Saints will return to Super League action this week after a catastrophic Challenge Cup semi final shellacking by Wigan which demands introspection.
Paul Rowley's side visit Huddersfield on Thursday night (May 14) sitting second in the Super League table after 10 rounds. But given the chasm between Wigan and Saints last week it is hard to avoid wondering whether we are in a false position.
Saints have won eight and lost only two of those first 10 league matches. Those defeats came at Warrington on the opening day and at Hull KR the week before Easter. Suggestions of flat track bullying are tempting, but we have also beaten both Leigh and Wigan at home and won in France twice.
The difficulty now is that a win over a struggling Giants side won't answer the question about where Saints really sit in the league's hierarchy. Are we a rung below the three sides that have beaten us in league and cup, or is a tilt at the Grand Final still a realistic proposition? Was it ever that in the first year under a new coach and some hopeful recruitment?
On the flip side of that the game still has high stakes. Defeat is unthinkable . Not only because it might trump last week's embarrassment if we were to lose to a side bottom of the pile with only two wins all season, but also because it would serve as further evidence that Saints' class of 2026 aren't up to it. There's little to gain but quite a bit to lose.
The hope to cling on to is that we haven't yet seen the best version of our team. Matty Lees was injured on the first tackle of the game last week and seems certain to miss the rest of the season. That's in keeping with the theme of absenteeism in the early going of this campaign.
Saints have suffered injury after injury so far. As well as Lees, Rowley is still without Mark Percival, Nene McDonald, Jake Wingfield, Jacob Host, Agnatius Paasi, Jake Burns and Curtis Sironen. Add Noah Stephens to that list this week. Wingfield won't be back this year but the others should all be viable options for Rowley to include in a match day 17.
One man returning from injury to provide a welcome boost is Jack Welsby. The England international has been dogged with injuries over the last two seasons. Perceived wisdom was that he came back too early last year. Initially ruled out for 16 weeks he actually missed only around 10 before featuring in a 52-4 home pasting of this week's opponents in August.
This year he dislocated a shoulder in the opening night defeat at Warrington and was only reintroduced for the visit of York at the start of May. His most recent absence has coincided with Tristan Sailor's excellent recent form. Slotting in at 6 against Wigan, Welsby should have improved our creativity but the cohesion between him, Sailor and Jackson Hastings just wasn't there.
Many have framed this as a permanent decline in the effectiveness of the 25 year-old Welsby. Fan whispers suggest a moodiness from going back to when Kristian Woolf left the club over three years ago. That's difficult to be sure of and even more difficult to interpret. What's not in doubt is that we have seen him play better.
But we are also only a year on from fan wisdom suggesting that Sailor couldn't cut it and should be the one to make way for Welsby. Paul Wellens agreed, often shunting Sailor to the wing. And this was before Jackson Hastings arrived when the halfback alternative to George Whitby was Moses Mbye. It would surprise nobody if the narrative shifted back in favour of Welsby soon. His class is permanent.
Of more concern to me than Welsby's form is the balance elsewhere in the squad. When everyone is fit there's a good case that Mark Percival and Nene McDonald would be Rowley's preferred starting centre partnership. Not necessarily mine, but Rowley's. Percival signed a deal to the end of 2027 recently but has only made three appearances this term. The last of those was that trouncing by Hull KR in March.
McDonald has been similarly unreliable since arriving from Salford with the rest of Rowley's band. He has managed six appearances but they haven't been anything like the impactful displays we saw from him in a Red Devils shirt. All of which has left Harry Robertson to continue at centre. When considering Percival in particular you can't help but be reminded of the recent one year deal given to Konrad Hurrell who then went on loan and made no more appearances for Saints.
The plus side to the loss of Percival and McDonald is that it means one of the league's best young talents in Robertson continues to get game time. His future is in the spine according to most observers but you wouldn't bet much on Rowley inserting him into that already crowded department just at the moment.
The pack also throws up questions. Notwithstanding the loss of Lees so early in the Wigan game the group started to struggle as it wore on. This is arguably a natural consequence of having to play more minutes. But Alex Walmsley's is ageing and needs managing despite signing for another year, while Daryl Clark doesn't have adequate backup at hooker if Bill Leyland is not around.
Curtis Sironen has only made four appearances this term and none since mid-March. The three-year deal handed to Joe Shorrocks just 10 games into his Saints career is arguably unearned. It might be a statement from new CEO Abi Ekoku about getting things done but it still feels like the club tightening its belt. All of which points to a lot of responsibility on Stephens in the long term. His loss this week further impacts Rowley's options. His decision to omit Jake Davies last week in favour of another Salford staple in Shane Wright was distinct lead balloon territory. It was the decision of someone reaching for a safety net over trust in form.
For what feels like the first time since he replaced Wellens, Rowley is facing genuine scrutiny. But we may not get answers to our questions this week. Nevertheless, the risk is palpable.
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