool hospital at some point within a two-year cycle.
Well guess what? I’m home and it looks like Saints are going to make it again. It wasn’t easy on the eye but Saturday’s 13-6 win at Hull FC (July 5) left Paul Wellens’ side five points clear of the black and whites who now occupy the no man’s land that is 7th place in Super League.
There are 10 rounds to go. We still have two games against Castleford and one against Huddersfield on the schedule. Hull haven’t won at home for nearly a year. Wakefield look more likely challengers at this point. And as for Warrington. Well you shouldn’t laugh.
This scenario didn’t look likely a few short weeks ago. But it’s amazing what two fixtures against Salford can do for your prospects. Aside from that advantage Wellens has managed to move his ailing ship into this position with pragmatism. How else would you describe his decision to stick with Moses Mbye at halfback for this one rather than restore George Whitby following his concussion protocols?
If you take a purist, longer term view then you’ll hate that decision. What are we doing stifling the development of one of our brightest talents in a pivotal position in favour of an absolute trundler with a kicking game which can best be described as not as shite as everyone else’s? I totally get that argument. It’s not the end of civilisation if we miss the playoffs if it means that the likes of Whitby get valuable experience now. I mean, it’s not as if we’re going to get to let alone win at Old Trafford. Are we? Could we?
Whether we can or not if you’re Wellens your job depends on making the playoffs at least. Even that might not be enough. It’s a bare minimum. It’s alright having the more level headed fans take a long term view but they’re very much the minority. Most fans would respond to failure to make the top six by taking to Twitter to declare Wellens the worst coach they have ever seen. His glittering, monumental playing career would immediately be stripped from their memories and Wellens and his family would probably have to move to somewhere where they don’t care about rugby league and never will. Like Las Vegas.
Unfortunately for Wellens his employers would take a similar view and he would be unceremoniously jettisoned. His job description whether it is realistic or not is to win everything on offer. He’ll probably get sacked if Daryl Clark doesn’t win Johnny Vegas’ annual crown green bowling challenge in aid of the Steve Prescott Foundation. Especially if he loses to Peter Reid. Such is the lot of a Saints Head Coach.
Wellens is not helped by injuries at the moment. All clubs have to deal with this sort of thing as we move into the latter half of the summer but Saints back line really is decimated. At one point when Owen Dagnall - himself a veteran of six first team appearances - went off for a head injury assessment Saints were running with a three-quarter line of Kyle Feldt and Harry Robertson on the wings but Matt Whitley and Clark in the centres. Fortunately Dagnall was able to return while in the meantime John Cartwright’s brain dead team didn’t have the smarts to test those edges.
The latest reason for this patching up job is the loss of Deon Cross. He’s played just one more game for Saints than Dagnall but now faces three or four weeks out with a foot injury. Add him to Mark Percival, Jack Welsby and Lewis Murphy and you start to see where Wellens’ options are narrowing. If we stunk in attack before - and we did - then the whiff is probably a little bit worse now.
Roberton was consistently Saints biggest running threat. He made one ridiculous break which led to the second of Feldt’s brace of tries, while another of the youngster’s forays inspired even Mbye to beat one or two defenders before dying in possession like he’s supposed to.
Between them Mbye and Feldt were responsible for Saints’ main non-Robertson related attacking weapon. There’s not a lot of variety on Saints’ last tackle plays but on this day the Mbye/Jonny Lomax bomb to Feldt on the wing came up trumps just about often enough. It’s not quite as reliable as the Philadelphia Eagles’ tush push/brotherly shove - which is on the verge of being banished from the NFL as a cheat code - but reliable enough.
That one such play was sufficient says a lot about both FC’s attacking display and Saints’ excellence in defence. Morgan Knowles’ kick pressure on ex-Wigan busted flush Cade Cust was one of the plays of the game. It was that sort of game were attacking ideas were at something of a premium. Played between the sort of teams for whom attacking ideas are at something of a premium. Besides, if you have a big gun you pull the trigger. So said former New York Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress right after he shot himself in the leg at a Big Apple nightclub some years ago.
In the context of Saints’ ailing attack the contribution of Feldt and Tristan Sailor has been vital. Despite criticism of our newest overseas recruits they have 24 tries between them. That’s 27% of all tries scored by Saints in Super League this season. And only the top two have scored more tries. Thanks Salford. In addition Sailor has 18 assists, more than anyone except coach’s favourite Lachlan Lam and Shaun Wane’s least favourite Jake Connor.
It would be remiss not to pay due credit to the other determining factor in this massive win, the boot of Lomax. Chipping in with the odd bomb to Feldt when Mbye was indisposed the captain also had to once again shoulder the goal-kicking responsibilities. He’s fourth choice for the role which again emphasises the state of health in this squad right now. Yet his touchline conversion of Feldt’s first try proved invaluable. Quite whether the skipper is reliable enough to justify going for two points from a penalty after only 10 minutes is another debate. That again is another indication of where we are as an attacking force. But there too Lomax did what was required of him.
And then the top hat was firmly planted atop this success when he dropped a goal to push Saints out to a virtually unassailable 13-6 lead with just two minutes left. It was a fairly routine opportunity set up by Harvey Baron’s catastrophic error under another Saints skyscraper. Yet anyone who saw the two earlier efforts from Mbye which barely left the ground will have appreciated it. Turns out pragmatism also comes with two free abysmal drop goal attempts.
The news that Leeds Rhinos and Leigh Leopards are next on the agenda might be a slight reason to question my earlier confidence about Saints’ top six hopes. If the Rhinos team which has just taken care of Hull KR turns up at Headingley on Friday night (July 11) there could be trouble brewing. Yet when Saints last met Brad Arthur’s side an expected thrashing somehow metamorphosed into an 18-4 win. As good as they are when things are going well Leeds are still at the anything could happen stage of their development. As any side featuring Harry Newman and James Bentley would be.
The same could be said of Leigh who were also busy beating top two opponents last time out. There’s no recent head-to-head form to go on as the July 17 meeting will be the first between Saints and Leigh this year. Thanks Salford. But what we can say is that Adrian Lam’s side have jumped to fourth spot in the table on the back of four wins in their last five. They did draw with Hull earlier in the season so there’s that.
I’m already confident but one win from these next two huge top six matchups should seal the deal for Saints. They always qualify for the playoffs…
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