ONE of the highlights of Friday night’s win was the return of classy centre Mark Percival who showed exactly what the team had been missing in his seven-game absence.

Percival came off the bench to score one try and create another against his home town team to underline his attacking potency.

Possessing pace, good hands, awareness of space and an all too rare ability to beat a man in a tight space it is no surprise that the three-quarter, who turned 21 on Wednesday, is attracting admirers beyond the Langtree Park faithful.

Saints boss Keiron Cunningham believes that the Grand Final winner is a future England international as long as he continues to complement his natural ability with hard work.

Cunningham said: “We have put lots of work into Percy’s defence and his positional stuff, but the ability he has got is generally what God has given him. It is the same with Joe Greenwood.

“There are not many coaches out there who can teach what they do – to have that natural rugby brain and awareness for space is a big thing to have as a player and those two have got it in abundance.

“Percy has got a lot of potential, if he keeps climbing the way he is and carries on working on his fitness and his professionalism then he can be anything. He can be up there with Kallum Watkins as one of our best centres in the competition."

Percival, who hails from a strong rugby league family in Widnes, is a genuine craftsman centre - not a converted back rower or utility man - and that finesse shows with touches of Paul Newlove, Martin Gleeson and Matt Gidley about him.

“I said years ago, he has been our most natural centre since Matt Gidley was at the club," said Cunningham.

"I watched what Percy was doing at the club as a kid and thought ‘Wow, this kid can go far and do anything’. He is going to get better as he matures. but he will be the first to hold his hand up and admit that he was not the greatest trainer as a junior and probably didn’t look after himself.

"I’d like to think that Nathan (Brown) and myself changed the flow of our junior department and the way it was heading and got rid of those who were not good for the club or not doing the right things.

"Percy started doing the right things then and his game has just gone through the roof since and now we are seeing the rewards.

"To be out for that period of time and then come back and do what he did, when most people would be happy for him to just get through the game, was tremendous.

"He is just an immense talent and we are lucky to have him at the club wearing our shirt."