SAINTS coach Keiron Cunningham hailed the performance of Luke Walsh in tonight's 52-12 thrashing of Hull KR, describing it as “one of his best” in a Saints shirt.

The Australian linchpin, who captained the side in the absence of Jon Wilkin, has eased his way back to form after returning to action from an ankle injury in June.

Alongside half-back partner Travis Burns he helped run the show as Saints ran riot in the nine-try demolition and posed a threat with ball in hand.

“I knew he had been building to something in the past two weeks and that he was going forward,” said Cunningham after the match.

“That was probably one of Luke Walsh's best games since he pulled a Saints shirt on in my personal view.

“Having shown him lots of footage and telling him he's going well, he is his own worst critic and hopefully tonight he has convinced himself that he is back to his best.

“He was captain tonight and the pleasing thing is he has stood up and was counted. When I asked him to be captain earlier in the week he told me it would be a privilege and I thought he led the team wonderfully and he had that glint in his eye."

Cunningham was delighted with the start which saw a four-try blitz put Saints in command at 24-0 inside the first half an hour.

“It was the same as last week, it was the performance we were looking for,” added Cunningham.

“It's two weeks in a row we have gone with a really good start. We started well against Warrington and we started well tonight, for 30 minutes we were untouchable. The halves controlled the game.

“Burnsy was brilliant and has been finding some great form too and the longer you keep your key positions together, the better they are going to get.

“If we can keep Quinlan Walsh and Burns together playing consistently for periods of time then we can only get better.”

And the Saints boss was impressed by the displays of his returning troops Atelea Vea and Luke Thompson, admitting he has some selection headaches ahead of next Friday's cup semi-final with Leeds.

“Tommo was phenomenal, he’s had a bit of a knee injury and he's showed tonight why he played in a Grand Final last year, he's a super talent.

“Tils comes back and does 63 minutes straight so there are some headaches but good headaches.

“Everybody's really pleased with the victory. I'm sure there'll be a few bumps and bruises in the morning but we seem quite healthy, initial reports are good.”