At the end of a turbulent week - and with an injury list that reads more like the closing credits of an episode of Game of Thrones - it was always going to be a big ask to win at in-form Wigan.
Paul Rowley's reign as Saints head coach came to an abrupt conclusion less than 48 hours before kickoff. Assistant Eamon O'Carroll stepped into the void and oversaw a performance which was dotted with positives despite a 38-16 loss.
Given the absence of 15 first team players there weren't that many selection decisions for O'Carroll to make. He opted to restore Lewis Murphy to the starting lineup despite Jack Campbell's two-try debut in the win over Catalans Dragons last week. Nene Macdonald seems to have at least a week off after every appearance and so he missed out along with back rower Curtis Sironen.
A centre pairing of Jake Davies and Tristan Sailor would not have been envisaged at the start of the season. It was Rowley who shifted Sailor last time out when he could also call on Macdonald. It has largely helped to make Saints' attack look more balanced as it has allowed Harry Robertson to move to stand-off. It lets one of our brightest talents get his hands on the ball more often. It has done similar for fullback Jack Welsby. The two showed enough here to suggest that they and the Saints attack can both prosper in this system.
Murphy endured a difficult evening. He did score one of Saints' three tries but it was telling that his reaction was more of an apology for earlier errors than a show of celebration. The game had gone by then so I wasn't expecting LMS levels of fist pumping histrionics. But there was definitely an air of 'sorry, I let you down' most likely as a result of some earlier dawdling in pursuit of a Bevan French kick which allowed Adam Keighran to get to the ball first and touch down.
He wasn't the only one who struggled defensively. Even in a tight first half it was evident that the pack was taking a bit of a pummelling. It wasn't so much missed tackles or even the sleepiness of Murphy which gave most cause for concern. It was the amount of territory given up because of poor contact. When a textbook pudding like Patrick Mago is rolling you down the field you can be fairly certain there's an issue there.
Mago took us for 108 metres and that tally was bettered by Ethan Havard who managed 138. Kaide Ellis and Sam Walters were only a couple of metres shy of the century mark while some splitter named Thompson had 86. Contrast that with the best effort from the Saints pack which was the 73 mustered by Jacob Host.
Despite this, Saints had hung in very well and could, perhaps should have reached the break level. Jackson Hastings sent the ball skyward toward the Wigan line where Robertson was first to it. He seemed to catch it cleanly and ground the ball as he landed. On field referee Liam Moore thought so and pointed for the try.
However, that's not the end of the story these days. We have to do everything the NRL does which now extends to making our video review system even more intolerable. When a try is given it can still be reviewed in the background. It is not usually until the conversion is being lined up that you get the signal from the referee that this one is being looked at for a potential problem. Next - if it is your team which has been awarded the score - comes a sinking feeling before one of inevitability and something else between despair and fury.
Video referee - Wigan's Jack Smith because one Wigan whistler is never enough - decided that the ball had never reached the ground. I absolutely concede that replays did not prove that Robertson had scored. But nor did they prove that he didn't. What happened to the concept of sufficient evidence to overturn? I'm not one for conspiracy theories but if the authorities continue to appoint Wigan officials to derbies and other Wigan games then they can expect the innuendos to continue.
Where I think the argument has been taken too far is in the idea that the result would have been any different had the try been awarded. Such claims are reminiscent of England fans circa 2010. They felt that the denial of Frank Lampard's effort against Germany at that year's World Cup could have ended however many years of hurt it had been at that point. England lost the game 4-1. They might have lost it 4-2 had goal line technology existed at that time.
Saints were dominated for large parts of the second half. Not because they had a try harshly disallowed by a man in a booth wearing his Norweb shirt, but because this is where we are now. Even a full strength Saints pack has shown this year that it is no longer elite. This group has been cobbled together with a couple of mid season signings and one or two youth products. What genuine class remains from 8-13 was sat in the stands. Without that platform it becomes impossible even for the likes of Robertson and Welsby to do what they do.
The consequence of all this is that with seven games to go in the regular season Saints are out of the top six. Not only that, but those last seven fixtures include matchups with league leaders Leeds, champions Hull KR, playoff regulars Leigh and upstart Wakefield Trinity. It's going to take a monumental effort to preserve that record of having never missed a playoff series in the Super League era. It's not looking all that likely.
But what is perhaps more important now is how Rowley is replaced. Most people said it would take years to recover from the worst days of Kieron Cunningham's spell in charge. Then Justin Holbrook turned up and got us within minutes of the unlikeliest of Grand Final appearances. Then he brought in Ben Barba and that disconnect that everyone talks about when we're losing disappeared into the ether. The right coaching appointment can be transformative.
But if Rowley was sacked then that means Mr McManus, Mr Ekoku et al got that appointment wrong. They have to get this one right.
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