Saints Fall Short Yet Uphold A Proud Record. It Probably Won't Be Enough...

Saints Fall Short

Winning at Hull KR was always a bit of a long shot.  Only the bafflingly positive rugby league journalists were talking up Saints’ prospects against the league leaders.  And so it proved, as once again the stulted attack of Paul Wellens’ side failed to function.  Their defence always gives them an opportunity but an inability to score points ultimately led to this 12-8 defeat.  It will ultimately prove their undoing in 2025 overall.  On this night they were left to settle for Deon Cross’ solitary try and a Mark Percival penalty.  Although that famed defence restricted Rovers to just Joe Burgess’ four pointer disciplinary issues allowed Rhyse Martin to kick three penalty goals to make the difference on the scoreboard.

A Predictable Solution

Ahead of last week’s narrow win over Hull FC Wellens was facing a selection dilemma.  With Jack Welsby back fit and Tristan Sailor in the best form of his short Saints career so far there was pressure on the coach to drop one of club captain Jonny Lomax or Wellens favourite Moses Mbye. 

George Whitby’s progress appears to have been shelved for now.  As if we have such an embarrassment of riches we can afford to sideline one of the best young halfback prospects in the game.  Wellens seems to have been decisive on that at least.  He was rescued from his perplexing conundrum to some extent by an injury picked up by winger Owen Dagnall at the end of the Hull FC game. 

So it was simple as far as Wellens was concerned.  Leave Lomax and Mybe to combine for the slowest partnership since you and your mum ran the three-legged race at the school sports day, and shunt the pacy Sailor on to the wing where he can dream of emulating his famous father.  The choice to remain loyal to both Lomax and Mbye will not help address the attacking issues.  With those two in tandem there is a veritable inspiration famine and a fatal lack of speed.  Not to mention the smorgasbord of wrong options.

The choice was made even easier for the Head Coach to get away with by the news that Kyle Feldt would also miss this one due to a head injury picked up against FC.  He had played on after the early blow but had displayed concussion symptoms following the game.  Cross came in for his first slice of first team action since the end of June.

Another Headache

Still, if you want to talk about major losses owing to concussion look no further than at the fate of Morgan Knowles in this one.  Just eight minutes in the Saints loose forward was clubbed over the head by Rovers’ former Leeds Rhinos man Martin.  Knowles was playing one of the few games remaining in his Saints career before he moves on to the Dolphins in the NRL.  He now has one fewer after he failed an HIA and did not return.  He will not play in this weekend’s derby at home to Wigan Warriors.  That’s a savage blow to our hopes which were not exactly sky rocketing to begin with.  Knowles might not be my idea of the second coming of Jesus Christ – or Paul Sculthorpe -  but his importance to the side cannot be overstated.  He is going to be almost impossible to replace if Saints only look domestically.  You would have to go big on someone like Sydney Roosters’ Victor Radley to get a player in the same position who can offer similar qualities. But what would his dad say about his lad turning out for what used to be a Lancashire club? 

An Unlikely Fix

Shane Wright has been brought in on loan from Salford after having long been linked with a permanent switch.  Whether that materialises is yet to be determined but for now I can hardly breath under the weight of my apathy.  You back any player who pulls on the shirt and I wish him the best.  I hope he turns into one of the elite back row forwards in the game.  But you would have to say that based on the evidence of his Salford career so far – even before they became crisis-hit Salford and started losing heavily to everyone except Warrington – it isn’t all that likely.  Last year was his standout season for the Red Devils when he made 27 appearances as the club finished in fourth position but Wright has only appeared in a further 24 games for Paul Rowley’s side in his other three seasons combined. Injury prone as well as average.  We have Jake Wingfield for that. Perhaps we should take solace in the fact that rumours have cooled around the possible arrival of Oli Partington.

Martin’s Escape

Martin could have been red carded for his recklessness but was spared by referee Chris Kendall and his cohort video referee Jack Smith.  It looked lenient but you can’t accuse them of inconsistency within this 80 minutes.  George Delany also saw yellow for a similarly dangerous high shot on Eribe Doro 15 minutes later.  It seems that lessons are yet to be learned by Delaney who narrowly escaped a red card just a couple of weeks ago when he thundered his shoulder into the head of Lachlan Walmsley at Wakefield.  Discipline is going to be a big key in the playoffs at the end of the season and the young prop is developing into something of a liability in that area. Indeed, the penalties conceded by Joe Batchelor and Daryl Clark in particular proved particularly costly in this one.  It’s endemic.

A Proud Record Continues

Even in defeat Saints secured their place in the end of season knockout games.  Hull FC’s 34-0 meltdown against Leeds Rhinos confirmed Wellens’ side’s top six place regardless of what happens across the final three rounds of the regular season.  It means that Saints remain the only team never to have missed a playoff series since the concept was reintroduced in 1998.  It’s a proud record but one which has raised expectations to the point where merely qualifying is barely even celebrated.  It is never going to be good enough for most fans, especially if you achieve it with some of the most mind-numbing rugby league on show anywhere in the division.  The only tangible goals are to win either the League Leaders Shield, the Challenge Cup or the Grand Final.  Otherwise you are trending locally on Twitter. 

Only one of those prizes remains on the table and the task now is to finish as high as possible to provide the best opportunity to get back to Old Trafford for the first time since 2022.  That’s complicated not only by the visit of Wigan this week and the Knowles injury, but also by an upcoming trip to Leigh on September 12.  Adrian Lam’s side jumped above Saints over the weekend with their one side stroll over Castleford Tigers and won 16-4 in St Helens in mid-July.  Saints have not won at Leigh since the Leopards returned to Super League in 2023.  There aren’t a whole load of reasons to think that they will start now. 

Holding On To Hope

And so somehow we retain hope.  Hope for this weekend against our friends from over the lump and hope of another Old Trafford appearance. For many the lack of belief in the side’s potential to win another Super League title won’t stop them believing that Saints can beat Wigan.  Some buy wholesale into the form book thrown out of the window metaphor.  The great paradox is that while few believe we can and will win the title there are a good number who will still retain a firm belief that we can beat both sides from the borough of Wigan.  Saints defence will probably ensure that pride remains intact but just don’t have the firepower – and not just at halfback - to get over the top of Matty Peet’s side if they are at their best. Mercifully, they are not in the greatest form of their lives at the moment. 

As it stands fifth is feeling more likely than third.  That would likely see us travel to Leigh or Leeds in the first playoff round.  If history is anything to go by you would probably rather go to Leeds from a Saints point of view.  Either is…well…a bit of a long shot.

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