Knowles Shows Us What We’ll Be Missing As Saints Hang On To Hope

It was far from convincing but Saints managed to secure the win over Hull FC which cements their top three place. For now.

It was a vital two points for Paul Wellens’ side as they bid to make the top four which brings with it a home playoff tie.

It also did a bit of damage to the opponents on the night. John Cartwright’s men cling on to the sixth and final spot in the post season and would have breathed a sigh of relief when Wakefield Trinity failed to beat Wigan on Sunday afternoon (August 24). It means that FC still hold a slender one point lead over Wakefield in seventh with just four games left to play in the regular season.

An error strewn game was lit up by Morgan Knowles’ solo try in the first half. Taking a pass from Daryl Clark the Saints loose forward crashed through a weak tackle by Yusuf Aydin and had the speed to go half the length of the field to score. 

It might be because he’s in his last season with Saints but Knowles is currently displaying even more determination, effort and quality than even he normally emits. It was his eighth try of the season which is his highest tally in a single season in the 10 years he has been with the club. He certainly can’t be accused of playing it safe ahead of his move to the NRL. He seems Hell bent on going out with another Grand Final win. Most of us might be sceptical about our chances but that’s probably not what elite players like Knowles are thinking.

I have often railed against Knowles and his occasional bouts of shithousery. I don’t really buy into his all time great reputation among the rest of the fan base. But I do recognise that when it comes to modern style loose forwards knocking around Super League he’s out on his own. So what are we going to do without him from 2026?

If rumours are to be believed the man charged with replacing him when he joins up with the Dolphins is Oli Partington. Ordinarily I give any new signing a chance to impress but this one would test my resolve. I hate this piece of recruitment as a concept well before it has happened. It doesn’t help that he is ex-Wigan - though the stellar Saints career of Sean Long shows that alone is not a deal breaker. It’s the fact that he’s not even the same type of player as Knowles much less anywhere near his level. 

Partington is an extra prop - which we arguably need - but his discipline makes Knowles look like a paragon of virtue. If Wigan sent him to Salford who in turn fired him to Catalans Dragons can we really expect him to be good enough for Saints. The definition of that has changed since the salary cap was introduced but for me Partington still falls short of the standard. And did I mention he played for Wigan?

Who remembers Saints’ abject defeat to Leeds Rhinos at Newcastle’s Magic Weekend at the start of May? With question marks around the team’s form and too many fullbacks and stand-offs to put into his side Wellens came up with the revolutionary tactic of starting skipper Jonny Lomax on the bench. 

It didn’t work. Half an hour in Jon Bennison was sacrificed so that Lomax could enter the fray alongside George Whitby. Jack Welsby had started at 6 but reverted to fullback. Tristan Sailor was shoved out on to Bennison’s wing position. Saints lost 17-4 in one of the more clueless attacking displays in recent memory. Which is saying something.

Welsby’s recent return from injury has created a similar problem with Lomax, Sailor and Moses Mbye all shoe-horned in. Whitby hasn’t had a look in since appearing off the bench in the 16-4 home loss to Leigh in mid-July. The youngster hasn’t started a game since a 46-4 win at Salford on June 15. 

From the start of this one Sailor was paired with Mbye in the halves. He was hooked just after halftime for Lomax. Wellens explained later that he felt he needed Lomax’s experience on the field. Yet in doing that he sidelined our biggest pace threat in Sailor. The former Brisbane man was just starting to win the fans over after attracting criticism early in the year. If you didn’t know better you might suggest that Wellens - almost at the end of his third season in charge - doesn’t know what his best combination is at 1, 6 and 7. 

The one non-negotiable for Wellens is the continued selection of Mbye. He has started the last nine games at halfback but also spends part of his time at 9 in relief of Clark. That allows Wellens to justify the policy of selecting backs on the bench. Mbye will likely leave at the end of the year which would arguably be surprising given how much faith Wellens has in him. Rumour suggests South Sydney Rabbitohs hooker Siliva Havili will be coming in to replace him. Havili will be 33 by the start of next season. Sticking with Mbye would make very little difference. I can only think that Mbye’s exit - if it happens -  is his own decision.

Irrespective of some iffy team selection decisions the margin of victory might have been more but for a highly generous video referee call just before halftime. Tom Grant is one of the more unpredictable officials. Whenever he is called on to review footage both teams and their fans enter the Tom Grant Tombola. This time he found no fault with Lewis Martin’s suspiciously high contact on Harry Robertson as the young centre tried to bring the ball away from his own line. 

The ball shot from Robertson’s grasp and rolled into the Saints in-goal where Davy Litten was first to it to touch down. Zak Hardaker - who endured an indifferent night with the boot - landed a difficult conversion to pull the black and whites to within two points at 8-6. 

It took until just after the hour for Saints to make a decisive move. It came through Mbye, who dived over from Welsby’s pass in a movement started by Clark. Another Feldt conversion gave Saints a 10-point buffer, though the former North Queensland Cowboy would have his own Hardaker moment three minutes from the end. He fluffed a very kickable penalty goal after former Saint Jack Asworth was late on his one time Rochdale Mayfield teammate Matty Lees. 

That would have pushed the Saints lead out to eight points. They remained on the one score knife edge thanks to a Martin try. Cade Cust and Aidan Sezer linked up to put Martin over in the corner for his 22nd try of the season. He is the leading try scorer in Super League. On this occasion he was helped a little by Feldt’s decision to spring out of the line like a Zaire footballer at the 1974 World Cup. Fortunately Hardaker could not add those extras which kept Hull just about at arms length. 

Saints held out despite Feldt’s defensive brain fart and subsequent botched penalty. But there was an injury to Owen Dagnall. He was skirting across the field looking for a gap with that unshakable confidence he has when he suddenly reached for the back of his thigh. In his post match interview Wellens was not hopeful when asked if it could just have been cramp. It looked more like a hamstring injury which could keep him out for a while. Although the medical team worked a miracle in getting Welsby back five weeks early so who knows. 

In many ways it could be a blessing for Wellens. Sailor returned to the action to fill Dagnall’s wing berth and could be asked to fill in there as he has previously. That’s one way of getting all of Sailor, Lomax and Welsby into the same team. Sailor deserves more but he might reflect that it is a better option than being left out altogether or even warming the bench. 

Saints briefly rose to second in the table before Wigan regained the position with a convincing win over Trinity. They remain third but face a tough run of fixtures with the top two and a trip to Leigh in the next three weeks. They have probably done enough to be sure of a playoff spot. Now it’s about trying to get a home game in the playoffs. Not only would that be beneficial in getting to a semi-final it would also provide a better home send off for Knowles than the last home game of the regular season against Castleford on September 19. 

Not long to go now. You’d have to give Saints only a puncher’s chance of winning it all but you have to be in it to win it.

Hull And Beyond

 A Saints playoff appearance looked an unlikely prospect earlier in the year.  But the focus now is on finishing as high as possible in the top six.  Here to try to thwart those attempts are fellow playoff contenders Hull FC who arrive on Friday night (August 22, kick-off 8.00).

With only five games remaining until the knockout stuff starts Saints have risen to third on the back of three straight wins.  Yet with major contenders Hull KR, Wigan and Leigh still to face a win over John Cartwright’s black and whites is a non-negotiable.

Thirty points was good enough to earn Saints a playoff berth last season.  Paul Wellens’ side reached that tally with last week’s 52-4 rout of Huddersfield Giants.  Hopes are high that the red vee can finish higher than last year’s sixth placed but with a tough run-in to come it is imperative that they get a win this week. 

Saints have 15 wins and seven losses from their 22 league outings so far.  They are only two points behind French-less, free-falling Wigan Warriors in second.  But a quick look over the shoulder reveals that Saints are only separated from fourth placed Leeds Rhinos on points difference.  Brad Arthur’s side face KR tonight (August 21).  If that goes to form and Rovers get their 20^th league win of the campaign Saints could put some daylight between themselves and the Headingley outfit.

Defensive Strength And Attacking Pragmatism

It is largely Saints’ defence which has got them to this point.  They have conceded a miserly 30 points in the last five league games.  Within that period was a 13-6 success over this week’s visitors.  The attack has been a mixture of limited ambition and a repeatable kicking game mixed in with the occasional flash of brilliance from the likes of Harry Robertson and Owen Dagnall. 

While it has been ugly at times Saints are exactly where those not infected by the happy clapper bug might have expected them to be.  A probable top four side but nobody’s favourites to win the lot.  There are some outstanding youngsters coming through but there isn’t the same depth in the squad as in the dominant years.  There are too many players who are – if not over the hill – then balancing precariously at the top looking down.

Wellens likely knows this and has responded by taking pragmatism to absurd levels on occasion.  But to this point the overall result is largely par for the course given the tools at his disposal.  That could change in these final few weeks. Either way – and whether Wellens is still around to oversee it or not - a significant rebuild is required if they are to return to the very elite.

Jack’s Back

For now it helps that Jack Welsby returned to action against the Giants after a lay-off of more than two months.  He is undeniably Saints’ best player and one of the standout players in the league.  Yet his comeback coincides with the best form of Tristan Sailor’s short Saints career.  Hate to say I told you so.  Sailor’s form gives Wellens some thinking to do about how to get the best out of both the Australian and the talismanic Welsby.  The progress of Robertson – and the adaptability he has displayed filling in at centre – along with the emergence of Dagnall and a few sneak previews of young halfback George Whitby have been other highlights of 2025. 

On the flip side the recent reluctance to select Whitby ahead of Moses Mbye at halfback has scuppered any thoughts of the attack being anything other than functional.  The aerial prowess of winger Kyle Feldt is a major weapon which tells you something about the approach.  It is hardly Harlem Globetrotters stuff. 

Knowles Departure Looms

Up front there has been too much reliance on the ageing Alex Walmsley to get the side down the field while for the first time fans are asking questions about the potential of George Delaney.  Noah Stephens has not had much game time but he seems to have taken on the mantle of the next great front row hope. 

Daryl Clark is always a threat at hooker but is not the dynamic player who was named Man Of Steel over a decade ago.  Injury seems to have lessened the impacts being made by Joe Batchelor and James Bell though both could still have a key role to play before they head east to join this week’s opponents for 2026.  Along with Walmsley the pack relies hugely on Morgan Knowles – who along with Batchelor and Bell will depart at the end of the season. 

If you are worried about who will replace Knowles (Shane Wright, Ollie Partington, anyone?) then put your hands together and pray that no injury problems befall the former Wales international before he teams up with Kristian Woolf at the Dolphins in the NRL. There isn’t currently a player in the squad who could adequately fill in for Knowles.  His work rate is what the cool kids call next level while a look back at the best tries scored by the side this season will reveal the involvement of Knowles on a large number of occasions. 

The future without him is another problem altogether.  And one we would do well as a fan base not to have to think about too much for now.  Season tickets at the ready to hurl directly in Mr Rush’s face should we acquire ex-Wigan and Salford grub Partington. This column has complained about acts of grubbiness by Knowles in the past but he is not in the Partington league when it comes to recklessness.  By the same token Partington does not influence games in anything like the same way Knowles does. Show me the upside.   

Playoffs – What’s Still Possible, And What’s More Probable

Saints can reach a maximum of 40 points this term.  Last season that was good enough to secure third place for Warrington.  Remember them?  Third place would mean a home playoff game in the first round and then an away date with whoever finishes second.  Most likely our friends from across the lump.  Yet 40 points seems fanciful. It would mean beating all of Wigan, KR and Leigh in the run-in.  Saints have not beaten any of these sides since a 12-4 success over the Warriors on Good Friday last year.  Nor have they come particularly close this season. 

It's maybe reasonable to expect Saints to win one of those games against Rovers, the Warriors or the Leopards.  So if Saints can beat FC this weekend and secure the expected victory over Castleford at home in the last week of the regular season that would see them finish on 36 points.  That total was good enough for fourth last year.  Yet it is hard to say with any certainty that it will be again.  Things are so tight between Saints, Leeds and Leigh that you could make a convincing argument for the three to finish in any order between third and fifth.  You’re still thinking about second, aren’t you?  Stop it.

Like Saints, Leeds face both Hull clubs and Wigan in their last five.  Leigh host Saints but aside from that they have gentler assignments to come. Out of their depth Salford, not a lot better Castleford and the absolute fodder that is Huddersfield all feature.  As do a Warrington side which all but gave up on 2025 when it lost the Challenge Cup final to Hull KR in June.  Based on the fixtures the Leopards must be favourites to finish third even though as we sit here today they are a point behind both Saints and the Rhinos. In the unlikely event that it comes down to points difference Saints have a massive advantage over the other two. Rival fans put that down to three meetings with the Red Devils.  And what?  They all count.

What Of Hull?

Hull’s focus will just be on getting into the top six ahead of Wakefield Trinity.  Yet the fact that they are concerning themselves with that problem shows how far they have come in the first season under Cartwright.  They languished in 11^th last season, veering somewhere between an embarrassment and a disgrace.

They are currently sixth, a point ahead of Trinity but with all of Saints, Leeds and Hull KR still to face.  Normally you would suggest that the derby with Rovers is immune to the influence of form but there is an obvious gulf between the two this year which makes the Robins firm favourites. Hence you would think that FC need to beat one of Saints or Leeds.

Meanwhile Wakefield’s upsurge in form in 2025 has been impressive enough to earn Head Coach Daryl Powell another four-year deal at the club. They are right in the mix for knockout football.  Although they take on the top two in the remaining weeks they also meet a poor Catalans Dragons, Huddersfield and Salford.  It is easy to see them finishing right on that 30-point mark which secured Saints a playoff place a year ago. 

2025 Meeting And Hull Selection Options

Saints’ 13-6 win over FC in July is the only meeting between the two so far in 2025.  Don’t let the fact that Wellens’ side have faced Salford and Leeds three times each in that time confuse you.  It’s only loop fixtures, doing its thing baby.  Saints earned a hard fought win at the MKM Stadium.  There is little reason to suggest that things will be any easier this time around.  Home advantage on this occasion is a factor but Hull are about as predictable as the Humberside weather.  Literally anything could happen even if you would say that Saints go in as slight favourites.

Cartwright has had to make changes to his 21-man squad for the trip following last week’s win over the Leopards.  Will Pryce and Liam Watts are out along with knee-wrecking Saints nemesis John Asiata.  More positively, Cartwright can once again call on ex-Canberra Raider Jordan Rapana, much travelled three-quarter Ed Chamberlain and the most famous mullet and tache combo in rugby league’s northern hemisphere Brad Fash. 

Look out also for young wing pairing Lewis Martin and Harvey Baron as well as halfback Aidan Sezer.  Another ex-Raider, Sezer had an underwhelming spell with Leeds but showed previously at Huddersfield that he is capable of controlling games at this level.  He has been instrumental in the improvement shown by FC in 2025.  Prop Herman Ese’ese and Davy Litten are key also. 

Can Wellens Solve The Fullback Conundrum?

So how do you solve a problem like Sailor?  Welsby has to play and most observers are suggesting that he has to feature in his regular fullback role.  Which awkwardly is the one that Sailor has been excelling in recently.  Either could play in the halves as a 6 but that would force Wellens to break up his favoured halfback partnership of Mbye and Jonny Lomax.  He is unlikely to do that even though it is a dynamism free zone. 

There have been suggestions that Mbye has announced his impending departure from UK shores on his social media accounts but that will do nothing to stop Wellens from relying on him for as long as Saints’ 2025 campaign lasts.  So how do you fit in all four of Welsby, Sailor, Lomax and Mbye? 

Sailor appeared on the wing earlier in the season while Feldt was recovering from a hand injury and even had a stint at hooker against the Giants last weekend.  The emergence of Dagnall complicates the prospect of going back to the former plan.  If you were riled by the jettisoning of Whitby then how are you going to feel if Dagnall’s unpredictable winding runs towards the try line are taken out of the Saints armoury? Meanwhile having Sailor at hooker in the longer term looks a pretty barmy idea from a defensive standpoint.  Is he going to be able to make 40+ tackles with the likes of Ese’ese running at him?  I would respectfully suggest not.

Wellens has been flapping his gums in the media about having both Welsby and Sailor operating in fullback roles.  At the same time.  Quite how this will work could be an interesting reveal if it happens.  But it is probably just semantics.  What it will likely mean is that they will both be involved in attacking structures and getting their hands on the ball at key points.  It’s just a question of where each of them starts from in order to do that. 

Defensively it is more likely that Welsby will be the one to drop back to cover the Sezer kicking game.  Sailor has looked a little more unsettled under the high ball.  That’s blood in the water for a player of Sezer’s class.   

Other Pack Options

Curtis Sironen will return in the pack so that might see Batchelor revert to a bench spot.  The rest of the pack will be largely unchanged with Walmsley and Lees in the front row with Clark, Matt Whitley alongside Sironen in the second row and Knowles at what used to be known as the base of the scrum.  Agnatius Paasi, Delaney and Bell could offer further support off the bench.  Whitby isn’t the only first team ready player set to miss out with Deon Cross and Jake Burns also struggling for game time as the injury crisis subsides. 

Saints With An Edge

This one won’t decide those playoff permutations but it will have a significant bearing on how both Saints and FC are shaping up with what will only be four rounds left.  Defeat could be very damaging to ambitions so we should expect intensity.  If you believe positions within the top six influence the chances of reaching Old Trafford then this one matters.  At home I would just about give Saints the edge, particularly with that strangling defence in outstanding form.  It is hard to say what Hull will do on any given day but if they struggle for points then the home side should have just about enough in their stulted attack to get the job done.

Defence, Dominance, And A Word From The Chairman. And Are Saints Flat Track Bullies Or Genuine Contenders In 2025?

Let’s get the personal stuff out of the way.  I wasn’t at this 52-4 evisceration of Huddersfield Giants.  I had planned to be.  I would have been had the fixture not been switched from its original date of Friday August 15 to Sunday August 17.  As it turned out I was in Blackpool as my partner took part in the seaside town’s 5k.  That was on Saturday night.  By Sunday we were in Walkabout watching the Saints game without sound because there were other people in the bar watching Chelsea fail to beat Crystal Palace.  Philistines.  But the lack of audio was perhaps a blessing having sat through the wisdom of Brian Noble during my rewatch at home.

Proceedings began with a commemoration of VJ Day.  Victory over Japan.  Sealed on August 15 1945 to end World War II.  I’m not really into the go troops stuff but this was a fitting tribute, not overdone.  Some of Saints’ current stars held the heritage shirts of the Saints players who were killed in the conflict while club owners Eamonn McManus and Ken Davy laid wreaths. 

It took Saints just under 10 minutes to make their dominance pay but in truth they were untroubled by the Giants for the whole afternoon.  They racked up nine tries with doubles for Mark Percival, Kyle Feldt and Tristan Sailor.  Jack Welsby was named on the bench having been out since the end of May.  Head Coach Paul Wellens has been criticised for sitting back line players on his bench at times this season.  But faced with an opposition not offering too much resistance there will be little discussion about this one.  It was an opportunity to get minutes into Saints’ best player ahead of the regular season run-in and the playoffs.  After some doubt at the start of the season there is now none that Saints will be in the top six.  This win moved them into third after Leigh Leopards suffered a surprising defeat to Hull FC this weekend. 

Wellens will need to figure out what Welsby’s return means for Sailor.  The former Brisbane Bronco was outstanding in this one.  In Welsby’s absence Sailor has been starting at fullback for the most part.  He filled in on the wing until Kyle Feldt returned from his hand injury in mid-June.  He even spent part of this one at nine running out of dummy half.  He did so for 70 metres on his way to scoring his second try of the game and the 15^th of his debut Super League campaign.  Fifty-five seconds into the second half he surged through from Agnatius Paasi’s offload to lay on a try for Johnny Lomax.  For his first Sailor had out-jumped Giants’ starlet George Flanagan to collect Moses Mbye’s bomb and waltz over untouched. 

After becoming something of a lightning rod for criticism early in the season the Australian has made himself virtually undroppable.  Yet it is difficult to see him holding on to the fullback role once Welsby is ready to start.  Owen Dagnall’s emergence on the left wing would be harshly halted if Sailor were to revert to that position.  The sensible call would be to slot Sailor into the halves at the expense of either Lomax or Mbye.  Yet Wellens has been reluctant to break that partnership up during a winning run.  Saints have won eight of their last nine, a stat which has cost George Whitby his chance to gain more first team experience.

Huddersfield didn’t help themselves at times, evidenced by the sin-binning of Taane Milne which came just before Saints’ second try.  Milne was in possession of the ball deep in his own half when instead of getting up and playing it he decided instead to shove Feldt out of the ruck.  He was penalised for his actions but it could have been something he said which earned him a yellow card.  Either way it opened up the space to allow Feldt to cross for the first of his brace after good handling from Daryl Clark, Mbye, Sailor, Lomax and and Harry Robertson.

The Milne yellow card was one of few significant refereeing interventions.  Referee Jack Smith did ask for help deciding on Morgan Knowles’ try after the loose forward twisted away from a trio of defenders to reach out and score.  It was never really in doubt, although the opportunity may not have been there in the first place had Smith called Sailor’s pass to Lomax forward earlier in the tackle count.  It was a one-handed offload which looked as suspicious as it was pretty.  Yet when there are 52 points on the scoreboard and only 4 in reply it becomes a footnote rather than a major talking point. 

Dagnall also showed us more of his sizeable potential three minutes after Sailor’s first effort which itself had come within a few minutes of the first Feldt try.  Benefitting from a Percival break the young winger took the circuitous route to the try line and was just able to ground the ball among the defensive traffic.  He should have passed to a wide open Robertson who would have strolled in but Dagnall is demonstrably someone who backs himself. 

There were echoes of his solo effort against Castleford a couple of weeks ago when with arguably better options available he opted to kick ahead for himself.  So long as you keep making good on your gambles you will be lauded but there is the potential at some point for Dagnall to take one wrong option too many.  But better decision making comes with experience.  For now he has eight tries in 10 Super League appearances and is solving the problem created by the injury ravaged season being endured by Lewis Murphy.  Another of Dagnall’s winding runs around the Giants defence created the position for Feldt’s second try.  Welsby lobbed it up for the former North Queensland Cowboy to rise highest to claim and touch down.  He now has 17 for the season and is Saints top try scorer.  Only three players have more in Super League in 2025.

Joe Batchelor was filling in for Curtis Sironen who was ruled out due to concussion protocols.  Hull-bound at the end of the season Batchelor’s return from injury might yet be timely.  He looked dangerous throughout on Saints’ left edge.  It was from there that he put Percival through a gap to create Dagnall’s try and that he later found Percival to allow the centre to grab his second.  Sironen almost certainly starts when he returns but Batchelor will be a useful option off the bench.  The same goes for James Bell – who will also be playing for the black and whites next term – but who featured in the first team 17 for the first time since April.  He hasn’t started a game in the red vee since the Challenge Cup win over West Hull in February.  That is partly due to injury but it looked very much like Wellens had chosen to freeze the former Leigh man out.  Now he could also prove a useful addition to the squad as the stakes get higher.

As we contemplate what cliché fanciers refer to as the business end of the season it is clear that Saints’ defence is still their main strength.  The only blemish on this performance was the concession of a late first half try to former charge Joe Greenwood.  The 32-year old crashed over through an uncharacteristically poor tackle attempt by Lomax.  It will have been an enjoyable moment for Greenwood who after being touted as a great prospect for the future left Saints for an unsuccessful spell at Gold Coast Titans.  He has never quite hit the same heights since.  He was replaced in the Saints line-up by Zeb Taia in one of Keiron Cunningham’s better coaching moves.

The Greenwood try was a minor setback for a team which has only conceded 26 points since shipping 34 at Hull KR at the end of May.  Salford, Castleford and – most impressively – Leeds have all failed to register a single point in 80 minutes against Saints during that run.  While Saints’ attack has been uninspiring enough to see them fly well under the radar their defence is likely to keep them in any contest.  And that could be crucial come playoff time.  Saints face tougher tasks in the coming weeks with Hull KR, Wigan and Leigh all on the agenda after this week’s visit from Hull FC.  But at the time of writing Saints are only two points behind Wigan and – mathematically at least – are a threat to the Warriors’ long held position in the top two.

Since I was viewing on television I was able to observe the comments of club chairman and owner McManus as he was interviewed by the BBC at half-time.  He made a number of interesting points when asked why he voted for the league to expand to 14 teams now rather than in 2027 or beyond.  He suggested that there has been sufficient preparation time because most of the clubs decided on 14 a year ago.  Yet he disingenuously claimed that no teams had voted against the move.  Both Hull clubs voted against the increase for next year.  It seems that since they seemed open to the switch in 2027 they apparently count among the ‘ayes’. 

More revealingly McManus said it is not yet certain how the extra clubs will be funded.  I am no mathematician but I know that x amount of money split 14 ways instead of 12 means less for everyone.  We need a bigger slice of the TV sports budget in general but in fairness McManus acknowledged that and also stated that Saints would be willing to take a financial hit in the short term if necessary.  He acknowledged that we need to grow the game as much as possible.  It did not sound like the words of a man who – as he is often accused – is helping to rid Super League of French participation and serve up more derbies for the game’s travel sick fan base.

Of course these comments come against the backdrop of suggestions that Sport England might reduce or even withdraw funding if they find that the re-appointment of the bafflingly revered Nigel Wood as RFL Chairman did not constitute a fair and thorough recruitment process.  McManus’ positivity is welcome but it remains a time of great uncertainty for the sport.  That was highlighted by McManus’ assertion that despite having agreed to expand to 14 teams for next year nobody will be admitted without meeting the requirements laid down by IMG.  Nice to know that the advisors with whom we agreed to place our trust for 12 years just two or three years ago are still getting some say.  But it does leave us all wondering about who might come in, what will happen to beleaguered Salford, and will the actual on field competition currently taking place in the second tier have any influence?

But those are thoughts for next year.  The immediate concern for Saints is a tough run of fixtures which will tell us something more about whether they do have title credentials or whether they will remain the league’s flat track bullies.  Saints’ last win over any of Hull KR, Wigan or Leigh came on Good Friday in 2024 when Tommy Makinson and Konrad Hurrell tries sealed a 12-4 success.  Wellens’ side haven’t got close to KR in two meetings this year while the 16-4 defeat to Leigh was not nearly as close as the scoreline suggests.  This year’s Easter meeting with the Warriors ended in a 10-point defeat also.  Failure to get a win against any of those three during the last few weeks of the season would hardly persuade fans that Saints can seal a title that has looked unlikely all year. 

But you know…we are still in there so…    

Where Would We Be Without Wakefield? And How Far Can We Go From Here?

 It’s just possible we might have seen the best Saints performance of the 2025 season in Friday night’s 34-4 win at Wakefield (August 8).

Quite what that says about performances throughout the rest of the season is a debate for another time. But for now let’s just enjoy it. Saints were dominant, especially in the first half hour when they built a 20-0 lead and effectively settled the contest. 

If there is a criticism it is perhaps that the attack went off the boil a bit after that first half hour. But maybe that doesn’t give enough credit to Trinity who did improve after the break. And considering many of us were fretting about a fixture at the home of a direct top six rival - Wakefield would have got to within two points of Saints on the Super League table with a win - it’s an outstanding result. 

Where would we be without Wakefield? Daryl Powell’s men are a much improved outfit this year. There is every chance that they could still pip inconsistency’s Hull FC to a playoff spot. Yet they have failed to work Saints out this season. This was our third league win over Trinity in 2025, a very helpful six points in the quest to extend the season beyond the home meeting with Castleford Tigers on September 19.

Head Coach Paul Wellens went into this one with exactly the same 17 which had beaten those same Tigers 40-0 last time out. After a resounding win like that there was certainly a case for continuity. Yet that does nothing to quieten the calls for George Whitby to return. The young half hasn’t started a first team game since a 46-4 win at Super League whipping boys Salford Red Devils in mid June. 

During that time Moses Mbye has done a steady but far from spectacular job alongside captain Jonny Lomax in the halves. Saints’ only defeat since then has been the 16-4 home loss to Leigh Leopards on July 17. That’s a run of six wins in seven games which has at least made it fairly certain that Saints won’t miss out on a top six spot and involvement in the playoffs. 

Yet who is to say those results would have been any different had Whitby got the nod? Well, stats actually. Saints have won five and lost five of the 10 games the youngster has started. For those willing to accept a more patient approach there’s an argument that Wellens should be bedding in a specialist half like Whitby now instead of relying on bits and pieces Mbye, who turns 32 in a few days from the time of writing. 

Although injuries were another factor in the lack of freshness in the side it is starting to look like certain individuals are only going to be used as a last resort. Jack Welsby, Lewis Murphy, Deon Cross and Noah Stephens remain unavailable but Wellens could have called upon one or both of James Bell and Joe Batchelor. Instead he persists with Jake Wingfield and former fan favourite turned poster boy for the disgruntled Agnatius Paasi. Suffice to say that his new one year deal has caused a little consternation among the fan base.

You can argue with the team selection but there wasn’t much to quibble with in a hugely impressive opening. Saints dominated possession and territory with Alex Walmsley particularly prominent. It was the big front rower who opened the try scoring, taking Morgan Knowles’ well timed pass to go in untouched. He was on his way to gaining another 132 metres. All in a day’s work. It was his fourth try of the season and his 55th in Saints colours. 

Knowles scored the second himself. Mbye hoisted what seemed a rather humdrum high ball into the Wakefield half where Owen Dagnall was first to it. He’d been fortunate to earn a penalty to set up the position. Trinity were adjudged to have forced him over the sideline after the tackle had been completed. 

It was a tight call but I’m ok with anything which discourages defences from continuing with a tackle once momentum has stopped. It’s ugly to watch and potentially dangerous. And Wigan are very good at it which is reason enough to outlaw it. We should adopt the NFL principle and have the referee call held as soon as forward progress stops.

With Trinity defenders slow to react Dagnall quickly found Knowles on his inside with the line open. Known more for his defensive work Knowles nevertheless has six tries this season. Which is a significant portion of the 36 he has managed in 240 Saints appearances since 2015. He will leave a huge hole in the side when he joins Kristian Woolf at the Dolphins. Although if Woolf oversees too many more performances like Saturday’s capitulation against the Roosters (August 9) he may not be there by then. Yeah. Sorry. Spoiler alert. But it’s not like Sky haven’t already told you the result of the NRL games already.

Knowles’ impending departure is a concern not just for what he brings to the team but also because - if we’re honest - none of us have too much faith in the recruitment bods to get it right when it comes to a replacement. To be fair it is difficult to replace a player who is the club’s leading tackler, gets involved in most attacks once the shackles come off and is our go to guy when it comes to winding opponents up. 

Mbye has been praised for his kicking game particularly in the context of so many others having tried and failed to resuscitate it. It caused problems again when winger Jayden Myers couldn’t gather another high one. That led to Oliver Pratt being shown a yellow card for pulling Kyle Feldt back as he and Harry Robertson sniffed a try scoring opportunity. Feldt knocked over an easy penalty for a 14-0 lead.

The same pair shredded the Wakefield left edge defence to create Daryl Clark’s try on the occasion of his 400th professional game. It can’t have been easy to be the man stepping in to James Roby’s shoes but the ex-Castleford and Warrington man has given us speed out of the ruck which has helped us play a little more expansively than in previous seasons under Wellens and even Woolf. 

Following his 13th Saints try and his fifth of this campaign was a more difficult, sometimes fraught period for Saints in the final 10 minutes before the break. The sin-binning of George Delaney contributed to that but in truth he and Saints were incredibly lucky that yellow was all that referee Liam Moore produced. 

Delaney was off his feet when he made head contact with Wakefield winger Lachlan Walmsley on the half hour. It was use of the shoulder with little or no attempt to wrap the arms. Everyone of a red vee persuasion feared red. Yet Moore explained that there was mitigation - the officials’ current favourite buzzword - because of insufficient force. 

Credit to Moore for explaining the reasoning for video referee Tom Grant’s decision but between them you have to say they got it wildly wrong. Do we have to wait until somebody gets knocked out before the amount of force crosses the threshold for a red? The question of red or yellow for hits like Delaney’s should not hinge on whether the recipient requires a head injury assessment or further medical examination. The horse has bolted at that point.

Delaney can probably expect a period of reflection at the request of the disciplinary panel though probably not as lengthy as we may have seen during the crackdown on head contact of the last few years. That directive appears to have been given up on like the concept of leaving league structure decisions to IMG. 

It was during Delaney’s enforced breather that Lachlan Walmsley scored Trinity’s only points of the night. The loss of a clean sheet is the kind of thing coaches like to major on in post game interviews. It paints them as perfectionists unconcerned with the razzle dazzle of attacking play. Proper serious people. But while it is always disappointing to concede points there can be few complaints about the standard of Saints’ defence in recent weeks. 

They have conceded only 20 points in the last four league games. Even Saints’ often stilted attack would be good enough to win games consistently if the opposition is only averaging five points per game. The standard of opposition during that run has to be taken into account but if Saints can replicate that kind of suffocating defence against the sides above them in the league - all of whom will be faced in the regular season run-in - then anything is possible in a playoff format. 

Saints played within themselves in an attacking sense at times in the second half. A performance much more like we have had to grow accustomed to, but one lit up by occasional moments of brilliance. They added another try when Robertson’s opportunism saw him beat a dozing Myers to Tristan Sailor’s grubber. That field position was set up by a devastating 40 metre tear by Alex Walmsley. Feldt intercepted a Jake Trueman pass and went all the way to score then added a second after some mesmerising handling involving Sailor, Jonny Lomax, Robertson and Jake Burns.

Even when things go well there always seems to be a cost. Wingfield was helped off with an ominous looking leg injury which will no doubt require a scan. In addition, Curtis Sironen failed a head injury assessment which will rule him out of the visit of Huddersfield Giants next week. 

There was some talk in the week of Welsby returning to action having started training again but whether you would want to risk him at home to a fairly hapless opponent is highly debatable. Yes he needs game time if he’s going to be at full pelt at playoff time but it would be disastrous to rush him back early and then lose him until 2026. And if you care to reach for your other hat there’s an Ashes series to think about too. 

Besides, unless there are injuries Wellens doesn’t change a winning team. And if this version of Saints sticks around they will be a match for anyone. 

Ray, The 14, Iggy And Another Defensive Shutout

It’s been an emotional, sometimes head scratching period for those of us in ‘that number’ and for the wider rugby league community.

First of all we lost a legendary figure in the game in Ray French. He passed away on July 26 at the age of 85. Given how he became synonymous with rugby league for his later work with the BBC it’s odd to think that he started out in rugby union. 

He played four times for England in 1961 before making the switch to league and to Saints from St Helens RUFC. Ray spent six years as a player with Saints and made over 200 appearances. They included the 1966 Challenge Cup final victory over Wigan where he featured at second row in a 21-2 win. 

But it was his work as a broadcaster and commentator for which he is known throughout rugby league circles and beyond. In 1981 he replaced Eddie Waring as the BBC’s main rugby league commentator. In doing so he became the voice of the sport for many in an era before live coverage of every match. 

I can still remember the Challenge Cup games and Great Britain internationals he called. His style was simple and enthusiastic, often excitable but never over the top. And though I’m sure he did his homework on all of the players he commentated on his responses to events on the field were natural. You didn’t get the sense that he had spent the previous week trying to come up with some Churchillian line to describe a try or a result like other sports commentators we could mention. Besides, whenever anyone got near to scoring a try he usually said ‘oh…he’s going for the line’ in his broad St Helens accent. Which did the job.

Ray was with the BBC until 2019 but his final TV commentary came six years earlier as Wales took on Italy in the 2013 World Cup. His Challenge Cup final highlights included the 1985 classic between Wigan and Hull and the 1996 epic in which his hometown Saints crawled out of a 14-point hole to beat Bradford Bulls 40-32 and so usher in a new era of success for the club.

By comparison the furore over the decision to extend Super League to 14 teams for 2026 seems trivial. But the direction of travel for our game is something that I am sure Ray cared deeply about. At a meeting of the clubs on July 28 the slightly barmy decision was taken to expand the top flight from the current 12 clubs to 14. This, they said in a statement, would be done by a combination of the IMG gradings and an ‘independent panel’.

The phrase ‘independent panel’ leaps out at you here. If the way that the return of previous failure Nigel Wood is anything to go by it will be anything but independent. It will consist - if not of Wood and the club owners themselves - then their stooges who will arrive with strict orders to come up with the ‘right’ 14 names. There have already been dark mutterings about whether or not to include Catalans Dragons in the new plans. 

To cast them aside now after 19 years would constitute an act of self harm. Ok, so they are terrible in 2025 but they have had success. They won the Challenge Cup in 2018, the League Leaders Shield in 2021 when they went on to reach the Grand Final and they also reached Old Trafford in 2023. They give the sport a presence in Europe which is important for the game’s profile and marketability, even if they do bring all of their away fans in the same taxi. 

They’re not perfect but they’re far from the only Super League club you can say that about. If there is a drive among club owners to get rid of French sides from Super League it comes from a place of xenophobia and of being too tight to pay for the travel and accommodation involved. Which couldn’t be any more small time as a philosophy. If it were up to club owners we would be subjected to derbies every other week and TV interest would likely shrink so that it consisted of a few clips on sports news bulletins in northern regions and a highlight programme buried where The Hit Man And Her used to be.

Even if the owners see that and keep the competition European it’s a mistake to go to 14 teams at the moment regardless of the make up of the league. Their just isn’t the depth in the playing pool. You only need look at the absolute state of Huddersfield Giants and Salford Red Devils in 2025 to see that. Salford have been beset with financial problems to the point where their presence in the league has meant at least one game in every Super League round has been non-competitive. Meanwhile Huddersfield have a less compelling excuse for being so awful. You may accuse me of wild speculation but I’m guessing the decision to abolish relegation based on wins and losses on the field has something to do with their level of motivation.

And it’s not the first time. Last year we had the farcical situation of London Broncos knowing they were going down to the Championship before a ball was kicked due to their lowly IMG grading. Before that we had Toronto withdrawing mid season as everyone struggled to deal with the pandemic. There’s always something. You can’t just stick Paul Vaughan in a Championship side and expect them to compete. That appears to be the only moved made as yet to try and bridge the gap. 

And where are IMG in all of this? Apparently their role is only to advise but what’s the point of introducing a grading system or making any other recommendations if you’re just going to go back to what you’ve always done? Are they just not being listened to and don’t care enough to make a scene publicly? After all they have a 12-year deal and will still get paid if my dystopian vision of the game’s future comes to pass. They have been nodded to in the statement with the claim that gradings will be considered but will they? Really?

Closer to home there has been retention rather than recruitment news at Saints. Agnatius Paasi has been among the most heavily criticised of the Saints forwards this year by fans, especially during some of the team’s more anaemic performances. Yet that hasn’t stopped our club’s esteemed decision makers from extending his stay until at least the end of next season. 

I get that fans moan whether there is something to moan about or not but you have to question what the people in charge have been watching. Paasi is currently averaging around 65 metres a game with ball in hand, a stat padded like Joan Collins’ shoulders by the 93 he made against a woeful Castleford side this week. And most of that was on one run which set up a try for Tristan Sailor. Sad to say that Paasi - who let’s remember will be 34 before the start of next season - has been largely ineffective this year. Even in defence he’s only offering around 14 tackles per game. 

Paasi has been a decent acquisition since be arrived from New Zealand Warriors in December 2020. And it may be true that his dip in productivity owes something to the disgraceful assault on his knee carried out by John Asiata in the 2023 Challenge Cup semi-final. But even if you accept that the decline is not his fault or even due to his ageing that sort of sentiment doesn’t tend to help build title winning teams. 

We should have thanked him for five years good service and let him go. That we didn’t is a decision which - other than naive sentiment - can only have been judged on finance. He’s going to be a lot cheaper than Josh Papali’i. When you tie that in with the club’s decision to vote for 14 teams in the division - which seems purely driven by a desire to have more home games without the unpopular loophole fixtures - shouldn’t be massively surprising. 

Nor was Saints’ latest win, really. Having had a week off from the split round Paul Wellens’ side welcomed a Castleford Tigers side in a fair amount of disarray. There were signs of life when they were mugged by a monumentally bad video referee call in their defeat by Wigan. To which they responded by sacking Head Coach Danny McGuire. Chris Chester absolutely doesn’t want to be a coach again but is doing all the things that you see coaches do during live games. But he has given Brett Delaney a headset to make it look better. Optics. 

Meanwhile Wellens has developed an aversion to picking George Whitby at halfback. He prefers Moses Mbye. It seemed reasonable not to change a winning combination after an unexpected success at Leeds but the attacking performance in the 16-4 home defeat by Leigh which followed surely justified a rethink. 

Wellens did restore both Mark Percival and Daryl Clark to the lineup after they had missed the Leopards game through assorted health issues. Whitby’s bench spot went to the returning Jake Burns. Matt Whitley moved back to his favoured second row slot while Jake Wingfield dropped to the bench. 

A 40-0 win sounds like something to celebrate and there were some genuinely impressive and thrilling moments. It only took Percival five minutes to get back among the try scorers even if it did look like Harry Robertson had knocked on in the buildup. Robertson himself provided the moment of the match when - close to half-time - he plucked a crossfield kick out of the air and went 90 metres to score. You had to pinch yourself a bit to make sure Saints really had scored from that sort of distance but when it sunk in it was glorious. 

Meanwhile Owen Dagnall - in the side largely due to Lewis Murphy’s inability to avoid injury - bagged the seventh try of his nine-game Saints career with a mesmeric individual effort. Having found himself in space thanks to good ball movement from Morgan Knowles, Mbye, Sailor and Percival the young winger had support. But he chose the difficult - some might say wrong route - in kicking ahead to the left hand corner. Astonishingly, he won the race to touch down according to the video referee. It looked like simultaneous contact between him and a Castleford defender so that seemed fair enough. 

It would be easy to get carried away by Dagnall. I remember writing some very positive things about Jon Bennison when he emerged into the first team and he’s currently on loan at Widnes. But the signs around Dagnall are awfully promising. Which could be bad news for Murphy. Or would be if we didn’t have a Head Coach who is wedded to safe options. He has largely only managed to blood youngsters because of a lengthy injury list. 

The other captivating feature of this performance was Saints’ defence. We’ve established that Cas were about as threatening as half the league will be if the club owners get their way, but to record another clean sheet even in this league is something to shout about. In fact, Saints have conceded only 16 points in total over the last three league games. And they managed to lose one of those. Which shows you exactly where the real issue lies with this side. 

This is the second best defence in Super League but we sit only fourth in the table. We somehow have the third best attack in terms of points scored but they can be tortuous to watch. It’s a state of affairs which probably says something horrifying about the standard of the league. But yeah, let’s bring in two more teams and get rid of anyone foreign. 

Next week’s visit to the Giants looks another foregone conclusion. Good news for Saints in the pursuit of a top four place but possibly more bad optics for the league. Salford will be playing somewhere, so that’s two of next week’s six fixtures which are a write-off for neutrals. 

Before that there’s the thrilling prospect of a trip to Wakefield this Friday night. The pair have already met twice but you know…loop fixtures. Saints did win the other two so that might inspire some confidence. At the risk of hubris on a Washington Sundar scale Saints can win they’ll go six points clear of Trinity who currently sit in the sixth and final playoff place. Defeat would bring Daryl Powell’s side to within one win of Saints which really doesn’t bear thinking about.

There has been the slight suggestion that Jack Welsby might be included in the squad having trained this week. He was touted to be absent for the rest of the regular season with a more modest target of returning for the playoffs. So if he can return early that would be a welcome boost. Even if it would make us look like one of those arsehole clubs from Ray French’s broadcasting pomp who pretend that their star players are out injured before conducting performative pre-match fitness tests ahead of the game. I’m looking at you, Wigan. 

The Giants follow on August 17 but there are still scary fixtures ahead. Hull KR, Wigan and Leigh are all on the schedule - none of which I expect us to win - but there is another home game with Castleford for those of you looking for a safety net. 

And if we miss the playoffs this year they’ll probably let 12 teams in next year.