Leeds Rhinos v Saints - Preview

Before they can think about Wembley Saints have the mild irritant of a visit to Leeds Rhinos to negotiate on Thursday night (August 15, kick-off 7.45pm).

If you want a metaphor for this game then it’s probably a stag do. Something which convention and tradition dictates you have to endure, the main aim being to get through to the main event without in this case the rugby league equivalent of being left tied naked to a tree in the Forest Of Dean. Saints don’t need the points having wrapped up the League Leaders Shield almost two weeks ago. Meanwhile Leeds’ own need is reduced by their recent upturn in form which has seen them blast both Huddersfield Giants and Catalans Dragons off the park in their last two outings. They no longer look like a side contemplating relegation to the Championship. A win here will all but guarantee their presence in Super League in 2020.



Team selection has been a topic of much-debate among the Saints faithful since it has become apparent that Warrington were no longer interested in offering a genuine challenge for the league leadership. How do you strike that balance between protecting players for Wembley and the playoff games ahead and making sure that they remain sharp enough to perform at their best when called upon? It has been a tricky conundrum for coach Justin Holbrook and he has once again made a couple of changes to his squad to add to the injury problems which already existed in the camp.

First the positive news. Morgan Knowles could return to action after missing the last three with a rib injury. His potential comeback is timely given the fact that Joseph Paulo limped out of last week’s win over the plane-fancying Wolves with a hamstring problem. What is more surprising is that another of Knowles’ deputies Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook is not included in the 19-man party for this one. Now I would love to tell you that this is because Holbrook has seen the light over the former London Bronco, finally realising that without a salary cap in place McCarthy-Scarsbrook would be no nearer to a Saints shirt than I am to becoming Chancellor Of The Exchequer. Yet the unavoidable truth is somewhat different. The likelihood is that McCarthy-Scarsbrook is just enjoying a rest. He is one of the few players who regularly features in the match day 17 who has not yet been stood down by Holbrook without being injured. The jig is up for me and my fellow LMS nay-sayers. McCarthy-Scarsbrook is an absolute shoe-in for the squad on cup final day.



Elsewhere Lachlan Coote remains out of action so Jack Welsby may get the chance to build on his impressive displays of late at fullback. If he does he will sit behind a three-quarter line of Tommy Makinson, Kevin Naiqama, Mark Percival and Regan Grace. Percival missed the win over Warrington - managing to do so without anybody at Sky TV noticing - but looks set for a return here. Theo Fages was another who did not feature against the Wolves but is included. He may battle with Danny Richardson for the halfback slot alongside Jonny Lomax, or else both may play with Lomax shifted to fullback at the expense of Welsby. There are those who would advocate that arrangement for the simple reason that this side needs a goal-kicker, and that means Richardson has to be accommodated somewhere as long as Coote is unavailable.

Alex Walmsley remains out with an eye injury which all of St.Helens will be hoping is just a precautionary measure ahead of Wembley. In the meantime it means another likely start for Matty Lees alongside Luke Thompson at prop forward. James Roby has not been brought back into the fold this week - again all available digits are crossed that this is a protective measure on the part of Holbrook - so look for Aaron Smith and James Bentley to once again perform the number nine duties by committee. They managed this to great effect against Steve Price's side last week to the extent that, if the worst happens and Roby is ruled out of the cup final, we should not worry about either of this pair filling the void.

One area where Saints seem stable and where there has been a good deal less tinkering going on is in the second row where Zeb Taia and Dominique Peyroux continue to rule the roost. Joe Batchelor has been included in the 19 this week and could feature for the first time since that controversial and unspeakable defeat at London in July but his cup final aspirations are tempered somewhat by the suspicion that the Sainted Louie is merely being wrapped in cotton wool for next week.

And so to Leeds who under Richard Agar are starting to resemble…..well…….Leeds. Those victories over the Giants and Dragons were achieved in some style and they have allowed the Rhinos to open up a four-point gap between themselves and the bottom-placed London Broncos as the games run out and posteriors begin to make funny squeaking noises. Agar is without Tom Briscoe who was helped off during the win over Huddersfield, while Brad Singleton is suspended having been dismissed in the win over Catalans last time out. Briscoe could be replaced by his brother Luke, while Nathaniel Peteru, James Donaldson, Ava Seumanufagai and Adam Cuthbertson are among the options at Agar’s disposal to cover the whole in the middle left by Singleton.

Stevie Ward is included too. If the game is notable for nothing else it may well be remembered as one of the rare occasions that the talented forward made of balsa wood actually stepped on to a rugby league field. Trent Merrin will lead the Rhinos and he, along veteran spoiler Brett Ferres, are likely to get more minutes in the back row than Ward. Brad Dwyer has a surname to endear him to Saints fans but a tendency to shred any lazy defenders at marker which will not. When he isn’t at you then former Huddersfield and Hull KR veteran Shaun Lunt might well be.

In the backs Jack Walker’s reputation at fullback grows with each passing week, while Konrad Hurrell has been terrorising defences on one leg if you believe some of the comments coming out of the Leeds club over the last fortnight. He will certainly give Makinson and Naiqama all they can handle if the mood takes him, at least until his rather questionable stamina levels reduce him to being asked by a passing steward whether or not he has bought a ticket to be inside Headingley. On the other flank Briscoe will be helped out by the raw talent that is Harry Newman and/or the not inconsiderable presence that is the recently acquired goal-kicking bruiser Rhyse Martin.



Robert Lui and Richie Myler are improving as a halfback pair since the former’s arrival in a deal that saw the much-maligned Tui Lolohea head for Salford, while Ash Handley is in rich try-scoring form. Saints fans need no reminder of his propensity to plonk the ball down over the whitewash against any opponent brazen enough to turn up wearing a red vee. Liam Sutcliffe and Cameron Smith complete Agar’s 19-man selection.

Loop fixtures are so marvellous that this will be the third occasion on which the Saints and Rhinos have met this season. This is tedious overkill, especially if like me you cannot approach a game against the Headingley side without thinking of the countless Grand Final defeats we suffered at their hands during what some misguided souls refer to as ‘the noughties’. They are a blue and amber nightmare to the Saints fan of a certain age and the fact that they are improving faster than Lance Armstrong after a blood transfusion is of no comfort whatsoever. On the flip side of that they have not beaten Saints in either of the two previous meetings this season, going down 27-22 at St Helens in late February despite taking a 22-10 lead into half-time, and 36-10 when they returned to Merseyside in June.

To return to the strangled stag do analogy the main thing is to keep our main players, the men who will be the key to lifting the Challenge Cup next week, away from that imagined tree in the Forest Of Dean minus their attire. We just have to get through this unscathed. The business of winning and losing is almost secondary. That said, the make-up of Saints’ squad is strong enough to suggest that they can go to Wembley on the back of what would be a 23rd victory in 26 regular season league matches. Saints by 18.

Squads;

Leeds Rhinos;

1. Jack Walker, 4. Knonrad Hurrell, 5. Ash Handley, 7. Richie Myler, 8. Adam Cuthbertson, 11. Trent Merrin, 13. Stevie Ward, 14. Brad Dwyer, 15. Liam Sutcliffe, 16. Brett Ferres, 18. Nathaniel Peteru, 22. Cameron Smith, 24. Luke Briscoe, 25. James Donaldson, 29. Harry Newman, 38. Ava Seumanufagai, 39. Shaun Lunt, 40. Robert Lui, 41. Rhyse Martin.

St Helens;

1. Jonny Lomax, 2. Tommy Makinson, 3. Kevin Naiqama, 4. Mark Percival, 5. Regan Grace, 6. Theo Fages, 7. Danny Richardson, 10. Luke Thompson, 11. Zeb Taia, 15. Morgan Knowles, 16. Kyle Amor, 17. Dom Peyroux, 19. Matty Lees, 20. Jack Ashworth, 21. Aaron Smith, 22. James Bentley, 24. Matty Costello, 25. Joe Batchelor, 29. Jack Welsby.

5 Talking Points From Warrington Wolves 12 Saints 30

A Phoney War

If you could stand to listen to more than a minute of the commentary on Saints’ 30-12 win over Warrington on Thursday night you would have got the impression that the result was merely a question of available personnel. The narrative was very much one of plucky, injury-ravaged Warrington having to duke it out against the league-leading, all-conquering Saints. Won’t somebody think of the Wolves? Those poor, poor Wolves....



The reality of course is that both sides were depleted. While Daryl Clark, Mike Cooper, Blake Austin, Tom Lineham, Josh Charnley and Declan Patton were among those not featuring for Steve Price’s side it should be remembered that Justin Holbrook was without several of his stars too. Would plucky, injury-ravaged Warrington have rather faced a Saints side featuring Lachlan Coote, Mark Percival, Theo Fages, Alex Walmsley, James Roby and Morgan Knowles? No doubt both Price and Holbrook rested players who could have played had there been more riding on the result. Warrington’s loss in Perpignan last week wrapped the League Leaders Shield up in a large, colourful bow for Saints. For Wire, a top three finish will bring with it the prized second opportunity in the play-offs but even in defeat here that is still in their own hands. Maybe, just maybe, the focus of both sides is on a certain meeting in the capital.

There was nothing wrong with the commitment of either side on the night. Those who were selected for duty turned up and gave everything for their side. But in reality this was a phoney war, a walk-through ahead of the big one under the arch on August 24. The idea that Price’s side have scored some sort of psychological blow by managing to stay reasonably competitive with Saints over the 80 minutes is plainly absurd.

Welsby Would Not Let Us Down At Wembley

In his post-match interview Holbrook seemed fairly confident that Coote will be available for the Challenge Cup Final. The Scotland international has missed the last four since playing in the win over Wigan on July 12, but will slot right back into his familiar fullback role if and when he is fit. Coote has been magnificent this season. He could be leading the way in the Steve Prescott Man Of Steel race if the new voting system did not punish players from teams with an array of top performers by spreading the points out thinly among them. Coote has single-handedly banished the painful memories of the denouement of the Ben Barba Experience as Saints have arguably become even stronger in 2019 than they were a year ago.

Yet if for some reason Coote were to miss out at Wembley we need not fret about how to fill the void. Jack Welsby has only played eight times for Saints but is looking more and more assured every time he pulls on the red vee. He is just 18 years old, but he fulfils his duties as the last line of defence in a manner which belies that lack of experience and maturity. Crucially, he has been able to execute the devastating set-plays which often go through Coote near to the opponents’ line. Welsby produced two sublime assists in last week’s win over Wakefield and was at it again here in what for me was a man of the match display. He had the last pass to create tries for Kevin Naiqama, Matty Costello and Tommy Makinson. Defensively he wasn’t overworked in terms of tackles - not surprising playing behind this Saints defensive line – but when the line was broken he stood firm at vital times. Ben Murdoch-Masila had one rampaging burst down the right hand channel during the second half and as one or two other Saints flapped and grabbed desperately at the former Salford man it was Welsby who stopped him in his tracks and held him up until the help arrived. The score-line might suggest that it was not a match-winning incident but had Warrington scored at that point they may have had some belief that they could fight their way back into the game. As it was they were snuffed out by Saints brilliant young star.

In all probability Welsby will miss out at Wembley but he has shown already in his brief Saints career that his time looks set to arrive sooner rather than later.

Smith And Bentley Fill The Void

One of those thought not worthy of risk in this one was Roby. Any time the Saints skipper has had anything resembling a knock he has been rested by Holbrook this year. This seems like prudent management of a player entering his 34th year, 15 or so of which have been spent terrorising Super League defences. Holbrook recognises that we need Roby for the very biggest games. It hasn’t quite reached Sean O’Loughlin proportions just yet but there is no doubt we are starting to see a lot less of the great man than was once the case.

Which you would think would be a problem. Following on from Roby and before him Keiron Cunningham it is the stuff of pure fantasy to believe that we could be blessed with yet another number nine of that quality. They don’t grow on a tree in Sherdley Park. Yet just as we look in safe hands whenever Coote is unavailable so we are finding ways to fill the void left by Roby’s increasing absences. Aaron Smith and James Bentley appear to be doing the hooking role by committee, and both were outstanding in this win. True, they did not have to contend with Warrington’s own world class hooker in Clark, but their work rate, endeavour, confidence and no lack of skill shone through brightly.



Bentley was monstrous in defence, coming up with 38 tackles while Smith wasn’t far behind him with 32 of his own. Both are quick distributors from dummy half while Smith also managed to scoot out from that position on three occasions, keeping the defence honest while averaging just under 9 metres per carry. Neither made a handling error all night, and it is this reliability that could be huge for Saints in the final throes of this campaign. Like Welsby, one or both of these two are in danger of missing out at Wembley. Saints have a squad that is so strong that if everyone is fit there would be no stamping of feet, whaling or gnashing of teeth from most fans if the names of Smith and Bentley were not in the 17 on cup final day. It would be taken for what it is, a demonstration of the depth at Holbrook's disposal. But they too have time on their side and on this evidence can look forward to long and successful careers in the red vee.

Amor’s Party Piece

As the competition for places in that Wembley 17 gets ever hotter, Kyle Amor was another one not so much stating his case but standing up and shouting it very loudly in the manner of a preacher on a Las Vegas street corner. The former Wakefield man has been in and out of the side under Holbrook’s stewardship. That's largely because Luke Thompson has emerged as one of the world’s premier front rowers alongside the already formidable Alex Walmsley. With the latter absent here it offered Amor another chance to show what he can do and although much maligned by many it seems that the interestingly barneted Cumbrian still has something to offer.



Amor ran for 125 metres on 13 carries in this one, an average of almost 10 metres per carry. Yet it was his searing break and assist for Joseph Paulo’s try which was the crowning glory of his performance. Picking the ball up around half-way Amor crashed through the hapless effort of a bewildered Luis Johnson before surging into the Wire backfield like a recently escaped Rhino at Whipsnade. He then had the presence of mind to find the supporting Paulo on his inside who went over untouched to help put Saints firmly in command of the match. The pair celebrated wildly, and amid the commotion Paulo managed to damage a hamstring and played no further part in the game. Yet it was a glimpse of what both can do and along with another trademark Tommy Makinson flying finish it was without doubt the most spectacular, Saintsy moment of what was on the whole a professional performance not exactly littered with standout moments.

Amor also came up with a creditable 18 tackles on defence but the one black mark against him was his ball control. He managed three handling errors including one absolute pearler for the ages when he suddenly mistook himself for a halfback and dropped the ball cold while preparing to spin a long ball out wide to one of the side’s many speed merchants. More conservatism will be the philosophy when the games get bigger but at a time when Amor has been written off as a little powder-puff and ineffectual by many it was heartening to see him turn on the style.

Second Is The New Mid Table

Warrington’s loss puts them a whopping 14 points behind Saints now with just four games to play until the end of the regular season. As an advocate of first-past-the-post I nevertheless find myself seeing the positives for the competition in having a playoff system and Grand Final to determine the champions. Without them all interest in the top end of the league would be done and dusted. Saints and many others before them have shown over the weekly rounds that they are far and away the best side in the league, but at least this system keeps the interest alive for a sport that unfortunately needs all the attention it can get.

The question is has the mediocrity gone too far with this structure? That 14-point gap between Saints and Warrington is exactly the same gap as that between the second-placed Wolves and the bottom club London Broncos. So Saints are as far ahead of Warrington as Warrington are ahead of London Broncos. Or if you want to put a positive spin on it, the league is so tight that bottom-placed London are as close to the runners-up spot as the runners-up are to the leaders. It strikes me as a sad indictment of the strength of the league but it depends very much on your perspective. What is not in dispute is that the main reason for it is consistency, or lack thereof. While the playoffs and Grand Final create excitement and opportunity they have also created an environment in which most clubs gave up on chasing down Saints months ago. A top three place, and with it a second chance in the playoffs, is the only priority left for the likes of Warrington, Hull FC, Wigan, Catalans Dragons and Castleford Tigers. For one or two of those clubs just scraping into the top five would be considered both a relief and a success.

All of which drives down standards and leaves us in a bit of limbo until the end of September. Apart from the Wembley date the games don’t matter too much for Saints, hence the willingness of Holbrook to rest many of his stars who might otherwise have played had the stakes been higher. Of course the flip side of that argument is that without the playoffs we would not even have that to look forward to. The season would be as good as over apart from the cup final. Like the equally manufactured top four scramble in Premier League football, the games involving the playoff-chasing clubs will be of interest between now and the end of the season. It is just that they are interesting for all the wrong reasons. Perhaps the teams currently jockeying for a position in behind Saints would have been motivated to find more consistency had the playoff safety net not been an option. We might even have had that rarest of beasts - a genuine title race run-in - to feast our eyes upon in late summer.

Warrington Wolves v Saints - Preview

Light your cigar, crack open a cold one from the fridge and sit off as Saints visit Warrington on Thursday night (August 8, kick-off 7.45pm).

The term ‘dead rubber’ could have been invented for this one. Saints have wrapped up the League Leaders Shield with fully five regular season games still to play. That’s because Warrington have imploded over the last month or so, and a look at their squad for this one suggests that they have decided that this isn’t a battle worth spilling any blood over with the Challenge Cup Final meeting between these two teams just two weeks away. In their desperate scramble to create a format that keeps interest alive the Super League great and good have instead created a laughable level of apathy. Both Warrington and Saints know that even if they don’t win another game in 2019 it won’t matter all that much provided they win either the Wembley showpiece or one playoff game and the Grand Final in October. Every minute does not matter. Not really.

Which is why it is slightly surprising that Saints coach Justin Holbrook has gone with about as much strength in his 19-man squad as possible. Lachlan Coote, Alex Walmsley and Morgan Knowles remain on the injured list and they are joined on the sidelines this week by a man plagued by that persistent menace, the slight niggle, in James Roby. However, the good news is that Jonny Lomax is back in the fold after missing last week’s 26-6 win over Wakefield Trinity while on paternity leave. He could slot back in as the last line of defence, while Regan Grace is also in contention again after he was absent last time out. He may replace Adam Swift in a three-quarter-line that also includes Kevin Naiqama and Mark Percival. With Lomax required at fullback Theo Fages and Danny Richardson should continue in the halves. Richardson was particularly impressive against Chris Chester’s side, scoring 14 points including a sensational individual try.

Luke Thompson leads the front row in the absence of both Walmsley and Roby, while Aaron Smith and James Bentley are the most likely options to deputise at hooker. Matty Lees should start again, with Zeb Taia and Dominique Peyroux continuing their second row partnership that has been devastating this year and which was reunited by Taia’s return from a shoulder injury last week. With Knowles still nursing a rib injury expect Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook or Joseph Paulo to start at loose forward with one or the other coming off the bench. That should leave two interchange spots available for Kyle Amor, Matty Costello, Jack Ashworth and Jack Welsby to fight over.

Warrington tickled the ribs of all Saints fans this week when they signed former Saint and one-time Wigan badge-necker Matty Smith as a desperate emergency replacement for the stricken Blake Austin. The former Canberra man went over on an ankle during his side’s tumultuous 30-10 defeat to Catalans Dragons last weekend and the suggestion is that his place in the side for Wembley is under some threat. Those of you old enough to remember Kris Radlinksi rising from the dead like Jesus Christ on EPO to star in Wigan’s 2002 Wembley win over Saints will no doubt be overcome with scepticism at the thought of Austin missing out. Yet with Kevin Brown having not played since the days of three-point tries and unlimited tackles and Declan Patton not named by coach Steve Price it looks fairly certain that Smith, who joined Wire yesterday from their weekend nemesis the Dragons, will slot in somewhere in the halves. At this stage Harvey Livett looks the likeliest candidate to join him, but don't forget this is the same Steve Price who recalled two players (including Livett) from a loan period at Hull KR just for shits and giggles recently. Don’t be surprised to see a few names from outside their declared squad list turning out come Thursday.

One of those will not be Jack Hughes, who suffered a horrific ruptured testicle in the battle of Perpignan, nor Tom Lineham who somehow was the only Warrington player to receive a suspension amid the mayhem. Luther Burrell, a recent and much trumpeted convert from rugby union, may get a start while the soon-to-be retired Bennie Westwood may be sent on one final demolition mission ahead of the rather more important clash between these two in a fortnight.

Stefan Ratchford was Radlinksi-like in coming back from a supposedly season-threatening injury to star in Warrington’s Challenge Cup semi-final win over Hull a couple of weeks ago and he may continue his reintegration into the side. Chris Hill, Bryson Goodwin, Ben Murdoch-Masila, Toby King and Ben Currie are the others who can reasonably call themselves a part of Warrington’s strongest 17 who are on duty for this one. But really, I can't emphasise enough that it is all guess work until someone tightens up the rules around pre-game squad selection and subsequent eligibility.

Warrington’s form has fallen further than Michael Jackson's popularity in recent weeks. They have not won in the league since beating London Broncos 36-6 on July 6, virtually handing the League Leaders Shield to Saints on the shiniest silver platter they could find. Losing is becoming a habit for them and if the make-up of the two sides on Thursday night resembles anything like the squad lists they have announced then don’t expect their bad run to end here. There is a good argument that they have bigger battles ahead but they are still taking something of a risk if they don't give this one their full attention. If they go in to their meeting with Wigan next week on the back of another defeat, their confidence dented even further, then their place in the top two or three of Super League starts to look a little shaky. Any finish outside the top three makes the road to Old Trafford that little bit trickier, and something to be avoided for Price’s side if it all possible.

Yet all available evidence is pointing towards another Saints win. Should that happen Warrington will be closer to the bottom of the table in terms of points earned than they will be to the top, which is embarrassing not only for them but for the whole of the competition. There’s a good reason why Wigan are fast becoming many people’s favourites to reach the Grand Final alongside Saints, and that is the sheer mediocrity of the competition they face.

Back to that cigar, then....

Squads;

Warrington Wolves;

Sitaleki Akauola, Luther Burrell, Ben Currie, Matt Davis, Riley Dean, Bryson Goodwin, Chris Hill, Luis Johnson, Toby King, Harvey Livett, Jake Mamo, Pat Moran, Ben Murdoch-Masila, Stefan Ratchford, Lama Tasi, Josh Thewlis, Danny Walker, Ben Westwood (+Matty Smith, probably)

St Helens;

1. Jonny Lomax, 2. Tommy Makinson, 3. Kevin Naiqama, 4. Mark Percival, 5. Regan Grace, 6. Theo Fages, 7. Danny Richardson, 10. Luke Thompson, 11. Zeb Taia, 12. Joseph Paulo, 13. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, 16. Kyle Amor, 17. Dom Peyroux, 19. Matty Lees, 20. Jack Ashworth, 21. Aaron Smith, 22. James Bentley, 24. Matty Costello, 29. Jack Welsby.
Referee: Ben Thaler

Keith Mason Special

Keith Mason is different. The 37-year-old former Saints and Wales prop forward is one of the most relentlessly positive people I have ever met. As regular visitors to this page or listeners to the WA12 Rugby League Show will know that approach is not my default setting. My glass is not only half empty, it’s been gobbed in by the teenage glass collector. I cringe when people take their ‘inspiration’ from me - a person who just happens to use a wheelchair and have a fairly angry kidney condition - going to the shops on my own, drinking in a bar or putting my chair in my car. All the awestruck responses I get to these sort of mundane activities are laughable inspiration porn from a public whose understanding of disability is so off beam it is almost Piers Morgan.

If you asked those people they’d probably guess that Keith hasn’t faced the same level of adversity that they perceive I do. But it is in how far Keith has travelled that we can perhaps take inspiration. He has gone from struggling just to keep out of trouble as a youngster in Dewsbury Moor - to being told by one of the game’s biggest star names that he would not make it at the highest level of rugby league - to the NRL - to Saints and to a Challenge Cup winners’ medal in 2004. It’s been quite the journey and it is by no means at an end. Keith went on to appear in movies after meeting Mickey Rourke at a Challenge Cup Final and is now embarking on a new venture, launching what is thought to be the world’s first rugby league based comic ‘Rugby Blood’.

“There’s quite a lot of good players from Dewsbury Moor.” He begins.

“When I was about six years old my mum introduced me to rugby league. As soon as I picked a ball up it was just in me. Growing up on a council estate was tough. It was a tough start for me. I didn’t have any male mentors in my life. I didn’t really know my old man until I was about 15 or 16 years old. So I had a stint, as many young kids do that don’t have a father figure, where I got into a bit of trouble. I was a bit of a wild child.”

But in playing rugby league thanks to his persuasive mum Keith had an opportunity.

“Rugby League was always my way out.” He admits.

“I’d go over to the park, I’d score a couple of tries and then I’d end up getting in trouble with my mates. It took until I went to court and my mate who was with me got sent to prison. I got probation. I was very lucky. When I walked out of that courtroom I realised I had to change my life around. I’d seen what had happened to some of the older generation so from that day I just started training. I cut my mates off. They were getting into things I didn’t want to be getting into.”

That startling awakening meant that by the age of 16 Keith began to enjoy some success in his burgeoning rugby league career. He played for Dewsbury Moor alongside former Leeds, Bradford and Great Britain forward Matt Diskin. They won the under-16s national conference, pipping Leon Pryce’s Queensbury along the way.

“I then got picked for Yorkshire and we won a series against Lancashire. We had Leon Pryce and Danny Maguire and it was the first time Yorkshire had won the series in years. I then got picked for England schoolboys.”

Dedication was never a problem for Keith, even at that age. While many talented sportsmen find their development stalled by the multiple distractions that life throws at teenage boys, Keith remained focused and disciplined, in stark contrast to the self-confessed tearaway he had been before that court appearance;

“I used to even train on Christmas Day as a 15 or 16 year old.” He says;

“I just had this vision, this belief that I wanted to be a Super League player. After England schoolboys I went to Bradford for a trial. I remember Brian Noble was there. Everybody had been signed except me. Brian said ‘we’re not going to sign you, Keith, but we’ll pay for your bus fare.”

It was the first of a few setbacks that Keith would have to endure before finally making his Super League debut with Wakefield as a 17-year-old in 2000;

“I went to Castleford and played six or seven games there, but then they also decided they were not going to sign me. I then went on to Leeds Rhinos. Leeds had many star players who went on to win Grand Finals. Rob Burrow, Diskin, Maguire, Chev Walker. All of those players. I was 17. I played eight or nine games on trial until (then Leeds coach) Dean Bell took me aside one day after training and said ‘listen Keith, I don’t think you’ll ever play Super League.”

Receiving this verdict from one of the legends of the game was a potentially shattering blow. Yet Keith’s response was the same as it had ever been whenever he he had taken a knock to his confidence and ambition. Persistence;

“Many, many, many kids would have given up. But I knew what I had already overcome just to get this far. To this day that fire to prove Dean wrong has stayed with me. It took me about a week but I got a lot of positives and power out of that. I was thinking about giving up but someone asked me to give it one more shot because Wakefield wanted to sign me. So that’s what I did. I signed for Wakefield.”

Something tells me that if Keith had not been signed by Wakefield, then under the tutelage of John Harbin, he would have found the resolve to give it yet another last shot and would still be sitting here with a Challenge Cup winners medal, two other Challenge Cup final outings, 63 Saints appearances and two Welsh caps to his name. It’s impossible to imagine a scenario in which a young Keith gives up on his rugby league career and goes to work in an office or a factory. His will and his faith are unshakeable;

“Wakefield hadn’t won a game all year when I signed for them. After that we had a run of 11 games undefeated. I got the players’ player of the year award that year. So Dean Bell was wrong. I did play Super League about eight months after he said I wouldn’t. I then went on to play NRL. I was 19 years old. All of the drive and perseverance I have all comes from that, what I call my favourite failure when Dean Bell told me I wouldn’t play Super League.”

There are a dozen or so English players currently playing their trade in the NRL now, but when Keith made the move to Melbourne Storm in 2002 they were rare. Only Adrian Morley had cracked Australia having moved to Sydney Roosters from Leeds in 2001;

“We’d been to Australia with Wakefield and I was told there was interest from North Queensland Cowboys. There was a few of us in that team they were looking at. We also had Bennie Westwood, Gareth Ellis and Danny Brough as well as me. We had quite a good team. I was due to go back over there and that’s when I got the call about playing for Wales. I had to get a letter from (then RFL Director Of Rugby) Greg McCallum to say it wouldn’t affect my chances of playing for England before I would play.”

He played twice for Wales, where one of his international team-mates was Saints legend Kieron Cunningham.

“I had a poster of Kieron Cunningham on my wall when I was younger. Then I was in the dressing room with Wales and I remember we were beating England 26-10 at half-time. They had Paul Sculthorpe, Paul Wellens and Andy Farrell in their side. I could hear someone barfing up in the toilets. It was Kieron. I couldn’t believe that he seemed more nervous than me.”

It was through that involvement with Wales that the Melbourne opportunity really came to fruition;

“I remember Willie Poching who was at Wakefield at the time came up to me and said ‘listen Keith, the Storm want to sign you’. I said ‘who?’ and he said ‘the Storm. Melbourne Storm.’. So I did the deal with (former Melbourne administrator) Chris Johns. The ironic thing was I got a call from Leeds Rhinos asking me not to sign for Storm! This is where you get to get a bit of your own back and people have to eat a bit of their own you know what. Humble pie. It was tempting to join Leeds. They offered me a four-year deal but I knew that if I went to Australia as the youngest English player ever to go there and play it would make me a better player and a better person. I also knew that if I did decide to come back to England there would be clubs I could go toA. I went there as an ok player, a rising star, to being a good player when I came back. You can’t bottle that. I lived with Cameron Smith and we had Billy Slater and Dallas Johnson coming through too.”



On Keith’s return home one of those interested clubs was St.Helens in 2003, and a year later he ticked off another childhood dream by walking out for a Challenge Cup Final at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium. Mason started at prop for Ian Millward’s side who could count the likes Cunningham, Scunthorpe, Wellens and Sean Long in their number. That the opposition that day was Wigan merely ramped up the sense of occasion, with Mason playing his full part in a glorious 32-16 win. This once young and impetuous fan remembers being so happy about the result that he decided to forego the coach journey home that evening and instead shell out for a hotel and a train fare the next day in order to continue the festivities. There had been other cup final wins but this was the first I had experienced in which Wigan were the vanquished. The scars of 1989 and 1991 remain, but they sting that bit less thanks to the efforts of Keith and his team-mates in 2004.

“The greatest game ever.” is how Keith remembers it;

“You can ask Sculthorpe, Cunningham, Longy, they’d all tell you the same. Chris Joynt said to me that the Challenge Cup is bigger than the Grand Final. I kind of understand him now. It’s been around for about 120 years or whatever it is. It’s a beautiful trophy. All I ever saw when I was a kid was Ellery Hanley, Brett Kenny, Wigan and Widnes and all these great players playing at Wembley. You look up to these players. We won our final at the Principality (Millennium) Stadium in Wales but to be honest with you it didn’t matter because the atmosphere was absolutely electrifying. Winning that trophy was very sweet. After what I’d been through. My mum was up in the crowd crying her eyes out. A week later I saw Dean Bell at Red Hall. I was in trouble for knocking out one of the Warrington players. It was accidental. Anyway Dean told me he thought I was the best forward on the pitch in the Challenge Cup Final.”

Keith went back to the Challenge Cup Final in 2006, this time unfortunately ending up on the losing side as his Huddersfield Giants team went down 42-12 to a Saints side starting a run of three cup wins in a row. It was there that he met film star Mickey Rourke and began a friendship which would take his life in a whole new direction;

“After the game we were all disappointed. We had a couple of tries disallowed that I thought should have been tries and they scored a couple that I thought weren’t tries. So anyway we all got together. We were staying at Park Lane. We’d been invited to this club. So we went there, about eight or nine of the boys, and I remember I’d seen this film called The Wrestler. I thought it was a brilliant film. Mickey Rourke had starred in the film. So at this bar I just saw him walk past me. And I thought ‘that’s Mickey Rourke’!

Keith’s not shy. So he took the initiative almost at once. Just another example of how he grasps opportunity when it presents itself;

“I asked his bodyguard if I could go up and talk to him. I had a black suit on, white shirt and tie and I went over and I said ‘Hi Mickey my name is Keith’. He looked at me and he said ‘what are you, Man? Are you a gangster?’ So I said ‘no I play rugby. I’ve played in a final today at Wembley. He said he had watched the game. He said he loved rugby!”

It was the start of a fruitful friendship between the pair;

“Later on he started arm-wrestling the boys. He whupped Scottie Moore. He then tried to take on Darrell Griffin but Darrell snapped Mickey’s bicep off the bone. He’d had so many tequilas he couldn’t feel it. It wasn’t until I challenged him to a match that I saw it. He showed me it. I couldn’t believe it. He just said ‘it’s alright’.”

Keith was soon on his travels with his famous new friend;

“He flew me out to New York. I stayed with him in Hollywood which was just bizarre. And then when he was back in London he invited me down to the Jonathan Ross Show. It was the last one. David Beckham and Jackie Chan were on that show.”

All pretty random you’d think. But it turns out that Rourke saw something in Keith that couldn’t have been immediately obvious to him when they met;

“I remember one time he’d got upset. Started crying. So I said to the bodyguard ‘what’s wrong? Is he alright?’ And he said ‘yeah, he’s fine. It’s just you remind him of his brother’. I asked where his brother was and he just pointed upwards. You know? To Heaven. So sometimes I wonder whether he took me under his wing because I resembled his brother. But he looked after me. We spent a lot of time together.”

It wasn’t long before Keith followed Rourke into the film business, playing a part in Skin Traffic;

“He phoned me up and said ‘do you want to be in a film? We’re going to cast you. As my henchman. So I did. And when I did my scenes with him it felt just....natural. Because we were friends. When I see him again I will thank him. I’ll repay him. Some actors work in the business for years and never get an opportunity like that.”



And so to the present. Keith is open about a difficult period in his life after his retirement from rugby league. He lost that discipline that had served him so well. He turned back to alcohol and he even suspects he might have been suffering from a depression. Like any retired athlete he needs to have something else to focus on. He sets himself goals. Eighty miles road running in a week. A thousand push-ups a day. Whatever it is. He says you have to decide what you want to do to be a better human being and then ‘get after it’.

Rugby Blood, Keith’s new graphic novel series, isvanother example of that drive. It features characters based on Super League stars of the past and present such as Cunningham, Hull FC’s Jake Connor and Jermainevp McGillvary of Huddersfield Giants. It may even spawn a new Netflix series which Keith says is in the pipeline;

“Rugby Blood comes from all those struggles that I’ve had. I still have a lot of rugby league in me. So what I’ve tried to do is channel all that aggression into something new and something positive. David King (the story’s lead character) is about perseverance and overcoming obstacles so it’s a bit autobiographical. But as it goes on the story is going to open up and feature all kinds of stars from rugby league. And it will hopefully promote them and the sport too.”

Saints fans will approve of some of the attire worn by the protagonists. Saving the world through rugby league is one thing, but are you really saving the world through rugby league if you haven’t got a red vee on your shirt”

“I put him in the red vee. It’s the best kit.” Says Keith of our now iconic shirt design;

“It hasn’t got a St Helens emblem on it but I wanted to use the red vee because that was my favourite kit. What I want to do is market it not just here but in Russia, China, America. Places where it isn’t well known. If you can do that you’re showing rugby league to an audience that wouldn’t normally see it. You’re marketing the game not to rugby league fans but to comic book fans. I’ve also written a film script which I’ve been down to Pinewood to discuss it with a group of producers. But it takes a lot to get a film made.”

If you meet Keith Mason, just the once, you wouldn’t bet a penny on it happening....

Keith Mason was Talking to That Saints Blog You Quite Like via the WA12 Rugby League Show. The full interview is still available to listen to on wa12radio.net and to download via Mixcloud.

Rugby Blood is available on Amazon, priced £7.99 with the kindle edition at £4.99

5 Talking Points From Saints 26 Wakefield Trinity 6

Congratulations!

Though we didn’t know it when the final whistle blew this comfortable win over Chris Chester’s Wakefield side has secured Saints a second consecutive League Leaders Shield. Warrington’s failure to beat Catalans Dragons in Perpignan means that they are still 12 points behind Justin Holbrook’s side with only five games remaining and a possible 10 points to play for in the regular season. It is Saints’ eighth League Leaders Shield since playoffs and the Grand Final were introduced in 1998.

The coach and the players will no doubt emphasise the fact that the main goals for the 2019 season are to win the Challenge Cup and the Grand Final. Nobody in our number wants to see a repeat of last season when Saints were dominant in the regular season but saw the wheels rather fall off in semi-final defeats to Catalans in the cup and Warrington in the race to Old Trafford. Yet at the same time Saints’ consistency in 2019 is something worth celebrating. They have lost only three games all season in the league so far, two of which were away at London with much-changed line-ups. Only the Dragons can reasonably claim to have got on top of Saints’ best available side when they won 18-10 at Perpignan in March.

The London losses are an indication that lessons have been learned from last year. Saints ran out of steam towards the end of the campaign, distracted by the speculation surrounding the future of Ben Barba and hampered by some of his disinterested displays towards the back end of the year. While this year we have had the unwelcome distraction of Holbrook’s announcement that he will be leaving the club at the end of the season the issue has at least been resolved in time for everyone involved to refocus and push on. Holbrook’s unimpeachable professionalism should make that an easier task than it proved a year ago.

Yet whatever happens now this team should be lauded for their consistency. We all want the major trophies the most, but at the same time we also know that winning two playoff games in early autumn doesn’t really make you the best side over the season. It seems likely that the shield will be presented ahead of our next home league game with Castleford on August 30. It is only right and proper that a big home crowd gets to see that presentation but part of me wishes we could do it on Warrington’s patch when the team’s meet there on Thursday. Perhaps we could have it delivered by plane with a banner that reads ‘not your year’. The ugly scenes in the crowd following Warrington’s loss in France tonight are a compelling argument for not antagonising them like that. It probably wouldn’t go down well with their idiot element, who it must be said are a minority. Yet when you fly a plane over your rivals’ ground a week before you visit them you can expect sympathy to be in short supply. The Wolves Are Waiting, it read.

They still are.

Only Saints Can Stop Saints

If you read the social media of fans and rugby league journalists the biggest threat to our ambitions this year is not Warrington but Wigan. Their 15-14 win over Hull FC on Thursday night (August 1) has anyone with half an opinion on the game touting Adrian Lam’s side as one to be feared. Even some Saints fans have bought into it, no doubt scarred by last season’s denouement and, if they are anywhere near my age, by a childhood filled with disappointment in which we constantly deferred to the great Wigan sides of the era.

No more. Squeaking past a Hull FC side capable of losing 55-2 to Huddersfield Giants is a world away from beating Saints in a big playoff game or Grand Final. Wigan have yet to prove that they can beat either of the top two. Their last attempt to beat Saints was preceded by a week of talking the talk before they had their behinds summarily handed to them. A fortunate Zak Hardaker try from a charged down Jonny Lomax kick and a couple of penalty goals was all they could manage against Saints’ swarming defence. Meanwhile Saints ran in 32 points at the other end. Saints’ attack isn’t hitting the heights of earlier in the season but there has been little or no drop-off in defensive intensity. It took Wakefield until a few minutes before the end of this one to register their only try of the night through Kelepi Tanginoa, while Halifax never got within spitting distance of the Saints line during last week’s semi-final.

If there is a weakness for an improving pretender like Wigan to try to exploit it is in Saints’ fluency with the ball. All of the recent changes in personnel have made the attack disjointed at times and it will be interesting to see if that fluency returns when the likes of Lomax, Lachlan Coote, Regan Grace, Alex Walmsley and Morgan Knowles are reintroduced. All of those players missed this game for one reason or another and may take time to really hit their straps when they come back. Form is not something which can be turned on and off like a tap and Holbrook needs to strike the right balance between resting tired bodies and giving them enough repetition to peak at the right time. As things stand, for all the bluster coming from over Billinge Lump and from the Wigan-centric rugby league media, the team most likely to stop Saints is Saints.

Taia Return A Major Boost

Though as we have seen there were several star names not in duty here the return of Zeb Taia was a welcome one. The former Catalans Dragons back rower was in some rich form before a shoulder injury sustained in the win over Leeds in June halted his progress. He wasn’t quite at his brilliant best here, managing 69 metres on 13 carries with just two tackle busts, but his 24 tackles in defence are hopefully evidence that he is completely over what was a nasty-looking injury which at the time we feared may threaten his availability for Wembley and the season run-in.

It should also be remembered that without Grace this was not Saints’ first choice left hand edge. When those two and Mark Percival are back together there isn’t a right edge trio in the whole of Super League who will handle them. Taia is still Saints’ leading off-loader despite his spell on the sidelines and that ability should add an extra dimension to a Saints attack that has not been quite so sharp on second phase play in recent weeks.

Taia is cut from the cloth of the traditional Saints forward, uncompromising and hard-working yet with an ability to do something out of the ordinary with ball in hand. He draws defenders to him which allows more space for the playmakers at fullback and in the halves to wreak their havoc. His languid style and expansive approach together with his age (33) has led some to question his place in the side since he arrived in 2017. Yet he has been instrumental in our success over the last two years and could be one of the keys to making sure we finish the job this time.

Danny Impresses, But Maybe Not Enough

Handed rare starts in recent weeks because of the injury to Coote, Danny Richardson has done little to harm his chances of re-establishing himself in the team. He was a regular in 2018, selected for the Super League Dream Team and the England Knights squad. He had to pull out of the latter through injury and things got worse for him after Holbrook began to prefer Theo Fages in the scrum-half role at Saints. Yet with Lomax unavailable Fages and Richardson were paired again in the halves as they had been - to mixed reviews - in the cup win over Halifax.

Richardson was not alone in starting slowly against Trinity. Saints were in a battle for the first 20 minutes but when they cut loose in that second quarter of the game it was Richardson who starred. He scored one try, dummying smartly to his left before allowing his pace to take him through the Wakefield cover, and made another when his neat grubber was pounced upon by Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook. He almost created another for Fages in similar fashion but the Frenchman was adjudged to have been offside.

Richardson only really played in patches. Saints were well below par in attack after the break, adding only one further try through Kevin Naiqama. In that context the young half probably hasn’t done quite enough to convince Holbrook that he is the man to turn to at seven when Lomax is back on board and the games get bigger. Yet Richardson certainly reiterated what we already knew, which is that he is a more than viable option if the worst happens and injuries bite.

With the League Leaders Shield wrapped up only the Challenge Cup Final is a high stakes game for Saints between now and the playoffs. That could lead to further opportunities for Richardson to show what he has to offer. With an as yet unidentified new man coming in to replace Holbrook for 2020 and beyond Richardson may yet get the opportunity to prove that his long term future should lie with the club with which he has made his name.

Luke Thompson - Rather Good

Saints most effective forward on the night was undoubtedly Luke Thompson. The young star seemed to be operating on a different plane at times. He would have gained more than 117 metres had Holbrook not taken the decision to sit him down with the game won part way through the second half. Ably assisted by Matty Lees (39 tackles, 10 from marker), Thompson covered the Alex Walmsley-shaped hole in the Saints front row seamlessly. His five tackle busts, one clean break and one offload made him a constant threat in attack, while in defence he offered 34 tackles, again a figure that would have been even more impressive but for his early withdrawal. The one area of concern was the six tackle attempts that he missed, though it seems that the entire team’s philosophy on defence is that missing tackles is not in itself a problem provided you don’t allow your opponent to ground the ball over the try-line.

Longer term the biggest problem we have with Thompson is holding on to him. He:s no doubt enjoying starring for his boyhood club and I’m sure he’s as desperate as any of us to win at Wembley and Old Trafford. But the speculation around a move to the NRL began some time ago, with England coach Wayne Bennett engaging in some flattering but unwanted gum-flapping on the subject. We have seen the success that English players have had over in Australia in recent years. Where once Adrian Morley was the only Englishman regularly appearing in the NRL he has been followed by the Burgess brothers, Gareth Ellis, James Graham, Josh Hodgson, Elliott Whitehead and John Bateman. George Williams and Kallum Watkins are the latest to try their luck on the other side of the world.

Thompson seems to have everything he needs to make it in the toughest league in the world and it is very difficult for any Super League club to stop the player drain. It’s not just a matter of money but also of the standard of play, of lifestyle and of whether or not the player wants to experience a new culture. And why wouldn’t you want to get out of here with Bonkers Boris and his cronies intent on driving us over the cliff’s edge? Like Richardson, Thompson may be persuaded that a new coach offers enough of a new challenge. Yet a consequence of success is that bigger fish start swimming around your best, young talent. We might want to enjoy Thompson while we still can.

Saints v Wakefield Trinity Preview

Wembley-bound Saints return to Super League action when they host Wakefield Trinity on Friday night (August 2, kick-off 7.45pm).

An 11-year wait to get back to the Challenge Cup Final ended last week when Saints beat Halifax in the semi-final at Bolton. Yet the joy of that achievement was tempered somewhat a few days later by the news that Head Coach Justin Holbrook will leave the club at the end of the 2019 season. The 43-year-old will take up a contract with Gold Coast Titans in the NRL just two years after replacing Kieron Cunningham at Saints. Some eyebrows have been raised at Holbrook’s decision to trade in the best team in Super League for the worst team in the NRL. Yet a chance to return to his native land has clearly been a big draw for Holbrook along with the opportunity to test himself in a stronger competition albeit with a struggling club.

He has at least pledged to give his full commitment to finishing the season strongly as Saints go for a first treble since that achieved by the vintage of 2006 under Daniel Anderson. A second consecutive League Leaders Shield is all but assured with a 10-point lead over nearest challengers Warrington, so it all comes down to 80 minutes at Wembley against Wire and whether Saints can reach and then win the Old Trafford Super League Grand Final. That quest starts with the visit of Chris Chester’s side this weekend.

Again there have been changes to Holbrook’s 19-man selection. Morgan Knowles missed the Halifax win with a rib injury having initially made the squad so is absent this week. He joins Lachlan Coote on the sidelines, with the Scottish international likely to be asked to rest his injured knee at least until Saints travel to Leeds a week before Wembley. Yet there must be some doubt in Holbrook’s mind about whether to continue using Jonny Lomax as a deputy because Jack Welsby has been recalled to the party.

Not that there is any problem with Lomax as a fullback. He has great experience there having held the role for many seasons after the retirement of Paul Wellens. The doubts exist about whether Saints can afford to do without Lomax in the halves. Danny Richardson and Theo Fages toiled a little against Halifax and there must be pressure on both to keep their places. A gut feeling suggests that Holbrook will want to restore his preferred combination of Lomax and Fages in order to fine tune them for the battles ahead. That will be tough on Richardson but with a new coach coming in for 2020 he has every reason to believe that he can still rise to the rank of Saints senior halfback. No such selection problems in the three-quarters where Tommy Makinson, Kevin Naiqama, Mark Percival and Regan Grace are all well established.

Alex Walmsley picked up an eye injury at Bolton and won’t feature. Expect Matty Lees to add another start to his CV alongside world beaters Luke Thompson and James Roby in the front three. The back row has lost Knowles but it is boosted by the return to fitness of Zeb Taia. The former Catalans Dragon has not played since damaging his shoulder in a win over Leeds in June but looks set to be reunited with his second row partner Dominique Peyroux with either Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook or Joseph Paulo locking the scrum. One of those two will settle for a place on the bench alongside Kyle, Amor, James Bentley and probably one of Jack Ashworth or Aaron Smith.

Wakefield arrive in the midst of a terrible run of form which has seen them lose nine of their last 10 league outings. The threat of dropping out of Super League looms large for a club that had, over the last few years, looked like establishing itself as a top five contender. If you look at the names on paper men like Bill Tupou, Danny Brough, David Fifita and company should be doing significantly better. Consistency has been a problem all year despite the presence of talented individuals like Ryan Hampshire, Reece Lyne and Jacob Miller supplementing their stars. Season-ending injuries to Tinirau Arona and Tom Johnstone haven’t helped, but this is a squad that is fast becoming a byword for under-achievement.

Perhaps it is in the pack where Wakefield will be found out in this one. Danny Kirmond, Anthony England and Keegan Hirst are all club stalwarts who do a fine job but there is really only Fifita and hooker Kyle Wood who possess any sort of x-factor. Former Saint Matty Ashurst is another long-term absentee so Chris Annakin, Joe Arundel, George King and Kelepi Tanginoa all have a vital role to play.

It’s likely to be a thankless task. Saints rattled 48 points past Trinity when they met in a Challenge Cup quarter-final in June. That was at a time when Holbrook’s side were in top gear, so perhaps Chester’s men have some hope given Saints underwhelming performance at Bolton and a week previously at London when 10 players were rested. Saints need to start building some form going into Wembley and the last phase of the Super League campaign. For that reason and given Wakefield’s wretched form we can probably expect a fairly comfortable win for Holbrook’s side even if attacking fluency remains an issue.

Squads;

St Helens;

Johnny Lomax 2. Tommy Makinson 3. Kevin Naiqama 4. Mark Percival 5. Regan Grace 6. Theo Fages 7. Danny Richardson 9. James Roby 10. LukevThompson 11. Zeb Taia 12. Joseph Paulo 13. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook 16. Kyle Amor 17. Dominique Peyroux 19. Matty Lees 20. Jack Ashworth 21. Aaron Smith 22. James Bentley 29. Jack Welsby


Wakefield Trinity;

Chris Annakin, Joe Arundel, James Batchelor, Danny Brough, Anthony England, David Fifita, Ryan Hampshire, Keegan Hirst, Ben Jones-Bishop, Max Jowitt, George King, Danny Kirmond, Craig Kopczak, Reece Lyne, Jacob Miller, Tyler Randell, Kelepi Tanginoa, Bill Tupou, Kyle Wood.


Referee: Marcus Griffiths

5 Talking Points From Saints 26 Halifax 2

Laying The Ghosts Of ‘87

My first experience of Wembley still traumatises me a little. I arrived at the then iconic national stadium - none of this arch business - a wide-eyed and awe-struck 11-year-old. I had been released from hospital just that week. Indeed there is a certain symmetry there. I have had three hospital appointments in five days leading up to this week’s semi-final at Bolton. Thankfully that is where the similarities end as the Saints 2019 vintage produced a much different result to the one we endured under the twin towers 32 years ago.

On that occasion two disallowed Mark Elia tries left Andy Platt in tears as well as a certain 11-year-old boy. I would get used to disappointment, not seeing Saints win the Challenge Cup for another nine years. Despite the years of success that followed under Shaun McRae, Ellery Hanley, Ian Millward and Daniel Anderson it has been even longer than that since Saints last visited Wembley for a Challenge Cup Final. When victory over Hull FC brought a third Challenge Cup triumph in a row few of us imagined that it would be a further 11 years - the whole of my lifetime at time of the Halifax loss - before Saints would return to the capital. So, expected as it was that we would beat Scott Grix’s side, now a mid-table Championship side as opposed to the defending league champions of 1987, the over-riding emotion from this otherwise fairly routine win was relief that the Wembley drought had finally come to an end. It also ended a run of six consecutive defeats in major semi-finals in the two major competitions that dominate modern rugby league in the northern hemisphere.

Defence Held The Key

Saints were not spectacular in attack. Far from it. They toiled for most of the day with ball in hand, trying to go around their part-time opponents without first earning the right by doing the hard yards up front. You have to give Halifax a lot of credit for that, but even with the score line at 8-2 at the break you never really got a sense that Saints were in any serious danger. For all their guts and endeavour Grix’s side never looked like breaking down a Saints defence that was shorn of one of Britain’s best defensive players in the injured Morgan Knowles.

Even the enforced switch to fullback for Jonny Lomax to cover the absence of Lachlan Coote didn’t weaken the rearguard too much, though it did take a little bit away from the fluency of attack. There would have been those who would have worried that the inclusion of Danny Richardson would make Saints a little more brittle. Barely a day goes by without someone on social media pointing out that Richardson cannot tackle the proverbial fish supper. Yet the young half stood up to the challenge in that department, as did Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook and Joseph Paulo who had to adapt to starting roles having played much of their rugby this year from the interchange bench.

Holbrook’s Last Hurrah?

As I write this several news sources have reported that Saints coach Justin Holbrook has agreed a deal to take over at Gold Coast Titans in the NRL from the start of 2020. It doesn’t seem like just over two years since Holbrook breezed into the club to find a team and a fan base desperately damaged by the limitations and subsequent departure of a club legend. When Kieron Cunningham left the building it was felt that it would take more than a quick fix to put the club back where it wanted to be.

It is testament to the job that he has done at Saints that Holbrook has been sought by NRL clubs so quickly. Within a few months of his arrival he had restored the club’s confidence, first by attracting Ben Barba for a memorable but all-too-brief spell, and then guiding pretty much the same group of players that had failed under Cunningham to within a golden-point of the 2017 Grand Final. A year later, with Barba an integral part of the side Holbrook raised Saints to such a level that they rode roughshod over the competition, only losing twice in 23 regular season games en route to the League Leaders Shield. Holbrook copped a fair bit of flak from those outside the club when Saints contrived to lose in both major semi-finals and the Barba situation blew up spectacularly, but even they had to admit that he had transformed his new side from one of a handful of playoff contenders into the most consistent and dominant team in the competition.

Just as he is beginning to learn the lessons of 2018, now regularly resting his stars at various times during the campaign when he had chosen not to do so that year, Holbrook is about to depart. It feels, even if Saints go on to fulfil what many fans see as their destiny by winning at Wembley and in the Old Trafford Grand Final in October, like a mission incomplete. Holbrook is such a powerful motivating force, such a prolific improver of rugby league players, that he could easily have built a dynasty at Saints. If Eamonn McManus and company make the right appointment to replace him that may still happen, but it will be a good deal more difficult without Holbrook at the helm. The lure of the NRL is great for someone like Holbrook both personally and professionally. He was born and raised there and it is home to him. Yet the curtailing of his tenure at Saints is a lost opportunity to build a lasting legacy.

How Will The Ship Sail Before The Big Day?

It’s been a strange old time for Saints. Against the backdrop of the speculation about Holbrook’s future this flat if ultimately fruitful performance came on the back of the much talked about defeat in London in which Saints rested 10 players and slumped to a 32-12 defeat. Neither of these performances have done Saints any tangible harm in terms of their prospects of winning major honours this term. They maintain a 10-point lead at the top of the Super League table and now have safe passage to the Wembley showpiece. Yet form cannot be turned on and off like a tap. Holbrook faces a difficult balancing act over the next few weeks to ensure that his players are physically and mentally ready for August 24.

That means not over-working his players but there is an argument too that he should be wary of letting them become under-cooked. How many star names will be asked to back up from the semi-final in this week’s home game with a Wakefield side that has lost nine out of its last 10 and is free-falling towards a real relegation scrap? A week later Saints travel to Warrington for a Thursday night game. Will either Holbrook or Steve Price want to show the other their full hand just a fortnight before the biggest game of the season to date? Before you know it it is then time to visit a desperate Leeds side on August 16 and the same questions remain. Will a full side be risked? Holbrook has more to think about than just which Australian city he would like to live and work in next year.

A New....Old Foe

When Saints walk out at Wembley in August 24 they will be introduced to a new experience. Incredibly, despite over 100 years of almost sibling rivalry to match anything the Gallagher brothers can offer, Saints and Warrington have never met in a Challenge Cup Final. That is all going to change after Price’s side edged Hull FC 22-14 in the day’s first semi-final at the University Of Bolton Stadium.

It’s an enticing prospect. There should be none of the fears about poor attendance which dogged the build-up to last year’s final when the Wolves were beaten by Catalans Dragons, surprise conquerors of Saints in the semi-final. This final is arguably happening a year later than most people expected it might, but when you have waited since the competition’s first final in 1897, a time when Jacob Rees-Mogg’s views would have appeared current, what’s another year? Critics may shudder at the prospect of another final contested by two teams separated by just a couple of junctions of the M62, but both clubs will bring the numbers and the noise which should ensure a vintage Challenge Cup atmosphere.

The presence of Widnes Vikings and Sheffield Eagles for the 1895 Cup Final should add to that, though it is a slight bug-bear that it has been decided that they will face each other following the main event rather than as a curtain raiser. The RFL’s obsession with double and triple header events continues, but anyone expecting the majority of Saints or Wire fans to stay on after their fate has been decided is likely to be disappointed. Win or lose both sets of fans face a long trip back up north following the final. Even the considerably shorter journey home from Bolton after the semi-final was motivation for most Hull FC and Warrington fans to disappear sharpish after their game ended at the weekend. The case against playing the 1895 Cup Final first is the commendable need to stick with tradition and stage the under-11s schoolboy final as a pre-cursor. But would an earlier start for that game and the Saints-Warrington clash have messed with tradition too much? If you think so, then perhaps you also might consider that the 1895 Cup Final should be scheduled for a different date entirely.

Saints v Halifax - Preview

Have you ever waited 11 years for anything? Maybe an item of post that isn’t a bill or a dental appointment, a genuinely engaging performance by Johnny Depp or perhaps a truly original reality TV series that isn’t exclusively populated by what Charlie Brooker once called ‘look-at-me-turdholes’

If you have, Saints know how you feel as their wait for a first Challenge Cup final appearance since 2008 goes on. They have a gilt-edged, gift-wrappped, delivered by Fedex opportunity to end that wait this Saturday when they take on Halifax in the Coral Challenge Cup semi-final at the University Of Bolton Stadium (July 27, kick-off 4.30pm).

Saints coach Justin Holbrook caused seven kinds of uproar in sending a scratch side to go out and get murdered by London Broncos last weekend, and has predictably made several changes to his 19-man squad for this one. Lachlan Coote has a knee injury which he sustained in the July 12 win over Wigan but all of Johnny Lomax, Tommy Makinson, Kevin Naiqama, Mark Percival, Theo Fages, Alex Walmsley, James Roby and Luke Thompson return to the fold for this one.

Coote’s fullback role had been occupied by Jack Welsby at London and despite the defeat there the smart money was on Holbrook retaining the youngster in the role. However, Welsby has not made the selection which leaves Lomax as the most likely candidate to replace the Scotland international who has lit Saints up post-Barba. Makinson has some experience at fullback but with Adam Swift not named there is no obvious alternative to fill Makinson’s right-wing slot should Holbrook make that switch, so expect him to stay put to form a strong-looking three-quarter line alongside Naiqama, Percival and Regan Grace in front of Lomax. Danny Richardson will therefore probably retain his place in the halves, but it will be Fages who is most likely to partner him after Joseph Paulo had what used be referred to as a ‘Wilkin’ at Trailfinders. Which is perhaps a little unfair given the cast of characters that Paulo was asked to work alongside. With no fewer than 12 of what you would call Saints first choice 17 not on duty that day it was always going to be difficult for Paulo to make the proverbial silk purse from a sow’s ear. Though there was a pig’s ear in there somewhere, for sure.

Saints’ pack will also be formidable. Roby has not been seen since Saints less embarrassing golden point defeat at London in early June and with Aaron Smith not named that is an indicator that the veteran hooker is fit enough to start. Backing him up should be James Bentley who produced some great performances in the role during Roby’s absence. As things stand, he may have forced his way up the pecking order and into the role of Roby understudy. England props Walmsley and Thompson will also return, leaving Matty Lees to be content with a place on the bench alongside Bentley, one of Kyle Amor and Jack Ashworth as well as irrepressible card-magnet Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook. Morgan Knowles is named despite suggestions that he has a slight knock, while Paulo should also feature in the back three along with Peyroux. Matty Costello will hope to challenge for a place on the bench unless there is a doubt about the fitness of one of the backs.

Halifax’s main injury concern surrounds ageless stand-off Scott Murrell. He has been named in coach Simon Grix’s 19-man squad despite suffering whiplash in his side’s 28-28 draw with Championship on Sunday (July 21). Draws. Remember those? Elsewhere in the Fax Machine (I got that from the 1987 Challenge Cup Final programme, no really) former Catalans and Hull KR back rower or hooker Kevin Larroyer stands out while Will Sharp and Ben Kavanaugh are two more with fairly recent Super League experience. James Woodburn-Hall has been on the radar of many Super League clubs this year after some impressive performances at centre while his partner in that department is none other than former Saint Steve Tyrer. The 30-year-old was born in St.Helens before making his debut for the club in 2007, and says he will be at Wembley for the final regardless of the result in this one. Tyrer is now Halifax’s record points scorer with 1632 points since joining them in 2012 following spells with Widnes (three times) Celtic Crusaders and Salford. Reaching this final would probably top anything that he has achieved so far, even if it would severely interfere with his ability to enjoy the final with a beer in his hand.

Halifax’s cup run is all the more surprising for the fact that they have struggled somewhat in the league this season. They sit only eighth in a Championship that has been dominated by Toronto Wolfpack. Nevertheless they would have expected better from a campaign that has seen them record only nine league wins from 22 outings, with 12 defeats and that draw with Dewsbury last time out. They started the campaign with current Saints assistant coach Richard Marshall in charge but he was rather harshly dismissed in April after a four-year spell in which he led the side to the old Super 8s Qualifiers three times. It was not long before he was snapped up by Saints to replace Sean Long after he received an offer from rugby union. Halifax’s loss could yet turn out to be very much Saints’ gain, with emotions running high no doubt for him against his old side in such a monumental game for the West Yorkshire side.

Anyone predicting anything other than a Saints win has not been paying much attention to the form of these two sides this term. Despite last week’s setback, a different Saints side (quite literally in most positions) will approach this one and it would be an indescribable shock if we see anything other than an end to that tortuous 11-year wait for a day out at Wembley. Saints by 40.

Squads;

St Helens;

1. Jonny Lomax 2. Tommy Makinson 3. Kevin Naiqama 4. Mark Percival 5. Regan Grace 6. Theo Fages 7. Danny Richardson 8. Alex Walmsley 9. James Roby 10. Luke Thompson 12. Joseph Paulo 13. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook 15. Morgan Knowles 16. Kyle Amor 17. Dominique Peyroux 19. Matty Lees 20. Jack Ashworth 22. James Bentley 24. Matty Costello.

Halifax;

Ed Barber, Chester Butler, Cooper, Jacob Fairbank, Ben Johnston, Ben Kavanagh, Ben Kaye, Kevin Larroyer, Brandon Moore, Elliot Morris, Scott Murrell, Shaun Robinson, James Saltonstall, Will Sharp, Adam Tangata, Steve Tyrer, James Woodburn-Hall.

Referee: Chris Kendall

London Broncos v St Helens - Preview

Saints go in search of one of the three wins they need to wrap up another League Leaders Shield when they visit London Broncos in a Betfred Super League Round 23 clash on Sunday afternoon (July 21, kick-off 3.00pm).

Coach Justin Holbrook managed to take some of the attention away from his own future by announcing early in the week that he would rest ‘at least nine or ten’ of his first team players for the trip south. True to his word, he has named four potential debutants in his 19-man party with all of Lachlan Coote, Tommy Makinson, Kevin Naiqama, Mark Percival, Jonny Lomax, Theo Fages, Alex Walmsley and Luke Thompson left out. James Roby has not yet returned from having surgery which has kept him out for the last month or so and won’t be back either, while Zeb Taia is still unavailable with a shoulder problem. All of which leaves room in the squad for the untested quartet of loose forward Callum Hazzard, halfback Lewis Dodd, hooker Josh Eaves and centre Josh Simm.

Attempting to work out exactly who will make the final line-up is a bit of a mug’s game, but being a seasoned mug of some repute I’m happy to give it a go. Jack Welsby is recalled for the first time since Saints lost 23-22 on their last visit to London in early June (I know…loop fixtures…..) and looks the prime candidate for the fullback role vacated by Coote. Makinson’s right wing berth will go to Adam Swift in his final season as a Saint, a chance for him to add to his fine record of 86 tries in 128 appearances. Regan Grace is not one of those rested by Holbrook and should start on the other wing, with Simm perhaps forming a centre partnership with Matty Costello.

In the halves Dodd has a more than fair chance of starting alongside Danny Richardson, 2018 Dream Team member and recent Saints first team exile. James Bentley has been doing a sterling job at hooker in the last few weeks but Holbrook also has Aaron Smith to call on as well as Eaves in that position. Dominique Peyroux is named in the 19 but was among those mentioned by Holbrook when he listed those who probably would not play. Should that be the case Morgan Knowles may be partnered in the second row by Joe Batchelor, with Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook at loose forward. Matty Lees, Kyle Amor and Jack Ashworth are the only other three recognised props so McCarthy-Scarsbrook may yet be needed there which could allow Hazzard his opportunity. Joseph Paulo is in the squad after missing last week’s derby win over Wigan but with all this resting and wrapping in cotton wool going on it would be a surprise if he is rushed back from his calf injury with the Coral Challenge Cup semi-final meeting with Halifax looming next weekend.

London have made just one change to their squad and it involves an on-loan Saint who would ironically have come in very handy given the raft of changes made by Holbrook. Ryan Morgan is out and will be replaced by the returning Olsi Krasniqi. Alex Walker and Rob Butler missed last week’s 35-22 defeat at Hull FC and could be in line for a return for a Broncos side that is potentially in the unusual position of having to deal with the favourites tag. What success they have had this season has been achieved in the knowledge that nobody expects them to win from week to week, much less escape relegation. Yet if Saints throw in all of their new blood the expectation will be all on London to put the youngsters in their place.

Key to that will be men like Rhys Williams, Elliot Kear and Kieran Dixon in the backs, along with Jordan Abdull in the halves. Morgan Smith dropped the winning goal at Trailfinders in the Broncos golden-point win a month ago but is currently out. Expect James Cunningham to again be influential at hooker or scrum half along with forwards Eddie Battye, Jay Pitts and Luke Yates. Former Saint Greg Richards is a Grand Final winner from our 2014 vintage under Nathan Brown.

And so to the thorny question of the rights, wrongs and not-so-sures of Holbrook’s selection. There were no complaints when Saints played at London without Coote, Lomax, Makinson, Walmsley and Taia In June. The timing of it, with just six games left and so much closer to the hour of reckoning for the other clubs involved with London in the relegation scrap has certainly had some influence on their reaction to it. Yet this Tinkerman-ery is on a different level if we see four debutants and almost twice as many absent regulars as we saw in June. Added to that, the senior players who have been retained are not the real star quality game changers of the back-line or the front row. The best of them is probably Knowles, but he is not winning any game by himself. Richardson’s selection could go either way too. The young half could take umbrage at having been thrown in with a much weakened squad, or he could see it as an opportunity to remind the coach of his capabilities just ahead of the run towards the playoffs and, hopefully, a Wembley final. It is possible for Holbrook to pick a 17 capable of winning this game, but equally, it is possible that he will expose the young players to what could turn out to be a miserable debut experience which doesn’t seem to do anybody any good.

What will not be a concern is the grumbling coming from elsewhere in Super League. Fans of Hull KR, Huddersfield, Leeds and maybe now even Wakefield will be fretting about Saints’ line-up. They will view it as unduly interfering with the battle going on to avoid the drop to the Championship. Yet the counter-argument is that Saints, 10 points clear at the top of the table and in about as much danger of moving anywhere as Donald Trump, have earned the right to rest their star turns. The memories of last season, when Holbrook went with the same group of players on a much more consistent basis only to see them falter in both semi-finals, is enough to persuade many that the changes are being made for the right reasons and that the aim is not to disrespect the competition or in any way influence the relegation issue. Those involved in that little scrap will have had 29 games of their own by the end of the regular season to save themselves, and should they fail to do so they would be well advised to look squarely in the mirror.

Yet if I’m honest fielding a severely weakened team, should that happen, does not sit well with me. All it does is highlight the absolute folly of a league system which fails so palpably to reward the most consistent side throughout the regular season. If we were playing under the old ‘first past the post rules’ which governed the top flight throughout most of my early years watching rugby league then I dare say a few of those with their feet up this weekend would have been pressed into action. The system allows it, which doesn’t really do the image of the game too much good. Equally, the likes of Hull FC and Catalans Dragons and arguably even Wigan have been doddering along at their own pace all year yet still retain hopes of reaching the Grand Final and taking the prize at Saints expense. If Holbrook has it in his power to do something to reduce the chances of that happening then perhaps exercising that power will produce a just result in the end.

For now it is all guess work, which is pretty much all you can say about how Saints might line-up and further, how they might get on against Danny Ward’s side. Pride suggests they will put the effort in. The defeat in June will have stung and those involved in that game who have been included again this time will no doubt have that somewhere in the recesses of their minds. Yet with bookmakers everywhere shortening the odds on London to pull off a second victory of the season over the table-toppers the whole thing just has a bad feel about it from a Saints standpoint. London by eight.

Squads;

London Broncos;

1. Alex Walker 2. Rhys Williams 3. Ben Hellewell 4. Elliott Kear 5. Kieran Dixon 6. Jordan Abdull 7. James Cunningham 8. Eddie Battye 10. Mark Ioane 12. Jay Pitts 13. Sadiq Adibiyi 14. Matty Fozard 15. Greg Richards 16. Matt Gee 17. Matty Fleming 20. Luke Yates 23. Rob Butler 26. Sam Davis 30. Olsi Krasniqi


St Helens;

5. Regan Grace 7. Danny Richardson 12. Joseph Paulo 13. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook 15. Morgan Knowles 16. Kyle Amor 17. Dominique Peyroux 18. Adam Swift 19. Matty Lees 20. Jack Ashworth 21. Aaron Smith 22. James Bentley 24. Matty Costello 25. Joe Batchelor 27. Josh Eaves 28. Callum Hazard 29. Jack Welsby 30. Josh Simm 31. Lewis Dodd

Referee: Tom Grant

5 Talking Points From Saints 32 Wigan Warriors 10

Back In Your Box

Leading into this one Wigan had been undergoing something of a revival. A five-game winning streak had rocketed them back into the top four. A Super League title defence that had been nothing short of embarrassing was gaining a fair amount of respectability. The thing about this league is that you only have to finish in the top five to have a crack at making Old Trafford via the playoff series. Leeds have twice won the Grand Final from fifth and it was victory over the Rhinos that sparked Wigan’s winning run as Hull KR (twice), Huddersfield and Salford were all vanquished. The Wigan fans were excited by their prospects, noting that their trip to Saints would be a good test of their credentials.

Some social media voices were particularly loud, promising Grand Final success and another appearance in a World Club Challenge. All that may still happen, but on the evidence of this second gear stroll over the old enemy it is a lot further away from reality than many cherry and whites had hoped and believed. Unwilling to give any ground despite the ease with which they were tossed aside like Boris Johnson tossing aside a policy that has become inconvenient to his bumble towards Downing Street, some Wigan fans insisted that the lack of senior forwards was the sole reason for their downfall. But men like Tony Clubb, Ben Flower, Joe Greenwood and Sean O’Loughlin have been key players in the shit show that has been Wigan’s 2019 campaign to this point. What makes anyone think that when this group of under-achieving chancers return they will set the world on fire? The old ‘we had injuries’ argument is the last refuge of the desperate and one that completely ignores the fact that Saints were without an all-time great in James Roby and one of the best back rowers in the competition over the last two years in Zeb Taia.

It’s important to win with a bit of humility and class, something which Wigan fans have been infamously and palpably incapable of since their domination of the sport in my 80s childhood. The fact that they still can’t accept their failings in the aftermath of this half-arsed, routine spanking is one of the reasons their club is so unpopular not just with Saints fans but with most fans around the country. They need to get back in their box until they have proved that they have a team that is anywhere near Saints’ level.

Saints Attack Off Key

The terrifying thing if you’re a Wigan fan is that despite winning by 22 points Saints didn’t play anywhere near their best. Had the attack had it’s usual fluency and poise Justin Holbrook’s side could easily have bettered the 40 points they rattled past Hull FC last week. In part because they had the bulk of possession Saints actually came up with just as many errors as Wigan, both sides coughing it up 16 times. Had it not been a full house with all the intensity and passion that brings, and had it been any other opposition than the noisy neighbours the game could quite fairly have been described as scrappy. Balls flew over sidelines with alarming regularity as the offensive timing of both teams consistently went awry.

Defence and the ability to take the chances that came their way proved the difference for Saints. On the face of it 36 missed tackles is an unimpressive statistic. Indeed it is worse than Wigan’s tally of 35. Holbrook may want to get the tackle bags out for an extended period in training this week especially for Kevin Naiqama and Dominique Peyroux who managed to butcher six each, with the usually reliable Morgan Knowles not far behind with four.

But despite these lapses it was Saints’ ability to stop Wigan making significant ground when they had the ball and the home side’s ability to defend their line which set them apart. James Bentley again deputised for Roby and turned in a very solid performance making 39 tackles while missing only two. That level of work rate meant that only Liam Farrell managed to break through the 100-metre barrier for Wigan. The next best efforts were from Zak Hardaker with 98 and George Williams with 88. Wigan’s pack, under-strength though it was, was monstered by Saints for whom Luke Thompson, Matty Lees and the impressive Kyle Amor all clocked up a century of metres made. Alex Walmsley almost joined them on 98. Collectively they laid a platform for Tommy Makinson to make 185, Mark Percival 116 and Jonny Lomax 102.

Was The TV Decision Vindicated?

The lack of television coverage of this one was a source of much chagrin among both the Saints and Wigan following in the days leading up to game. Sky chose instead to broadcast Hull FC’s game of two halves against London Broncos on Thursday and the relegation dogfight between Leeds Rhinos and Hull KR on Friday. It represented the first time in the summer era that a Saints-Wigan derby had not been televised. The outrage was loud and boring with scores of people lining up on social media with sorry tales about why they could not be there in person, as if fans of other clubs aren’t afflicted with the same work commitments, financial constraints and mobility issues as Saints and Wigan fans.

Doesn’t the bloke who works till 7.00pm on a Friday have the same right to be able to see his side play as his Saints or Wigan equivalents? Sky are not here to make sure Saints and Wigan fans who can’t attend can still see every game. For that to be the case the club would need to have broadcasting rights to its own games and show them on their own dedicated channel. Finances dictate that that won’t happen any time soon. The awful truth is that the game needs the cash injection that it receives from Sky if it wants to continue to operate at a fully professional level.

Their remit is to broadcast games which are in the best interests of the league and of fans of all clubs, not just an elite pair of bullies stamping their feet about the way things have always been. Leeds v Hull KR was an infinitely better, closer contest with far more riding on it and was a sound choice. The same cannot be said for the Hull-London game in all honesty but Thursday games are chosen far further in advance and so become more difficult to move. Had it been moved to make way for the derby the complaints would still have raged about having to play in the least popular time slot since the broadcaster experimented with Monday night games. We’re a spoiled generation of fans.

The absence of the Sky cameras offered a first opportunity to see a derby without the irritant of the video referee. It was all the better for it. How refreshing was it to be able to celebrate Saints’ five tries without immediately turning to look at a giant screen in the north east corner to make sure their isn’t some tiny discrepancy about to crush your joy? Video reviews have sucked the spontaneity out of the match-going experience, a fate that it will soon afflict on football. And it wasn’t as if Ben Thaler needed the help. Only Hardaker’s try would possibly have been subject to any scrutiny from the video referee. The Wigan fullback seemed to use his hands in charging down Lomax’s kick before dribbling his way to the line for the Warriors’ only try. Personally I’m prepared to give him and Thaler the benefit of the doubt on those calls if it means we have a faster flowing game and I can be back across Precky Bridge and in my car before 10.00pm.

Is Holbrook Going?

When weren’t debating the merits or otherwise of the Sky Sports schedules this week we were fretting about the future of Holbrook. A story broke early in the week linking the Saints coach to the Canterbury Bulldogs in the NRL. Ordinarily this might be dismissed as the column-filling ravings of the Australian press but some of the quotes attributed to Holbrook on the matter are cause for concern. Where initially it seemed just a matter of time before Holbrook penned a new deal at Saints he has since admitted that the matter is in the hands of his management and that it will be resolved ‘in the next few weeks’.

This is quite a shift from Holbrook’s initial position which was that he was happy and didn’t want to go anywhere else. Flipping responsibility on to his management team might suggest that he has something to tell us that we won’t like. It looks like an attempt to distance himself from the decision about his own future, as if it’s somehow not his call to make. Sure I’d love to stay but you know....my management team....

Causing further unease are comments made immediately after this one by Holbrook. He spoke of how emotional it was for him to hear the Saints fans sing ‘we want you to stay’ as he and the players went to thank the fans at the end of the game. If he was intending to stay I venture to suggest that he would not be feeling that way. Even if he was feeling overwhelmed by the support he might at least have something reassuring to say. Losing Holbrook would be a shattering blow to Saints. His excellent work in rebuilding the confidence of this group of players has Saints on the cusp of the glory that should have been their’s a year ago. This should be the start of something, not the end of an era. A replacement would be found. Saints is a club of great reputation and coaching it is one of the top jobs in the sport. Yet whoever Eamonn McManus found to replace Holbrook would need time to bed in his own ideas, shape the squad to his liking and introduce a new philosophy. All of that could slow down the progress that has been made under Holbrook and the club must do everything in its power to avoid that scenario. Just how much power it has is something that is open to question.

Three More Wins.

Warrington’s hilarious feat of losing at home to Salford for the second time this season has all but sealed another League Leaders Shield for Holbrook and his troops. It means that Saints have a 10-point lead over the Wolves with just seven games of the regular season to play. My rudimentary grasp of maths suggests that Warrington can only reach a maximum of 44 points by then, meaning three more wins will be enough for another muted amble around the stadium formerly known as Langtree Park with the trophy disparagingly referred to by many as the hubcap. Usually by those whose teams aren’t about to win it for a second year in succession.

All the hard work is done. Victory over Wigan means that Saints have beaten all of the other top four sides at the start of Round 22 during the last three weeks. Of those only Warrington threatened to derail Saints’ charge to the line. Hull FC and Wigan were despatched with minimum fuss. Next up is a second visit of the season to inaccessible, quite-good-for-an-amateur-set-up Ealing Trailfinders to take on the Broncos. Saints might have revenge on their minds after a golden point loss there in June, one of only two regular season losses in 2019. But they must also balance that with the need to be ready for the Challenge Cup semi-final date with Halifax a week later. As unlikely as it is we do not want a repeat of last year when our hubris was our undoing in a traumatic thrashing by Catalans Dragons at Bolton. Wigan aren’t the only set of fans who are sometimes blind to their own fallibility.

Holbrook would be wise not to rush Roby back with Bentley and Aaron Smith doing such a fine job in his stead, while the cotton wool should probably come out for Lachlan Coote too after he was withdrawn 20 minutes from the end of this one as a precaution. Makinson and Lomax are also unlikely to be risked on a pitch that makes the Astro turf at Boundary Road look like the lush grass of Wembley Stadium. Yet even with those absences and with Taia still out with a shoulder injury Saints should have enough to secure the win against a London side that has shown signs of feeling the effects of a long season in recent weeks.

St Helens v Wigan - Preview

Saints look to take a step closer to sealing another League Leaders Shield when they host Wigan Warriors in a Betfred Super League Round 22 clash on Friday night (July 12, kick-off 7.45pm).

Unlike all of the previous meetings between these two old foes in the Super League era this one is not available to view from the comfort of your armchair. With Leeds Rhinos still struggling to avoid relegation to the Championship Sky have chosen to broadcast their meeting with the similarly threatened Hull KR instead. This has been the cause of much whining and screaming from fans of Saints and Wigan, outraged that their 743rd squabble of another Every Minute Matters campaign has been snubbed. If there is a question for Sky to answer it is about why they have chosen Hull v London Broncos for live broadcast ahead of the derby. Yet broadly it is A Good Thing that Super League TV audiences will be served an alternative to what has by now become routine.

In fact, were it not for Wigan’s recent upturn in fortunes the whole episode would be in real danger of drowning in its own meh-ery. Saints are not only over the hills but several fields away from all others in what used to be the race to finish top of the pile. A defeat to their nearest and dearest would see their supremacy over Adrian Lam’s side cut to a mere 14 points. That’s seven wins which in a 29-game season is...well....you do the maths as they now say.

The only thing giving this one an edge is the fact that Wigan have picked up wins in their last five and have risen above the mediocrity that engulfs the rest of the league to move into a faintly respectable fourth position. But while two wins over Hull KR and victories over Huddersfield, Salford and the Rhinos are not enough to convince me that the Warriors are a clear and present danger to Saints’ ambitions the Wigan faithful disagree. They have flooded social media with talk of a late bid for Grand Final glory and of plans for another World Club Challenge. They are buoyed further by the announcement this week that Jackson Hastings will join them from Salford next season. The buzz around that has even dampened any negativity around George Williams finally announcing his decision to move to Canberra Raiders. Throw in a new one-year deal for Lam and anticipation hasn’t been this high in Wigan since The Verve played Haigh Hall in 1998. All of which has at least whetted the appetite for putting them back in their box.

Justin Holbrook has spent much of the week fielding questions about his own future. It being a whole year since they made an attempt to derail Saints’ season so the Australian press got to work this week by linking Holbrook to a currently struggling Canterbury Bulldogs side. More vague quotes in the press from Holbrook about how things will be resolved ‘in the next few weeks’ have done nothing to ease our anxiety around his position, especially since a new contract seemed a formality a week or two ago. Holbrook has re-introduced the winning culture that went temporarily AWOL towards the end of the Kieron Cunningham reign. To lose him now would be a shattering blow, particularly since it looks ever more likely with each passing week that his hard work will come into fruition in 2019.

Taking time out from gossip and interrogation to name his 19-man squad Holbrook has made two changes to the party which travelled to and won impressively at Hull FC last week. Most significant is the return of James Roby after a four-week injury absence. Holbrook is not yet certain whether Roby will be fit enough to start the game but that’s ok since the other change sees back-up hooker Aaron Smith return after suffering a concussion at Warrington a fortnight ago. The men to make way are Joseph Paulo who has a calf strain along with centre Matty Costello.

Paulo’s absence could mean that James Bentley will see some action in the back row. The former Bradford Bull has been deputising for Robyn and Smith at hooker over the last two weeks but will look to challenge for a back row spot along with Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook with Zeb Taia still sidelined with a shoulder problem. Morgan Knowles and Dominique Peyroux pick themselves in that area of the team, while whichever of Roby and Smith gets the nod will be flanked by the twin threat of Luke Thompson and Alex Walmsley in a formidable front three. They are backed up by Matty Lees, Kyle Amor and Jack Ashworth who would all start for many Super League clubs.

At the back Saints seem fairly settled. Lachlan Coote will be the last line of defence behind a three-quarter line of Tommy Makinson, Kevin Naiqama, Mark Percival and Regan Grace, with Hull-bound Adam Swift also named in the party. Jonny Lomax has been Saints’ most influential creative force along with Coote this year and will again indulge in some weapons grade string-pulling alongside Theo Fages in the halves.

Lam’s ranks were boosted recently by the return of Liams Farrell and Marshall. Farrell has long been a vital cog in the machine, one of the few links to a time when the Warriors could boast a truly dominant pack. Meanwhile Marshall helped himself to a hat-trick in the 52-10 pummelling of Rovers last time out. He will line up opposite Joe Burgess with Oliver Gildart and the outgoing Dan Sarginson forming the centre partnership. Behind them Zak Hardaker is at last making more headlines on the field than off it. Williams will partner Thomas Leuluai in the halves, a stuttering alliance which represents another key area where Saints have the edge. If Wigan need a change in that area then responsibility will likely fall on inconsistent, injury-prone poor man’s Rangi Chase Jarrod Sammut.

Farrell apart Wigan’s pack looks outmatched by Saints’. Tony Clubb is a grandly over-rated individual who has in any case seen better days, while Romain Navarette is as likely to cough up possession as he is to get over the line to gain and make metres. Between them Sam Powell is reliable enough but about as far away from Roby as it is possible to be without actually being Tommy Lee. Joe Bullock is a prop of great promise but lacks the experience to take on Thompson and Walmsley if Clubb and Navarette aren’t hitting their very best form. Willie Isa will have a key role, albeit one likely to involve a lot of rule-breaking. I wonder if those let down by this week’s TV choices have considered how fascinating it will be to see this one played out without a video referee for the first time in 23 years.

Outside of that little lot and with Sean O’Loughlin taking his traditional late season break before the playoffs Wigan will be relying on youth. As well as Bullock, Oliver Partington, Morgan Smithies, Jake Shorrocks, Chris Hankinson and Liam Byrne are all in Lam’s 19-man selection.

Saints and Wigan have met twice already this season. Opening night saw Saints record a 22-12 home win before they eased to a 36-10 success on Good Friday. Social media bluster and TV-related rows aside there’s no reason to expect anything other than another Saints win in what the Saints marketing team are insisting on referring to as Bad Friday. Indeed. It doesn’t get any worse. Thankfully we have a great team on the field. Saints by 20.

Squads;

St Helens;

Jonny Lomax 2. Tommy Makinson 3. Kevin Naiqama 4. Mark Percival 5. Regan Grace 6. Theo Fages 8. Alex Walmsley 9. James Roby 10. Luke Thompson 13. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook 15. Morgan Knowles 16. Kyle Amor 17. Dominique Peyroux 18. Adam Swift 19. Matty Lees 20. Jack Ashworth 21. Aaron Smith 22. James Bentley 23. Lachlan Coote

Wigan Warriors;

3. Dan Sarginson 4. Oliver Gildart 5. Joe Burgess 6. George Williams 7. Thomas Leuluai 8. Tony Clubb 9. Sam Powell 12 Liam Farrell 14. Romain Navarette 15. Willie Isa 17. Liam Marshall 20. Zak Hardaker 22. Joe Bullock 23. Chris Hankinson 24. Oliver Partington 27. Jarrod Sammut 36. Liam Byrne 37. Jake Shorrocks 38. Morgan Smithies

Referee: Ben Thaler