Totally ignoring my piece last week about their recruitment for 2026, Saints have made another significant move with the arrival of Jackson Hastings.
The halfback - who will turn 30 before the new season gets underway - joins from Newcastle Knights after four seasons in the NRL. Yet it's his performances for Salford Red Devils and Wigan Warriors prior to 2022 which fans in this hemisphere will remember most. And which we must hope he can replicate in the red vee.
Hastings is a Steve Prescott Man Of Steel winner. That year - 2019 - he also led Salford to their only Super League Grand Final. He was on the losing side as Saints triumphed 23-6 at the start of their run of four Super League titles in a row. A year later he suffered the same fate at Wigan. Jack Welsby's glorious and frankly jaw-dropping late score lifted some of the Covid gloom but left Hastings empty handed once more.
Hastings possesses a number of qualities which have been sorely lacking for Saints in recent years. He can organise, has a good kicking game and the skills to take risks in possession and see them come off. It feels like an eternity since we've had the latter two in particular.
Remember how excited some fans got about Moses Mbye's ability to hoist a bomb? And if you're looking for a 7 who didn't mind taking on the line and managed it quite effectively you might have to go back to 2013-14 and a pre-ankle knack Luke Walsh.
However there are caveats. Whenever a player comes to Super League from the NRL there are caveats. They wouldn't be coming if everything was going swimmingly down under. Hastings made only five appearances in his final season with the Knights. He was largely frozen out by Head Coach Adam O'Brien.
The hope here is that players deemed not good enough for a poor NRL side can still be good enough for a top Super League team. That may ring true, but it might be fanciful to expect Salford era Hastings to rock up to the Brewdog. Yet we have often seen players considered past their best in the NRL become cult heroes in Super League. Lachlan Coote and Kevin Naiqama confounded early skepticism to become pivotal to Saints' success.
Hastings finds himself among our number now. But his acquisition looks to have crowded an already congested halfback group. Head Coach Paul Rowley might have a plan. And he won't have acquired an NRL half to see him sit in the stand. But with Jonny Lomax, Tristan Sailor, George Whitby, Jack Welsby and Harry Robertson all in the frame for two halfback and one fullback slot, there's some options on the table to discuss.
On the subject of players maybe not reaching earlier heights the capture of Hastings throws up questions about the future of Lomax. Fans have long been calling for the skipper to be replaced as his ageing, battered body prevents him from contributing to anything like his peak level.
It almost happened last season. Paul Wellens benched his captain at Magic Weekend, only to view the 17-4 defeat to Leeds as evidence that he needed him. He was never nudged out of the 17 for the rest of the season. Meanwhile Whitby - who had been enjoying a run of form since being introduced to the side - did not feature in the first team after the middle of July.
Lomax is 35 now and entering the final year of his contract. It's possible that new boss Rowley will be less sentimental about him than we might have expected his old teammate Wellens to be. It's equally possible that Lomax - a club legend weighed down with winners' medals in a 378-game Saints career - will be allowed to bow out on his own terms. There's precedent. Few would argue now that James Roby was relied on for a season or two longer than was good for anyone.
It's not only the older citizens who may be impacted. If Whitby seemed a little marginalised by Wellens last term he now looks even further away from a starting spot. But he's 19 years old. If he's good enough his time should still come. Another season on loan won't please him but it will get him valuable experience above youth or reserve level. Or Rowley might keep him around as cover and to gain experience occasionally while others rest for a week.
The counter argument to that is that he needs more first team experience now to prevent him from stagnating. After all, he had begun to establish himself until Wellens had a change of heart and sent him to Halifax.
It's true that first team experience could help him learn and develop quicker. Yet those who fiercely advocate it are usually the most scathing when inexperience starts to get expensive for the team. There were howls for Lewis Dodd to be included long before Kristian Woolf let him loose.
Twelve months later the idea that Dodd wasn't all that after all was ubiquitous among the fan base. Few tears were shed when he made the implausible move to South Sydney. Hastings' deal is only for one year at this stage. The timing could be perfect for Whitby if neither Hastings or Lomax are around in 2027.
It's reasonable to assume that a fair chunk of salary cap money is finding its way into the pocket of Tristan Sailor. He arrived from Brisbane at the start of 2025 amid some fanfare. But he's not convinced everyone of his value. I am personally an advocate for his inclusion in the side because he has pace, the one commodity we were pitifully short of throughout the Wellens tenure. But where does he fit in?
He has never convinced as a genuine 6 and was shunted around by Wellens. He played a lot of fullback when Welsby was out injured, but was often shoehorned onto the wing when Saints' talisman returned. Rowley may be tempted to try him again at stand-off now that he'll be playing alongside a more rounded and experienced halfback. There are plenty of stand-offs who are predominantly ball runners, not ball handlers. We may no longer need Sailor to morph into Sean Long.
Some would leave Sailor in the wilderness until his contract expires. Or try and get someone else in to replace him on the cap if not directly on the field. We could use a quality centre. Indeed there has been talk of Jake Averillo arriving from Woolf's Dolphins. To which it is tempting to respond that the 25 year-old is the wrong centre to sign from that club. But if that doesn't happen or Sailor is retained anyway he could still be an important figure for Rowley.
If a starting centre arrives then there will likely be a change of circumstances for Harry Robertson. The 21 year-old academy product could be moved to stand-off. Many people - among them highly decorated former Man of Steel turned Sky Sports pundit Sam Tomkins - believe stand-off is his best position. Tomkins went so far as to say that Robertson is 'wasted' at centre.
Ignoring the paranoid conspiracy theory that Wigan legend Tomkins might not want what's best for Saints, he's probably someone worth listening to. It takes one to know one, they say. A great stand-off, that is. But if Sailor stays and is given a shot at 6 and then Averillo turns up Robertson could yet be the odd man out. Yet if Averillo's arrival is dependent on Sailor's premature exit then Robertson becomes the prime candidate to play alongside Hastings in the halves.
You can like these permutations or not but you would have to agree that the halfback combination looks like being stronger than it was when it was occupied by Mbye. A minor gripe might be that a one-year deal doesn't show massive faith in the new man. It's not evidence of long term thinking. But it may just be something which ultimately protects both parties.
Quite what happens if none of Hastings, Lomax nor Sailor are around in 2027 is another question. The popular solution is to combine Robertson with Whitby in a youthful and dynamic partnership. But even they will need backup options. Saints could still find themselves halfback shopping again this time next year.
I think we have seen that there are risks to bringing in a 30 year-old who has lost his way in recent seasons, albeit in a tougher environment. But we have also covered the potential benefits. The options it gives to Rowley in the halves and the potential for those already at the club to improve.
Many of us are already more optimistic than at this time last year. Or at any time during 2025 when only the real happy clappers insisted we could compete with the top sides.
What do you think of the acquisition of Hastings? Does an exciting new season await or is it an ex-Salford character too far. Let me know...
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