Defence, Dominance, And A Word From The Chairman. And Are Saints Flat Track Bullies Or Genuine Contenders In 2025?

Let’s get the personal stuff out of the way.  I wasn’t at this 52-4 evisceration of Huddersfield Giants.  I had planned to be.  I would have been had the fixture not been switched from its original date of Friday August 15 to Sunday August 17.  As it turned out I was in Blackpool as my partner took part in the seaside town’s 5k.  That was on Saturday night.  By Sunday we were in Walkabout watching the Saints game without sound because there were other people in the bar watching Chelsea fail to beat Crystal Palace.  Philistines.  But the lack of audio was perhaps a blessing having sat through the wisdom of Brian Noble during my rewatch at home.

Proceedings began with a commemoration of VJ Day.  Victory over Japan.  Sealed on August 15 1945 to end World War II.  I’m not really into the go troops stuff but this was a fitting tribute, not overdone.  Some of Saints’ current stars held the heritage shirts of the Saints players who were killed in the conflict while club owners Eamonn McManus and Ken Davy laid wreaths. 

It took Saints just under 10 minutes to make their dominance pay but in truth they were untroubled by the Giants for the whole afternoon.  They racked up nine tries with doubles for Mark Percival, Kyle Feldt and Tristan Sailor.  Jack Welsby was named on the bench having been out since the end of May.  Head Coach Paul Wellens has been criticised for sitting back line players on his bench at times this season.  But faced with an opposition not offering too much resistance there will be little discussion about this one.  It was an opportunity to get minutes into Saints’ best player ahead of the regular season run-in and the playoffs.  After some doubt at the start of the season there is now none that Saints will be in the top six.  This win moved them into third after Leigh Leopards suffered a surprising defeat to Hull FC this weekend. 

Wellens will need to figure out what Welsby’s return means for Sailor.  The former Brisbane Bronco was outstanding in this one.  In Welsby’s absence Sailor has been starting at fullback for the most part.  He filled in on the wing until Kyle Feldt returned from his hand injury in mid-June.  He even spent part of this one at nine running out of dummy half.  He did so for 70 metres on his way to scoring his second try of the game and the 15th of his debut Super League campaign.  Fifty-five seconds into the second half he surged through from Agnatius Paasi’s offload to lay on a try for Johnny Lomax.  For his first Sailor had out-jumped Giants’ starlet George Flanagan to collect Moses Mbye’s bomb and waltz over untouched. 

After becoming something of a lightning rod for criticism early in the season the Australian has made himself virtually undroppable.  Yet it is difficult to see him holding on to the fullback role once Welsby is ready to start.  Owen Dagnall’s emergence on the left wing would be harshly halted if Sailor were to revert to that position.  The sensible call would be to slot Sailor into the halves at the expense of either Lomax or Mbye.  Yet Wellens has been reluctant to break that partnership up during a winning run.  Saints have won eight of their last nine, a stat which has cost George Whitby his chance to gain more first team experience.

Huddersfield didn’t help themselves at times, evidenced by the sin-binning of Taane Milne which came just before Saints’ second try.  Milne was in possession of the ball deep in his own half when instead of getting up and playing it he decided instead to shove Feldt out of the ruck.  He was penalised for his actions but it could have been something he said which earned him a yellow card.  Either way it opened up the space to allow Feldt to cross for the first of his brace after good handling from Daryl Clark, Mbye, Sailor, Lomax and and Harry Robertson.

The Milne yellow card was one of few significant refereeing interventions.  Referee Jack Smith did ask for help deciding on Morgan Knowles’ try after the loose forward twisted away from a trio of defenders to reach out and score.  It was never really in doubt, although the opportunity may not have been there in the first place had Smith called Sailor’s pass to Lomax forward earlier in the tackle count.  It was a one-handed offload which looked as suspicious as it was pretty.  Yet when there are 52 points on the scoreboard and only 4 in reply it becomes a footnote rather than a major talking point. 

Dagnall also showed us more of his sizeable potential three minutes after Sailor’s first effort which itself had come within a few minutes of the first Feldt try.  Benefitting from a Percival break the young winger took the circuitous route to the try line and was just able to ground the ball among the defensive traffic.  He should have passed to a wide open Robertson who would have strolled in but Dagnall is demonstrably someone who backs himself. 

There were echoes of his solo effort against Castleford a couple of weeks ago when with arguably better options available he opted to kick ahead for himself.  So long as you keep making good on your gambles you will be lauded but there is the potential at some point for Dagnall to take one wrong option too many.  But better decision making comes with experience.  For now he has eight tries in 10 Super League appearances and is solving the problem created by the injury ravaged season being endured by Lewis Murphy.  Another of Dagnall’s winding runs around the Giants defence created the position for Feldt’s second try.  Welsby lobbed it up for the former North Queensland Cowboy to rise highest to claim and touch down.  He now has 17 for the season and is Saints top try scorer.  Only three players have more in Super League in 2025.

Joe Batchelor was filling in for Curtis Sironen who was ruled out due to concussion protocols.  Hull-bound at the end of the season Batchelor’s return from injury might yet be timely.  He looked dangerous throughout on Saints’ left edge.  It was from there that he put Percival through a gap to create Dagnall’s try and that he later found Percival to allow the centre to grab his second.  Sironen almost certainly starts when he returns but Batchelor will be a useful option off the bench.  The same goes for James Bell – who will also be playing for the black and whites next term – but who featured in the first team 17 for the first time since April.  He hasn’t started a game in the red vee since the Challenge Cup win over West Hull in February.  That is partly due to injury but it looked very much like Wellens had chosen to freeze the former Leigh man out.  Now he could also prove a useful addition to the squad as the stakes get higher.

As we contemplate what cliché fanciers refer to as the business end of the season it is clear that Saints’ defence is still their main strength.  The only blemish on this performance was the concession of a late first half try to former charge Joe Greenwood.  The 32-year old crashed over through an uncharacteristically poor tackle attempt by Lomax.  It will have been an enjoyable moment for Greenwood who after being touted as a great prospect for the future left Saints for an unsuccessful spell at Gold Coast Titans.  He has never quite hit the same heights since.  He was replaced in the Saints line-up by Zeb Taia in one of Keiron Cunningham’s better coaching moves.

The Greenwood try was a minor setback for a team which has only conceded 26 points since shipping 34 at Hull KR at the end of May.  Salford, Castleford and – most impressively – Leeds have all failed to register a single point in 80 minutes against Saints during that run.  While Saints’ attack has been uninspiring enough to see them fly well under the radar their defence is likely to keep them in any contest.  And that could be crucial come playoff time.  Saints face tougher tasks in the coming weeks with Hull KR, Wigan and Leigh all on the agenda after this week’s visit from Hull FC.  But at the time of writing Saints are only two points behind Wigan and – mathematically at least – are a threat to the Warriors’ long held position in the top two.

Since I was viewing on television I was able to observe the comments of club chairman and owner McManus as he was interviewed by the BBC at half-time.  He made a number of interesting points when asked why he voted for the league to expand to 14 teams now rather than in 2027 or beyond.  He suggested that there has been sufficient preparation time because most of the clubs decided on 14 a year ago.  Yet he disingenuously claimed that no teams had voted against the move.  Both Hull clubs voted against the increase for next year.  It seems that since they seemed open to the switch in 2027 they apparently count among the ‘ayes’. 

More revealingly McManus said it is not yet certain how the extra clubs will be funded.  I am no mathematician but I know that x amount of money split 14 ways instead of 12 means less for everyone.  We need a bigger slice of the TV sports budget in general but in fairness McManus acknowledged that and also stated that Saints would be willing to take a financial hit in the short term if necessary.  He acknowledged that we need to grow the game as much as possible.  It did not sound like the words of a man who – as he is often accused – is helping to rid Super League of French participation and serve up more derbies for the game’s travel sick fan base.

Of course these comments come against the backdrop of suggestions that Sport England might reduce or even withdraw funding if they find that the re-appointment of the bafflingly revered Nigel Wood as RFL Chairman did not constitute a fair and thorough recruitment process.  McManus’ positivity is welcome but it remains a time of great uncertainty for the sport.  That was highlighted by McManus’ assertion that despite having agreed to expand to 14 teams for next year nobody will be admitted without meeting the requirements laid down by IMG.  Nice to know that the advisors with whom we agreed to place our trust for 12 years just two or three years ago are still getting some say.  But it does leave us all wondering about who might come in, what will happen to beleaguered Salford, and will the actual on field competition currently taking place in the second tier have any influence?

But those are thoughts for next year.  The immediate concern for Saints is a tough run of fixtures which will tell us something more about whether they do have title credentials or whether they will remain the league’s flat track bullies.  Saints’ last win over any of Hull KR, Wigan or Leigh came on Good Friday in 2024 when Tommy Makinson and Konrad Hurrell tries sealed a 12-4 success.  Wellens’ side haven’t got close to KR in two meetings this year while the 16-4 defeat to Leigh was not nearly as close as the scoreline suggests.  This year’s Easter meeting with the Warriors ended in a 10-point defeat also.  Failure to get a win against any of those three during the last few weeks of the season would hardly persuade fans that Saints can seal a title that has looked unlikely all year. 

But you know…we are still in there so…    

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