You would struggle for adjectives to describe this Saints non-performance. Well I can offer you a couple. Paul Rowley's side went down 30-10 at Castleford after a quite unforgivable and inept display. At least Rowley was honest enough to admit later that there are no positives.
With the greatest of respect Castleford aren't the best side in the world but they were leagues ahead of Saints in this one. They were more cohesive, more physical but more disciplined and more desperate. They fully deserved this win which denied Saints a return to the top of the Super League table. Somehow Saints are still third, which feels like the greatest example of a false position since Milli Vanilli won the Grammy for Best New Artist in 1990.
Rowley sprang a couple of surprises with his team selection. Harry Robertson has a slight quad injury but Mark Percival featured for the first time since Saints were hammered 52-10 at Hull KR in March. Kyle Feldt was omitted, meaning starts for all of Owen Dagnall, Deon Cross and Lewis Murphy across the three-quarter line. Noah Stephens returned to the bench but Jake Davies had to be content with a role as 18th man.
Percival was switched from his normal left centre berth to the right while Dagnall followed suit on the wing. This didn't help with cohesion and continuity even if the regular right edge of Feldt and Robertson hasn't exactly been devastating so far this year. Yet it's the inability to fit all of Jack Welsby, Tristan Sailor and Jackson Hastings into the team coherently which is probably the biggest source of consternation.
Not so very long ago a straw poll among the fans would have suggested that Welsby is indisputably the best fullback in the club. Possibly the league. Not only that, but with Mbye trusted implicitly at halfback Sailor was superfluous. He couldn't play fullback, it was said, because he couldn't tackle the proverbial fish supper. He wasn't imposing himself when he played at 6 either. He was shunted to the wing by former coach Paul Wellens as an uneasy compromise.
One lengthy Welsby injury and the introduction of Jackson Hastings later and the consensus is that Sailor is in the Man Of Steel conversation at fullback. It is Welsby who is now not pulling his weight. A club legend before his 20th birthday, Welsby now cuts a moody, frustrated figure as he tries to impose himself on the team once more.
Some fans have called for his omission from the 17 and even advocated letting him leave. While it's true your past achievements don't guarantee your future - I'm looking at you Mo Salah - it seems something of a nuclear option to consider cutting loose the finest back division talent we have produced since Gary Connolly. Rowley needs to solve this three-pronged puzzle quickly.
He might be helped in that endeavour in the short term following the news that Hastings has picked up a two-match ban. The former Wigan man was found guilty of a dangerous throw and will sit out the visit to Leeds Rhinos on June 4 and the home game against Warrington a week later. With no game this weekend due to the Challenge Cup final Hastings won't play again at least until Saints face Huddersfield Giants on June 21.
This may bring George Whitby back into the equation. The 20 year-old was recently loaned to Salford in the Championship but could come back into contention for at least a place on the bench at Leeds. He could start, but Rowley has shown a willingness to prefer Jonny Lomax that was beginning to evaporate under Wellens. Whichever of Lomax and Whitby takes the Hastings role one of Welsby or Sailor will need to figure out how to play stand-off.
I have often questioned fans' demand for young local talent to be included. I think we have a tendency to consider any players who break through to be permanently established. But we have seen with some of Whitby's performances and the arguable developmental stalling of George Delaney that it is more nuanced. But I share the fans' bewilderment about the continued omission of Jake Davies.
Davies made his first team debut in a narrow win over this same opposition last September. When Rowley assumed the coaching hot seat it seemed that Davies was very much part of his plans. After facing Cas again in mid-March he featured in every game until the Challenge Cup semi final defeat by Wigan. He scored tries in four consecutive appearances. He runs intelligent lines, has pace for a back rower and has genuinely added something when he has featured.
He's not the finished article and I'm not joining the crowd by anointing another youngster before his time. But there is a good argument that he's worth a place ahead of the game but underwhelming Matt Whitley or the solid but hardly impactful Shane Wright. Shite to Wright notwithstanding. Davies could even feature at 13 ahead of Joe Shorrocks. Even if you only have him on the bench he should be an option in the current climate. We're not good enough to leave out players who have shown form. Especially when we persist with plodders who haven't.
On which subject we are arguably a plodder down after it was announced that Agnatius Paasi has left the club. It hasn't been explicitly spelled out but the Tongan's exit seems linked to Saints' pursuit of Canterbury Bulldogs forward Daniel Suluka-Fifita. But before you get too excited take note - Suluka-Fifita is currently most kindly described as being on the fringes of the Bulldogs first team. It's probably an upgrade, but only because Paasi has regressed so alarmingly since John Asiata wrecked his knee in the 2023 Challenge Cup semi final.
What's not in doubt is that help is required. Walmsley continues to carry the load when it comes to gaining field position through the forwards. That's a situation which - as long as it continues - almost makes the debate about who plays in the key skill positions behind them irrelevant. Stephens is starting to impose his will on games at this level but he sustained yet another head injury and faces another spell on the sidelines. It's been suggested that he needs a bit of tuition on his tackling technique for his own safety.
Aside from those two it's questionable what the others are offering at the moment. David Klemmer has had solid games but looks about as much like a former Kangaroo as a butterfly looks like a former caterpillar. His ambling style can make him look disinterested, a suspicion which only grows when your pack is being dominated by Ryan Carr's mob.
Meanwhile Shorrocks - after putting in a few decent performances - has reverted to the player that Wigan couldn't find room for. It doesn't help him that he is seen as a direct replacement for Morgan Knowles. Which is like when A Question Of Sport replaced its sports star team captains with Sam Quek and Paddy McGuinness.
This visit to the OneBore was an experience to which the word chastening offers no justice. It was an embarrassment. It wasn't like Saints had equal possession and territory but couldn't execute. They couldn't get out of their own half at times. It was way, way short of the standards expected by Saints in the summer era. It's little wonder fans are starting to worry about direction of travel.
The truth is that this performance brutally exposed the fact that Saints are not really the third best team in the country or anything close to it. Matches against Toulouse, York and Wakefield earlier in the season showed that Saints have a weakness for failing to sustain performance for 80 minutes. This one showed what happens if the performance never gets going in the first place.
Following the current trajectory should not be an option.
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